September 24—Mario Encarnancion birthday
=Here is listing in EveryCubEver...
Mario Encarnacion 1975--2005 (Cubs 2002)
The outfielder got to bat exactly nine times in a Cubs uniform. He didn’t get a
single hit. The Dominican played nine seasons in the minors, mostly in the
Oakland A’s organization. He also played in Taiwan, and that’s where he met his
mysterious demise. Mario was found dead in his team dormitory on October 3, 2005. The cause of
death is officially listed as a congenital medical condition, but he was only
30 years old.
***
September 25—Pat Malone birthday
=Here is his listing in EveryCubEver...
Pat Malone 1902--1943 (Cubs 1928-1934)
Malone was a two-time 20-game winner with the Cubs and led the team to the 1929
and 1932 World Series, but he also hung out with Hack Wilson. When they weren’t
playing baseball, they were either drinking or brawling. The stories are
legendary. In Malone’s first season with the Cubs his roommate was Percy Jones.
They didn’t get along. Jones insisted on getting a new roommate after Malone
trapped some pigeons on a hotel ledge and put them in Jones’ bed as he slept.
One night Malone and Wilson got into a huge fist fight in a hotel. They were
walking down the hallway of their hotel, and Wilson laughed. Someone in a hotel
room mimicked his laugh. Wilson and Malone broke into the room and beat the
hell out of four men, until all of them were out cold. One of the men was still
standing and Malone kept punching. Wilson pointed out that he was already
knocked out. “Move the lamp and he’ll fall.” Malone moved the lamp, and the man
fell to the ground. It didn’t end well for either man. Wilson was only 48 years
old when he drank himself to death. Malone didn’t even last as long as Hack. He
was only 40 years old when he died in 1943.
Historical
note: On the day Andy Warhol was born in Pittsburgh (1928), Pat walked in the
winning run in the bottom of the ninth in a 4-3 Cubs loss to the Phillies in
Philadelphia.
***
September 27, 1876—Cubs win their first title
=This is the way I told that story at Justonebadcentury.com...
The last game of the first official National League season is played on September 27, 1876. The Chicago White Stockings (today’s Cubs) beat the Hartford Dark Blues 16-10. Because Chicago ends the season seven games ahead of the second place St. Louis Brown Stockings, they are declared the champions.
Among the players on that team: Hall of Famers Albert Spalding (a 47-game winner that season) and Cap Anson (below, who batted .356). Neither of them are the biggest star of that team, however. That honor goes to second baseman Ross Barnes, who leads the league in hitting (.429), runs, hits, doubles, triples, and walks.
Of course, modern day fans would barely recognize the 1876 game because they play with very different rules. Very different.
For instance, the pitchers mound is only 45 feet away from home plate. The pitchers throw underhand, and batters can request either high or low pitches. If a ball bounces over the fence, it’s a homer…and some fences are less than 200 feet away from home. It also takes nine balls to get a walk, and a foul ball is an out if it is caught on one bounce.
Like we said, very different.
But a championship is a championship, and no one can take away Chicago’s glorious 1876 title.
September
28, 1932—World Series begins
=A few photos and memories from that classic Yankees-Cubs World Series. The team photo. The official poster. And the official scorecard.
***
September 28, 1938—The Homer in the Gloamin
=As told at Justonebadcentury.com...
The second place Cubs were playing the first place Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field. It was the bottom of the ninth, the score was tied 5-5, and Cubs catcher Gabby Hartnett stepped to the plate.
The umpires were sure to call the game because of darkness if the Cubs didn’t score in the bottom of the inning. No one knows how Hartnett even saw that ball from Pittsburgh pitcher Mace Brown, but Gabby knocked it out of the park, in a moment that will always be remembered as the “Homer in the Gloamin.” The Cubs overtook the Pirates for first place, and clinched the pennant a few days later.
All these years later, “The Homer in the Gloamin'” remains the second most famous home run in Wrigley Field history.
