Flashbacks from 1984 are a painful but necessary part of understanding the history of the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres as they meet Tuesday afternoon in Game 1 of the best-of-three wild-card series at Wrigley Field.
It really was the best of times for Cubs fans, who had gone 39 years without a postseason team, only to watch Ryne Sandberg, Rick Sutcliffe and a scrappy bunch lift the Cubs to a National League East title.
And then it turned into the worst of times for those same fans, who watched the Cubs blow a 2-0 lead in the National League Championship Series and lose Game 5 in San Diego thanks in no small part to a ground ball through the legs of first baseman Leon Durham, whose glove was sticky from a Gatorade spill.
The atmosphere heading into this week’s wild-card series is much different, of course. The Cubs eventually ended their championship drought in 2016, so their long-suffering fans theoretically can die happy. The Padres still haven’t won a World Series in their 56-year history, and after some close calls over the years, their current fans have suffered in much the same way Cubs fans did for decades.
As a cityside reporter in ’84, I was fortunate to contribute to the Tribune’s coverage of Games 1 and 2 at Wrigley, which like Games 1 and 2 this week were played in the sunlight, as the ballpark did not install lights until 1988.
On the eve of the ’84 NLCS, Tribune columnist Mike Royko put everything in perspective, writing that Chicago deserved to win over a “sushi-eating” fan base that didn’t have baseball in their DNA.
The view might not be the best, but the crowd noise can’t be beat at Engine Co. 78 across Waveland Avenue from the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. Proving that even firefighters can get swept up in the Cubs season, the firehouse sported a new banner over its door in September 1984. (Carl Hugare/Chicago Tribune)
“If there is any justice, fairness and equity in life, we will win the playoffs with San Diego,” Royko wrote in his syndicated column. “As a city, we are more deserving. And our need is greater. The fact is, they really don’t care. They’re not obsessed. They aren’t delirious with the drama and historical significance of it all. It’s just another pleasant, recreational diversion.”
And that was the nice part.
Royko went on to say San Diego had no baseball tradition, referred to their modern ballpark as “disgusting” and suggested their fans were more interested in their “Nautilus-tuned bods” and would “go to the beach and ride a wave until they feel better” if the Padres lost to the Cubs.
Royko ended the column by noting the Cubs were “going to slaughter those lousy wimps,” which seemed prescient after Game 1. With a 20 mph wind blowing out for the first postseason game at Wrigley Field since the 1945 World Series, the Cubs won 13-0 with Bobby Dernier and Gary Matthews homering in the first inning and ace Rick Sutcliffe launching a home run out onto Sheffield Avenue.
With a 9 mph crosswind for Game 2, the Cubs won 4-2 behind starter Steve Trout, leaving them one win away from their first World Series since 1945. The city was ready to erupt, but as the NLCS headed back to San Diego, Padres manager Dick Williams voiced optimism that a change of scenery would turn things around.
“We’ll be away from the Cubs fans and that was a real advantage for them,” Williams said. “They really are a 10th man.”
An aerial view shows a crowded Wrigleyville and Wrigley Field for the Cubs’ first game of five against the Padres during the NLCS on Oct. 2, 1984, in Chicago. (James Mayo/Chicago Tribune)
The Padres shelled Dennis Eckersley and the Cubs bullpen in a 7-1 win in Game 3. San Diego fans had been apprised of Royko’s trash-talking when a local paper printed his column and they responded by going crazy and doing the wave.
On the off day before Game 4, Williams was asked about how he’d use his bullpen if his starter, Tim Lollar, didn’t go long.
“We’ll use anybody we can to try and contain the White Sox,” Williams replied.
Williams was quickly informed that the Padres were playing the Cubs, not the White Sox.
“Oh, that’s right,” he said. “Well, I got the right city anyway.”
The Cubs still had to win one more, and with Sutcliffe available for Game 4, fans were ultra-confident. But manager Jim Frey opted to start Scott Sanderson instead of bringing back Sutcliffe, who was 17-1 in a Cubs uniform and held the Padres to two hits over seven innings in the Game 1 win.
Sanderson, who missed a large chunk of the season with back pain, lasted into the fifth inning, leaving it to the bullpen. With the game tied in the ninth inning, Cubs closer Lee Smith served up a two-run, walk-off home run to Steve Garvey, which sent the series to Game 5 and conjured up memories of the Cubs’ collapse of 1969.
Cubs’ reliever Lee Smith stalks off the mound while the Padres’ Tony Gwynn leaps in the air after the Padres’ Steve Garvey’s playoff homer in San Diego on Oct. 2, 1984, during the NLCS. (Ed Wagner Jr./Chicago Tribune)
On a lazy Sunday afternoon, the Cubs blew an early 3-0 lead in a 6-3 loss in Game 5 and the dream was suddenly over. Durham’s key error became a part of Cubs lore after it was revealed he played with a sticky glove when Sandberg accidentally spilled a Gatorade cooler on it before the game. Third base coach Don Zimmer told Durham that it might bring him “good luck,” so he didn’t swap it out for another glove.
Matthews tried to put the loss in perspective, saying “nobody died.” But it felt like that to many after the massive media build-up to the postseason and the convincing way the Cubs had won the first two games at Wrigley.
Royko, whose columns were blamed by some for riling up the sleepy San Diego fans, wrote that the collapse was a “monumental disaster” that “made 1969 seem like a minor aggravation” to cursed Cubs fans.
“If some evil genius like Lex Luthor was trying to drive this city nuts, he couldn’t have come up with a more diabolical plot,” he wrote, adding: “And if losing wasn’t bad enough, we were beaten by a bunch of wimps from a beach-bum city.”
The Chicago Tribune reports on Oct. 8, 1984, of the Cubs fall to the Padres the previous day during the National League Championship Series in San Diego. (Chicago Tribune)
When I later worked for Royko as his legman, he told me of all the death threats and hate mail he received from Cubs fans who felt his columns were the difference. He laughed it off, but was clearly bothered by the assertion, which was ludicrous. The Cubs beat themselves.
Forty-one years later, the Cubs and Padres meet again in what should be a wild wild-card series.
Keep the Gatorade cooler in a safe spot and the Cubs should be OK.