CHICAGO — The first Chicago Cubs-Cincinnati Reds game in the National League was the start of a long and crazy rivalry.
The Cubs, then nicknamed the White Stockings, scored seven runs in the top of the ninth inning of an 11-6 win on April 29, 1876.
“This game was by no means the perfection of fielding,” the Chicago Tribune reported the next day. “But it was nevertheless one of the finest games ever played, as showing the power of sharp self-possessed ball-players to turn defeat into victory.”
Fast forward 150 years, and a self-possessed player named Pete Crow-Armstrong homered three times to power the Cubs to a 17-5 win over the Reds before a packed house at Wrigley Field and a who’s who of all-time franchise greats.
It was not one of the finest games ever played, but it had a little bit of everything — nostalgia, Crow-Armstrong, five Cubs home runs, a ball swallowed by the ivy and a dozens of ovations for heroes of the past and present.
Crow-Armstrong, 24, said he was intimidated by taking pregame batting practice with icons Billy Williams and Sammy Sosa around the cage, and also “got to geek out a little bit” by meeting one of his childhood heroes, Alfonso Soriano.
“Great vibes in the cage before the game, and all those guys were hanging out like they were back in the clubhouse and back in uniform,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Glad they all got to be back here.”
The day began with a dedication of a clock outside the park and continued with a pregame ceremony honoring the 150-year anniversary team, for which fans voted.
“It’s like a pinch-me moment,” former first baseman Anthony Rizzo said of being introduced alongside Williams, Sosa, Greg Maddux, Kerry Wood, Randy Hundley, José Cardenal and other all-timers.
The Cubs brought back many of the all-time players, including Hall of Famers Maddux, Williams, Lee Smith, Fergie Jenkins and Andre Dawson. Late second baseman Ryne Sandberg received the loudest ovation when his name was announced and his photo displayed on the video board. Former Cub Kris Bryant, currently on the IL with the Colorado Rockies, was probably a close second.
Maddux threw the ceremonial first pitch, sailing it high and wide to provide everyone with a laugh. He stopped by the press box to confer with scoreboard operator “Quick Rick” Fuhs, whom he remembered from the grounds crew when Maddux performed his famous belly flop on the tarp during a rain delay at Wrigley’s first night game Aug. 8, 1988.
The Cubs played a 150-year tribute video before the game with a Bruce Springsteen soundtrack, highlights of great moments and photos from Wrigley that included everyone from Al Capone to Yosh Kawano to Ronald Reagan to Babe Ruth to Eddie Vedder. After the introductions, the players gathered in a Cubs suite, receiving another ovation when shown on the board after the “Legends of the Game” video. Cardenal, with the help of Ryan Dempster, led the singing during the seventh-inning stretch, and more applause.
In the bottom of the first, Crow-Armstrong led off with his first home run. Sosa told him beforehand he wanted “to see three (homers) out of you.”
Crow-Armstrong obliged with a two-run shot in the second and a three-run blast in the seventh for the first three-home-run game of his career. He finished 4 for6 with six RBIs and four runs scored.
“I love that kind of stuff,” he said of Sosa’s challenge. “Weird (s—) like that happens in this game. That’s coming from a guy that I don’t know how many times he’s done that and we all know how many homers he’s got. I guess he was feeling pretty good today too.”
Sosa, by the way, did it six times in his career. And yes, he was feeling pretty good. Sosa was back blowing air kisses and doing heart taps like it was 1998 all over again. His 20-year exile from the organization that ended last summer was all water under the bridge.
“It’s like a marriage,” Sosa said. “Sometimes you get mad with your wife and you go away but then you come back and love her. So hey, you put everything behind you and move forward. So I feel (good), the way they’re treating me. I’m glad that we’ve come to (a reconciliation) and stayed together and put our differences aside, and right now we’re happy.”
Joe Maddon, one of three all-time managers voted onto the 150-year team along with Leo Durocher and Frank Chance, was absent because of a prior commitment. Some obvious all-time Cubs players weren’t voted in, including Ben Zobrist, the 2016 World Series MVP, and Carlos Zambrano, who ranks second on the franchise’s all-time strikeout list.
Sosa said he wished “Big Z” had made the final cut.
“But hey, it’s not about us,” Sosa said.
Well, actually it was all about them. The players — and the ballpark — made the Cubs into a franchise that’s unique in baseball history.
Oh, and the losing, of course. That wasn’t mentioned much during the festivities.
The first 69 of those 150 years saw the Cubs win 16 National League pennants and only two championships, in 1907 and ‘08. The last 80 years have been kind of rough — one NL pennant and title in 2016.
This year the Cubs are in position to get back to the postseason, with Crow-Arnstrong having an MVP-caliber season. He’s truly the heir apparent to Sosa when it comes to sheer marketability and no doubt would’ve made the all-time team, which included teammates Ian Happ and Nico Hoerner, if the voting were conducted now.
Rizzo said it was perfect scripting for Crow-Armstrong to go on a home-run-hitting binge on the day the all-time Cubs were celebrated at Wrigley.
“Yeah, it’s a magical place,” Rizzo said.
Crow-Armstrong came up in the eighth against catcher Jose Trevino with a chance of making Cubs history. He admitted to thinking home run. But throwing all knuckleballs at Crow-Armstrong, Trevino retired him on a grounder to second.
Crow-Armstrong walked off to another standing ovation, then waved his helmet in acknowledgement. He now has 36 home runs and 32 stolen bases and could become the first 40-40 player in Cubs history. His 9.1 fWAR is fifth-highest in Cubs history, with 26 games remaining to catch Rogers Hornsby’s 11.0 WAR in 1929.
“Everybody is starting to ask a lot of questions about WAR now,” he said. “I don’t know how I feel about WAR.”
WAR? What is it good for? Perhaps an MVP award, though Crow-Armstrong said he’s not paying attention to such talk. Eleven Cubs have won an MVP award, including six since 1958: Ernie Banks (1958 and ’59), Sandberg (1984), Dawson (1987), Sosa (1998) and Bryant (2016).
Speaking of which, where does Sosa slot in with the other greats in Cubs history?
“In heaven,” he replied, laughing at his own joke.
Sosa wouldn’t say where he slotted in but said he was “happy (fans) recognized that I really was a person who played every day” and worked hard.
“So today I’m grateful to be among the greats,” he said.
The rest of the Cubs greats concurred.
“To be part of Cubs history, it’s a great honor,” Rizzo said. “The guys before me set up the stage for us, and we set up the stage for Nico and Ian, and they’re setting up the stage for PCA and the next generation. So it’s really cool to be around so many generations like that.”
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