1977 Chicago Cubs
LeagueNational League
DivisionEast
BallparkWrigley Field
CityChicago
OwnersPhilip K. Wrigley, William Wrigley III
General managersBob Kennedy
ManagersHerman Franks
TelevisionWGN-TV
(Jack Brickhouse, Lou Boudreau)
RadioWGN
(Vince Lloyd, Lou Boudreau)
StatsESPN.com
BB-reference
Seasons

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

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

NL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Philadelphia Phillies 10161 0.623 — 60–21 41–40
Pittsburgh Pirates 9666 0.593 5 58–23 38–43
St. Louis Cardinals 8379 0.512 18 52–31 31–48
Chicago Cubs 8181 0.500 20 46–35 35–46
Montreal Expos 7587 0.463 26 38–43 37–44
New York Mets 6498 0.395 37 35–44 29–54

Record vs. opponents

1977 National League record

Sources:
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta —5–74–149–95–136–67–52–103–911–78–101–11
Chicago 7–5—7–56–66–610–89–96–127–117–59–37–11
Cincinnati 14–45–7—5–1310–87–510–28–43–911–710–85–7
Houston 9–96–613–5—9–98–46–64–84–88–109–95–7
Los Angeles 13–56–68–109–9—7–58–46–69–312–614–46–6
Montreal 6–68–105–74–85–7—10–87–117–115–76–612–6
New York 5–79–92–106–64–88–10—5–134–146–67–58–10
Philadelphia 10-212–64–88–46–611–713–5—8–109–39–311–7
Pittsburgh 9–311–79–38–43–911–714–410–8—10–22–109–9
San Diego 7–115–77–1110–86–127–56–63–92–10—8–108–4
San Francisco 10–83–98–109–94–146–65–73–910–210–8—7–5
St. Louis 11–111–77–57–56–66–1210–87–119–94–85–7—

Notable transactions

Roster

1977 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

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
CGeorge Mitterwald11034983.238943
1BBill Buckner122426121.2841160
2BManny Trillo152504141.280757
3BSteve Ontiveros156546163.2991068
SSIván DeJesús155624166.266340
LFJosé Cardenal10022654.239318
CFJerry Morales136490142.2901169
RFBobby Murcer154554147.2652789

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 Biittner138493147.2981262
Greg Gross11523977.322532
Gene Clines10123970.293341
Steve Swisher7420539.190515
Mick Kelleher6312228.230011
Dave Rosello568218.22019
Joe Wallis568020.25028
Mike Gordon8231.04302
Bobby Darwin11122.16700
Mike Sember341.25000
Randy Hundley240.00000
Mike Adams220.00000

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 Reuschel39252.020102.79166
Ray Burris39221.014164.72105
Bill Bonham34214.210134.36134
Mike Krukow34172.08144.40106

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 Roberts1753.0113.2323
Steve Renko1351.1224.5634
Dennis Lamp1130.0026.3012

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
Bruce Sutter6273311.34129
Paul Reuschel695644.3762
Willie Hernández678743.0378
Donnie Moore274204.0734
Pete Broberg221204.7520
Jim Todd201109.1017
Dave Giusti200216.0415
Ramón Hernández60018.224
Larry Biittner100040.503

Farm system

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 Ron Matney

Notes

  1. ↑ "The Ballplayers - Salty Saltwell | BaseballLibrary.com". Archived from the original on October 19, 2012. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  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. 1 2 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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