Six days after the Cubs clinched the NL East, something truly special happened at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs had clinched the NL East division title September 24 in Pittsburgh, their first postseason berth in 39 years. A few games remained on the regular-season schedule, including this one, Game 162 of the 1984 season.
There was, of course, much excitement about the Cubs’ first postseason game in 39 years, which was scheduled for Tuesday, October 2.
For the final regular-season game the Cubs were hosting the Cardinals, and though there wasn’t a completely full house, the 33,100 fans in attendance that Sunday afternoon brought the season attendance to 2,107,655. That shattered the previous club record, set in 1969, and it was the first time the Cubs had drawn two million fans in a season. Since attendance was announced as turnstile count in those days, that was the actual number of fans that came through Wrigley’s gates in 1984. It might not seem like a huge number now, but it ranked sixth in the major leagues that year — after the Cubs had ranked 16th the previous year.
Sunday, September 30 dawned cold, below freezing, and the temperature at game time was in the 40s. I remember having to buy a sweatshirt at the ballpark that day because I hadn’t dressed for the weather. There was nothing at stake in the result of the game, except team pride… and, as the game went on, a possible record-breaking save for Cardinals closer and former Cub Bruce Sutter.
The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth and Sutter was summoned. Earlier in the year he had given up the two famous homers to Ryne Sandberg in what has been forever dubbed “The Sandberg Game.”
On this September Sunday, he was going for his 46th save of the season, attempting to break the then-major league record of 45, which had been set by the Royals’ Dan Quisenberry just one year earlier
By that ninth inning, manager Jim Frey had cleared his bench, so it was reserves Henry Cotto, Dan Rohn and Thad Bosley to face Sutter. They all singled, tying the game and leaving runners on first and second. Gary Woods walked to load the bases, bringing up the only Cubs position player who played the entire game, Keith Moreland, who hit a bouncer to third baseman Terry Pendleton.
Pendleton threw home for the force on Rohn, but catcher Glenn Brummer’s throw to first base for the attempted double play went into right field, allowing Bosley to score the winning run:
And just that quickly, the Cubs had their 96th win of the year, the most for the team since 1945. Not only that, it was a thrilling walkoff win over the rival Cardinals, and had denied Sutter a record-breaking save.
It’s what happened next that cements this game in Cubs lore. The crowd, jazzed up by the dramatic walkoff win, refused to leave, staying in the park, cheering something we thought we might never see. People started chanting for the Cubs to come back on the field.
Keep in mind: This was 40 years ago. Curtain calls and victory laps are common these days. Back then, professional sports teams just didn’t do things like this. I can’t recall ever seeing one before 1984. From Fred Mitchell in the Tribune:
Ryne Sandberg, who undressed the rest of the National League East this season, almost was at a loss for trousers himself when 33,100 delirious fans summoned the Cubs for a curtain call Sunday.
“We had come into the locker room after the game,” explained Sandberg, in mid-blush. “And I had already started to get undressed.”
“Then somebody said the fans wanted us back on the field. I had to rush around and grab a pair of pants real quick before I could go out there for the celebration. It was unbelievable.”
It was. The Cubs came back on the field, some wearing shower clogs, most of them in just sweatshirts or whatever they could grab, and walked slowly around the entire field, soaking up the admiration of fans who hadn’t seen anything like this in four decades:
Cubs teams have done this since then at Wrigley — it happened after the 1998 wild-card game and after the division-clinchings at home in 2003 and 2008, and of course after the NLCS win in 2016 captured the team’s first NL pennant in 71 years.
Back then, though, this was truly something special. I can’t even describe adequately the feeling of seeing the Cubs as champions, after my then-more than 20 years as a Cubs fan, mostly seeing really bad baseball. Instead, there were just feelings of joy. We’ve had more joy since then, of course, with the 2016 World Series win — but this victory, and the Cubs’ impromptu curtain call, helped erase decades of failing to make the postseason, still one of the best days ever at Wrigley Field.
It all happened 40 years ago today, Sunday, September 30, 1984.