1977 Chicago Cubs season

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1977 Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs logo.svg
Major League affiliations
Location
  • Wrigley Field (since 1916)
  • Chicago (since 1870)
Other information
Owner(s)Philip K. Wrigley, William Wrigley III
General manager(s)Bob Kennedy
Manager(s)Herman Franks
Local televisionWGN-TV
(Jack Brickhouse, Lou Boudreau)
Local radioWGN
(Vince Lloyd, Lou Boudreau)
StatsESPN.com
BB-reference
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The 1977 Chicago Cubs season was the 106th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 102nd in the National League and the 62nd at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished fourth in the National League East with a record of 81–81, 20 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies.

Offseason[]

On November 24, 1976, Bob Kennedy was named head of baseball operations for the Cubs. His first move was to inform Jim Marshall that he was fired as manager. Salty Saltwell‚ after a year as general manager‚ was named secretary and director of park operations. After Leo Durocher turned down an offer from Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley to manage the Cubs for the 1977 season, Herman Franks‚ who had briefly been a Cubs coach under Leo Durocher‚ was named the new manager.[1]

Notable transactions[]

  • December 6, 1976: Willie Hernández was drafted by the Cubs from the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1976 rule 5 draft.[2]
  • December 8, 1976: Julio González was traded by the Cubs to the Houston Astros for Greg Gross.[3]
  • January 11, 1977: Rick Monday and Mike Garman were traded by Cubs to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Bill Buckner, Iván DeJesús and Jeff Albert (minors).[4]
  • January 17, 1977: Geoff Zahn was released by the Cubs.[5]
  • February 5, 1977: Darold Knowles was traded by the Cubs to the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later and cash. The Rangers completed the trade by sending Gene Clines to the Cubs on February 15.[6]
  • February 11, 1977: Bill Madlock and Rob Sperring were traded by the Cubs to the San Francisco Giants for Bobby Murcer, Steve Ontiveros, and Andy Muhlstock (minors).[7]
  • February 16, 1977: Champ Summers was traded by the Cubs to the Cincinnati Reds for Dave Schneck.[8]
  • February 28, 1977: Buddy Schultz was traded by the Cubs to the St. Louis Cardinals for Mark Covert (minors).[9]
  • March 15, 1977: Joe Coleman was traded by the Cubs to the Oakland Athletics for Jim Todd.[10]
  • March 15, 1977: Jerry Tabb was purchased from the Cubs by the Oakland Athletics.[11]
  • March 15, 1977: Jim Tyrone was traded by the Cubs to the Oakland Athletics for Gaylen Pitts.[12]

Regular season[]

In 1977, the franchise experienced one of its biggest collapses. The Cubs hit a high-water mark on June 28 at 47–22 with an 8½-game National League East lead led by Bobby Murcer, who had 27 home runs and 89 RBI overall during the season, and Rick Reuschel, who had a record of 20–10. However, the Philadelphia Phillies cut the lead to two by the All-Star break, as the Cubs sat 19 games over .500, and the Cubs swooned late in the season, going 20–40 after July 31, finishing in fourth place at 81–81.

On July 28, with the Cubs down 14–10 in the eighth inning of a game against the Cincinnati Reds, the Cubs pinch-hit for both of their middle infielders, replacing shortstop Iván DeJesús with José Cardenal and second baseman Mick Kelleher with Greg Gross. The Cubs scored three runs, making the score 14–13 going into the ninth inning. Since both replacements were typically outfielders, and the Cubs had just one player left on the bench who normally played middle infield to enter the game in the ninth inning, utilityman Dave Rosello, the Cubs allowed Cardenal to stay in the game and play second base while Rosello entered the game at shortstop. Rosello and Cardenal alternated between the two positions during the ninth inning depending on whether the batter was a left-handed or right-handed hitter. The Reds failed to score in the ninth, and the Cubs tied the game, forcing extra innings. At that point, the Cubs moved Cardenal to right field, and brought Bobby Murcer in to play the infield instead, continuing to flip-flop the positioning of Rosello and Murcer for the remainder of the game, which wound up going thirteen innings. In all, Rosello wound up switching positions twelve times, and Murcer eight times.[13][14]

Season standings[]

  • v
  • t
NL East 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Philadelphia Phillies 101 61 0.623 — 60–21 41–40
Pittsburgh Pirates 96 66 0.593 5 58–23 38–43
St. Louis Cardinals 83 79 0.512 18 52–31 31–48
Chicago Cubs 81 81 0.500 20 46–35 35–46
Montreal Expos 75 87 0.463 26 38–43 37–44
New York Mets 64 98 0.395 37 35–44 29–54

Record vs. opponents[]

1977 National League Records
  • v
  • t

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta — 5–7 4–14 9–9 5–13 6–6 7–5 2–10 3–9 11–7 8–10 1–11
Chicago 7–5 — 7–5 6–6 6–6 10–8 9–9 6–12 7–11 7–5 9–3 7–11
Cincinnati 14–4 5–7 — 5–13 10–8 7–5 10–2 8–4 3–9 11–7 10–8 5–7
Houston 9–9 6–6 13–5 — 9–9 8–4 6–6 4–8 4–8 8–10 9–9 5–7
Los Angeles 13–5 6–6 8–10 9–9 — 7–5 8–4 6–6 9–3 12–6 14–4 6–6
Montreal 6–6 8–10 5–7 4–8 5–7 — 10–8 7–11 7–11 5–7 6–6 12–6
New York 5–7 9–9 2–10 6–6 4–8 8–10 — 5–13 4–14 6–6 7–5 8–10
Philadelphia 10-2 12–6 4–8 8–4 6–6 11–7 13–5 — 8–10 9–3 9–3 11–7
Pittsburgh 9–3 11–7 9–3 8–4 3–9 11–7 14–4 10–8 — 10–2 2–10 9–9
San Diego 7–11 5–7 7–11 10–8 6–12 7–5 6–6 3–9 2–10 — 8–10 8–4
San Francisco 10–8 3–9 8–10 9–9 4–14 6–6 5–7 3–9 10–2 10–8 — 7–5
St. Louis 11–1 11–7 7–5 7–5 6–6 6–12 10–8 7–11 9–9 4–8 5–7 —


Notable transactions[]

  • April 20, 1977: The Cubs traded a player to be named later to the Seattle Mariners for Pete Broberg. The Cubs completed the deal by sending Jim Todd to the Mariners on October 25.[10]
  • May 28, 1977: Ramón Hernández was traded by the Cubs to the Boston Red Sox for Bobby Darwin.[15]
  • June 7, 1977: Terry Francona was drafted by the Cubs in the 2nd round of the 1977 Major League Baseball Draft, but did not sign.[16]
  • August 23, 1977: Bobby Darwin was released by the Cubs.[17]
  • September 28, 1977: Rudy Meoli was purchased by the Cubs from the Cincinnati Reds.[18]

Roster[]

1977 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager
  •  3 Herman Franks

Coaches

Player stats[]

Batting[]

Starters by position[]

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C George Mitterwald 110 349 83 .238 9 43
1B Bill Buckner 122 426 121 .284 11 60
2B Manny Trillo 152 504 141 .280 7 57
3B Steve Ontiveros 156 546 163 .299 10 68
SS Iván DeJesús 155 624 166 .266 3 40
LF José Cardenal 100 226 54 .239 3 18
CF Jerry Morales 136 490 142 .290 11 69
RF Bobby Murcer 154 554 147 .265 27 89

Other batters[]

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Larry Biittner 138 493 147 .298 12 62
Greg Gross 115 239 77 .322 5 32
Gene Clines 101 239 70 .293 3 41
Steve Swisher 74 205 39 .190 5 15
Mick Kelleher 63 122 28 .230 0 11
Dave Rosello 56 82 18 .220 1 9
Joe Wallis 56 80 20 .250 2 8
Mike Gordon 8 23 1 .043 0 2
Bobby Darwin 11 12 2 .167 0 0
Mike Sember 3 4 1 .250 0 0
Randy Hundley 2 4 0 .000 0 0
Mike Adams 2 2 0 .000 0 0

Pitching[]

Starting pitchers[]

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Rick Reuschel 39 252 20 10 2.79 166
Ray Burris 39 221 14 16 4.72 105
Bill Bonham 34 214.2 10 13 4.36 134
Mike Krukow 34 172 8 14 4.40 106

Other pitchers[]

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Dave Roberts 17 53 1 1 3.23 23
Steve Renko 13 51.1 2 2 4.56 34
Dennis Lamp 11 30 0 2 6.30 12

Relief pitchers[]

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Paul Reuschel 69 5 6 4 4.37 62
Willie Hernández 67 8 7 4 3.03 78
Bruce Sutter 62 7 3 31 1.34 129
Donnie Moore 27 4 2 0 4.07 34
Pete Broberg 22 1 2 0 4.75 20
Jim Todd 20 1 1 0 9.10 17
Dave Giusti 20 0 2 1 6.04 15
Ramón Hernández 6 0 0 1 8.22 4
Larry Bittner 1 0 0 0 40.50 3

Farm system[]

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Wichita Aeros American Association Harry Dunlop
AA Midland Cubs Texas League Jim Saul
A Pompano Beach Cubs Florida State League Jack Hiatt
A-Short Season Geneva Cubs New York–Penn League Bob Hartsfield
Rookie GCL Cubs Gulf Coast League

Notes[]

  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 19, 2012. Retrieved 2009-07-15.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ Willie Hernández page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Julio González page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Bill Buckner page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Geoff Zahn page at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Darold Knowles page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Bill Madlock page at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ Champ Summers page at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ Buddy Schultz page at Baseball Reference
  10. ^ a b Jim Todd page at Baseball Reference
  11. ^ Jerry Tabb page at Baseball Reference
  12. ^ Jim Tyrone page at Baseball Reference
  13. ^ Yankee for Life, Bobby Murcer and Glen Waggoner, p.105, Harper Collins, 2008, New York, ISBN 978-0-06-147342-5
  14. ^ July 28, 1977, box score from Baseball-Reference
  15. ^ Ramón Hernández page at Baseball Reference
  16. ^ Terry Francona page at Baseball Reference
  17. ^ Bobby Darwin page at Baseball Reference
  18. ^ Rudy Meoli page at Baseball Reference

References[]

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