History (albeit ancient) says Cubs hold on

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By Don Doxsie | Saturday, August 30, 2008 8:10 PM CDT | () comments

In case you hadn’t noticed, the Chicago Cubs are going to be in first place on Sept. 1.

The big question: Will they still be there Oct. 5, when baseball’s regular season finally grinds to a halt?

Yes. Probably. Most likely.

Although the Cubs have a reputation as the franchise that folds for you, they really have been a pretty good September team in their long history.

They frequently have swooned in June and faded in May, but they’ve actually had some Septembers to remember.

Consider this: It will be the 14th time the Cubs have been in first place on Sept. 1, but it would be the 15th time they have won a league or division title. That’s a pretty good percentage.

There have been four times — 1908, 1935, 1938 and 2003 — when they trailed Sept. 1 but came back to finish first. In 1935, they won 21 games in a row in September to come from third place and pass the Cardinals. In 1938, they were in fourth place, seven games behind Pittsburgh, but came back to win the pennant thanks to Gabby Hartnett’s legendary “Homer in the Gloamin.” They also were third in 2003 before rallying to win their division, only to have the postseason tainted by that infamous Bartman play.

They did choke away

Sept. 1 leads in 1930, 1937 and 1969, although in each of those cases there was another team that played .700-plus ball in September to roar past them. In two of those seasons, the Cubs were .500 or better in the final month.

Don’t ask about 1969. The memory of that season probably is a big reason for the Cubs’ collapse-down-the-stretch image.

Admittedly, most of this is ancient history. What Three-Finger Brown, Hack Wilson and Jolly Cholly Grimm did in September has very little to do with how Fonzie, D-Lee and Woody handle the pressure of a pennant race.

o o o

Once upon a time the decathlon was one of the focal points of the Olympics. Whoever won often was the biggest star of the entire Games, especially if it happened to be an American.

So it was curious that the gold medal achievements of Bryan Clay were nearly lost in the hoopla over Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, Shawn Johnson and others in Beijing.

It might be because the Olympics have become a made-for-TV event and the decathlon doesn’t translate well to the tube. It’s 10 events over a two-day period, and it seldom has the same degree of drama or controversy as gymnastics and swimming.

o o o

It was sort of amusing to watch former Cardinals and Dodgers star Pedro Guerrero at last week’s “Legends’’ home run contest at Modern Woodmen Park.

When Guerrero first came out of the dugout for batting practice, a young autograph-seeker yelled, “Hey, Pedro.’’ “My name isn’t ‘Hey,’ ’’ Guerreo grumbled and kept walking.

He didn’t do very well at the plate and didn’t seem to enjoy the event at all.

It really probably is unfair to expect a 52-year-old man to hit the ball out of the park. Heck, Babe Ruth died when he was 53.

Don Doxsie can be contacted at (563) 383-2280 or ddoxsie@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.