Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Cubs 365, April 4

On this day in 1994, the Cubs had a memorable home opener against the New York Mets. A little known player named Tuffy Rhodes hit three homers that day to power the Cubs to a victory.

Cubs fans had delusions of grandeur after that game, but Tuffy hit only five more homers the rest of the season. 1994 was also the year that Major League Baseball cancelled the World Series because the players were on strike. Not that the Cubs would have had a shot at winning it. When the league shut it down for the year in August, the Cubs were 15 games under .500 and 16 1/2 games out of first place.

Tuffy left the Cubs the following season. He eventually played in Japan, where he finally realized his full potential. In 2001 he tied the Japanese League record for most home runs in a season, a record held by the immortal Sadaharu Oh since 1964. Tuffy easily could have broken the record, but after he tied Oh, Japanese pitchers intentionally walked him the rest of the year.