1969 September 2 vs Mets

Lore & Background

The 1969 season was bookended by a pair of homers that was memorable on one side and infamous on the other. On opening day at Wrigley Field on April 8, the Cubs trailed the Phillies 6–5 in the bottom of the 11th inning. With a runner on base, Willie Smith hit a game-winning home run into the right field bleachers. This event essentially 'lit the fuse' to the Cubs' successful first five months of the season. They would win the next three games, and 11 out of their first 12, and create a cushion that would extend to 8+1⁄2 games in mid-August. Throughout the summer of 1969, led by future Hall of Famers Ernie Banks, Ferguson Jenkins, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, and the game calling skills of Randy Hundley behind the plate, the Chicago Cubs had built a substantial lead in the newly created National League East. At the conclusion of each victory 3rd baseman Santo would jump and click his heels in celebration. After starting pitcher Ken Holtzman's no-hitter on August 19, the Cubs led the division by 8+1⁄2 games over the St. Louis Cardinals and 9+1⁄2 games over the New York Mets.

In Their Own Story

The air at Shea Stadium felt heavier than usual, charged with a static that had nothing to do with the weather. In the dugout, manager Leo Durocher paced the concrete, his eyes fixed on the mound where Jerry Koosman wound up—a pitcher who would become the architect of Chicago's nightmare. The scoreboard showed a narrow deficit, but the mood in the stands shifted from hope to dread before the first pitch even left the hand. Every ground ball hit by a Cubs batter seemed to skip just out of reach; every close strike call felt like a personal affront to the season's narrative. In the bleachers, the sea of blue and red began to thin as the realization set in: the magic that had carried them through August was evaporating under the harsh New York lights. As the final out was recorded—a routine fly ball caught by Al Weis in left field—the silence from the Cubs' side was deafening, broken only by the raucous celebration of the Mets faithful. It wasn't a dramatic explosion, but a quiet death of a dream, sealed by the soft thud of a glove that would haunt Chicago for generations.

Reader's Guide

The Cubs began the 1969 season by winning 11 of their first 12 games, and on August 16, they were 75–44, up by a season high nine games over second place New York. By September 2, they had a record of 84–52, well on pace to exceed the previous season's mark, but their lead over the Mets had fallen to five games. From there the Mets went on a tear. The Cubs ultimately lost 17 of the last 25 games of the season, while the Mets went 23–7 to overtake the Cubs and finish eight games ahead of them. It was one of the most astounding late season collapses in history, with the seventeen-game turnaround being one of the biggest ever. The Cubs finished 92–70, while the Mets won the National League East and would go on to win the World Series.

Did You Know?

• The Cubs were in first place for 155 days during the 1969 season.
• On August 16, the Cubs held a season-high nine-game lead over the second-place Mets.
• The Cubs lost 17 of their final 25 games, while the Mets went 23–7 to overtake them.
• Ken Holtzman threw a no-hitter on August 19, 1969.