Creative Ways to Lose

Pirates at Cubs: April 21, 1949

Creative Ways to Lose

You might remember that famous Tolstoy quote: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

Well, the 1949 Cubs are certainly an unhappy family, and they sure seem to be unhappy in their own unique way.

You might recall their last game, in which the rather obscure Pirate pitcher Bill Werle held the Cubs to a single baserunner over 9 innings. Werle, well known for his interest in entomology, apparently had some kind of insect bore holes through those Chicago bats.

Well, things didn’t start off all that well for the Cubs this time out, either. It was Tiny Bonham’s turn to hold the Cubs in check, and he kept them hitless until the bottom of the 3rd.

Fielding Woes

You know things aren’t going to go your way when you make plays like this:

The whole game was like this. The Cubs would get an occasional base hit, but figure out a way to have the runner thrown out. And it seemed that the Pirates simply could do no wrong.

Unexpected Drama

And then, suddenly, there was a glimmer of hope.

Pittsburgh went into the bottom of the 9th with a 4-0 lead. Chicago had only managed 2 runs in the 3 game series so far, and had looked simply awful. I thought this was going to be another simple, somewhat boring Cubs loss.

I was wrong.

Chicago had managed only 3 infield hits all game by this point. However, the Cubs started to get to Bonham, piecing together two straight hits with one out. That brought up pinch hitter Jim Kirby — yet another obscure player:

That one really woke me up. The Pirates made a pitching change, bringing veteran Bob Muncrief to the mound to try to put it away. Roy Smalley flied out, bringing up pinch hitter Hank Schenz:

Poor Hank!