The Cubs-Sox Series Brings City’s Sports Fans Back to Reality

The Blackhawks’ white-knuckle Stanley Cup victory was uplifting in its own right, but it also merits props for diverting our attention from a truly crummy local baseball season.

How fitting that a trophy named for the most egregious polluter in modern history — the BP Cup — was on the line as the annual six-game City Series began Friday at Wrigley Field. The main stage was downtown, at the Blackhawks’ victory parade. Cubs-Sox was dinner theater, or lunch, at Wrigleyville.

At least fans of the wheezing, third-place White Sox and the gasping, third-place Cubs can take heart in knowing that things have been much worse on both sides of town, simultaneously.

Bob Vanderberg, an author and historian, cites 1948 as Chicago’s worst baseball season. The Cubs were 17-30 on June 11 and finished 64-90, dead last in the National League. Their Roy Smalley-led infield committed 117 errors, leading to 98 unearned runs and problems for a team that only scored 3.8 runs a game.

The manager was the appropriately named Charlie Grimm.

The White Sox were 12-30 on June 11, 1948, and finished even deader last in the American League, 51-101 and 44 1/2 games behind the pennant-winning Cleveland Indians. Manager Ted Lyons’s thumpers batted .251 for the year and slugged 55 homers, 18 by outfielder Pat Seerey. Pitcher Bill Wight went 9-20, which said it all for a staff that had a 4.89 earned-run average and not a single winning record.

I remember waking up feeling fuzzy on July 4, 1977, and neither fireworks nor picnic refreshments were responsible — the Cubs and the White Sox were
leading their respective divisions. It meant nothing. The Cubs would go 33-54 after the holiday and finish fourth at 81-81. The “South Side Hit Men” Sox were 30-25 on June 11 and would get to 62-38 before a 28-34 finish dragged them down to 90-72 and third place.

If you don’t remember 1986, you might not care to. Two years after winning a division title, the Cubs were 70-90 and finished fifth, 37 games out of first
place as an injury-depleted starting rotation went 25-43. One highlight: Jamie Moyer, a 23-year-old rookie, made his debut with a 7-4 record. Now 47, Moyer is still fooling ‘em for Philadelphia.

The White Sox, three years removed from a division title, went 72-90 in 1986 and also placed fifth, a performance that cost Manager Tony La Russa his job after 64 games and a 26-38 record. Eleven pitchers started games, including 41-year-old Tom Seaver (2-6) and 41- year-old Steve Carlton (4-3). Ozzie Guillen, the 22-year-old shortstop, batted .250 with a robust .265 on-base percentage.

Was it really just two years ago that the Cubs and the White Sox were both in the playoffs as division winners? Seems like ancient history, with a remote chance of repeating soon.

But what do we care? We’re a hockey town.