I was there. Still have the ticket stubs. Took the day off of work and brought my four year old son to the game. He is still a big cubs fan, it’s in our genes. It’s also the day he learned that if you raise your hand and shout they bring you ice cream, popcorn and peanuts.
It was much more. Wood gave up only 1 base runner: Ricky Gutiérrez reached on a bang-bang infield single. If Gutiérrez hadn’t beat that out, Wood mighta pitched a perfect game with 19 strikeouts. There would have been a good argument for that being the greatest pitching performance ever.
...and he wasn't matched up against a bad expansion team, he faced some real good hitters that day and they just stood there with no answers whatsoever. Will never forget it.
Died that January. It was supposed to be him and Chip tag teaming, with Harry only doing home games and Cardinals/Braves away games. If you look closely enough you’ll see the Harry memorial patch.
I never watched the Cubs but for some reason when I got home from school that day I decided to watch the Cubs. Then a few years later I decided to go to the bar and watch the Brewers game, something I rarely did, Ben Sheets struck out 18 that day.
If I recall, he also screwed up his knee in his first offseason, which messed up his delivery, and he pitched with a blown out rotator cuff that went undiagnosed until after he retired. Sports medicine wasn't very advanced back then.
It's weird..I can't remember why I went into the kitchen a few minutes ago but I remember where I was when I watched this game on I believe WGN at the time.
Comments
Probably Chip & Steve calling the game,
Sosa still working on his discipline at the plate.
His injury was another sad loss to sports,
like Bo Jackson or Derrick Rose.
Unfortunately, never the same after the Tommy John surgery.