Thursday, May 03, 2012

Cubs 365, May 3

On this day in 1966, the Cubs played their first game on Astroturf. The game was at the Houston Astrodome, and to say that the Astros enjoyed a home-field advantage that season is to understate the case. The Astros were an awful team on the road that year, but were better than .500 at home. Many National League teams took a few games to get used to the Astroturf's unique bounciness.

The Cubs were no exception. In that first game, they made four errors. Ron Santo, Don Kessinger, Randy Hundley, and Bill Hands all succumbed. Those errors led to five unearned runs, and before the Cubs knew it, they had lost the game 10-2.

It certainly wasn't their only loss in 1966. Despite having four future Hall of Famers on the roster, the Cubs finished the 1966 season 44 games under .500, 36 games out of first, in the basement of the National League.