The Cubs began their third season under the control of the
Tribune Company and
Dallas Green in Mesa, Arizona in February 1984. The previous year, the Cubs had fired manager
Lee Elia during a 71–91 campaign, but the Cubs showed flashes of being competitive. As late as July 4, the Cubs were within a game of first place. After the 1983 season, general manager Green hired
Jim Frey, the former
Kansas City Royals manager who was Green's adversary during the 1980 World Series.
The Cubs struggled in
Cactus League action, so Green began to rebuild the team before it left Mesa. Green began by releasing
Ferguson Jenkins, who was just 16 games shy of winning 300 games. Jenkins' release ended the right-hander's second stint with the Cubs, and effectively, his career. Green's biggest move of the spring came on March 26, when he sent journeyman reliever
Bill Campbell and catcher
Mike Diaz to
Philadelphia for pitcher
Porfi Altamirano and outfielders
Gary Matthews and
Bob Dernier.
The Cubs opened up the season going 12-8 in April, and were tied for first place with the
New York Mets and a half-game ahead of the
Philadelphia Phillies.
On May 27 against the
Cincinnati Reds in
Wrigley Field,
third basemanRon Cey hit what was originally ruled a home run down the
left field line. Believing the ball had gone foul, Mario Soto and Reds manager
Vern Rapp disputed the call, and during the argument, Soto shoved third base
umpireSteve Rippley, who had made the call. After conferring, the umpires changed their decision and ruled it a foul ball, drawing a protest from the Cubs. However, for shoving Rippley, Soto was ejected, prompting him to charge the field and attack Cubs coach
Don Zimmer, which triggered a ten-minute
brawl. Four days later, National League president
Chub Feeney suspended Mario Soto for five games. This game is also notable because Soto's opponent that day was
Dennis Eckersley, who would go on to become a record-setting
closer years later. "Eck", who was making his Cubs debut after being acquired in a trade with the
Boston Red Sox (the Cubs traded
Bill Buckner and got Eckersley and then-
minor league middle infielder
Mike Brumley), would take the loss that day.[7]
The race stayed tight through the first half of the season, with the Cubs and Phillies tied at 42-34 on June 30, with the Mets trailing by just one and a half games. The second half of the season was different, with the Cubs posting a 54-31 record, with the Mets trailing, and the Phillies slumping back to a .500 record.[8]
A key game during the season occurred on June 23 at Wrigley, with the Cubs facing the rival
St. Louis Cardinals on the nationally televised "game of the week". The Cardinals led throughout the game, and led 9-8 going into the bottom of the ninth with closer
Bruce Sutter on the mound. Twenty-four-year-old second baseman
Ryne Sandberg led off the ninth with a solo home run into the left-field bleachers, tying the game at nine.[9] The following inning, St. Louis regained the lead, and Sutter stayed in the game attempting to close out the win. After the first two batters were retired,
Bob Dernier walked, bringing up Sandberg again. He promptly hit another game-tying home run into the left-field bleachers, sending the Wrigley fans into a frenzy.[9] The Cardinals did not score in the top of the 11th, but the Cubs loaded the bases on three walks, then rookie Dave Owen singled in the winning run.[10] Ryne Sandberg had 7 RBI in the game. Henceforth, this game has become known as "The Sandberg Game". On September 3, 1984, Rick Sutcliffe had 15 strikeouts in a game against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Cubs
ended their playoff drought on September 24 at
Three Rivers Stadium in front of just over 5,000 fans, many of whom were Cubs fans.[11] Rick Sutcliffe threw a two-hit complete game for his sixteenth straight victory, and the Cubs won the National League East.[11]
July 2, 1984:
Dickie Noles was traded by the Cubs to the
Texas Rangers for players to be named later. The Rangers completed the deal by sending Tim Henry (minors) and Jorge Gomez (minors) to the Cubs on December 11.[15]
Before the season began, Grammy-award winning artist
Steve Goodman recorded the tune "Go Cubs Go" which was played as the lead-in music for the radio broadcast on
WGN radio. Goodman, who died just days before the Cubs clinched the division, also recorded "A Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request". Since the 2007 season, the song has been played at Wrigley Field after victories; the practice continues to this day.[16]
The home games always began with the popular
Van Halen song "
Jump".
A theory is that the Cubs were deprived of home-field advantage for the 1984 National League Championship Series (NLCS) because they could not host night games. There are accounts of MLB executives becoming frustrated throughout the 1984 MLB season and when it started to become clear in mid-August that the Cubs were very likely going to win the division, TV money was at stake. The networks then covering postseason games — NBC and ABC — could have lost millions if they had to cover those games at the then-lightless Wrigley Field on weekday afternoons. This was considered by MLB moguls to be important for the World Series and ultimately leads some to believe there may have been collusion leading to the Cubs losing three straight games to the
San Diego Padres.
However, from 1969 to 1984, the LCS were five-game series played in a 2-3 format. The NL West and AL East champs hosted the first two games in odd years and the NL East and the AL West hosted the first two games in even years. Thus, no changes were made to the NLCS schedule due to Wrigley Field's lack of lights.[17]
It is true that Major League Baseball announced in August 1984 that if the Cubs were to make the World Series, the first game would be moved to the American League park, to maximize the television revenues from night games. In 1984, the series was to be a seven-game series in a 2-3-2 format with the NL hosting the first two and last two games.[18]San Diego won the series, 3–2.
Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America.
ISBN978-0-9637189-8-3.