1967 Chicago Cubs - 87-74 (14 GB)

1967 Chicago Cubs - 87-74 (14 GB)

For 19 of the previous 20 seasons the hapless Cubbies did not finish over .500.  Then in 1966 they brought Leo Durocher back out of moth balls and he proceeded to do the unthinkable:  He made the Cubbies worse.  In fact he made them drop from 8th place to 10th and in the process dislodged the expansion Mets from their ownership of last place.  What many failed to realize was the fact that Leo the Lip had a plan.  1967 saw the Cubs rebound and win 28 more games than they did the previous season.  There was talent in both the major league and minor league level and Durocher was about to blend it into contention.  The Cubs shocked the North Side by rebounding from a slow start to stick with the Cardinals and eventually gain a share of the NL lead 3 times.  On July 24th the Cubbies stood atop the NL tied with the Cards, but then it all came crashing down thanks to a 7 game losing streak to start their annual August swoon.  The Cardinals meanwhile, went on an incredible run and won over 100 games and cruised to the pennant, but the Cubs had themselves a nice nucleus.

STRENGTHS:  3 future HOF'er in their every day lineup.  Ernie Banks (.276-23-95) showed no signs of slowing down since his shift from shortstop to first.  Billy Williams (.278-28-84) was a fixture in left field and Ron Santo (.300-31-98) was putting up Eddie Mathews numbers duing an offensively depressed era in baseball.  Lost in the shuffle was Adolfo Phillips (.268-17-70) seasons.  Phillips manned centerfield, stole 24 bases and angered Durocher so much he eventually wound up in Leo's dog house, which might have cost them the pennant 2 years later.

  

WEAKNESSES:  Other than Phillips, this team had almost no foot speed.  Having Ted Savage (.218-5-33) and Lee Thomas (.220-2-23) platooning in right field put a gaping hole in their lienup.

PITCHING:  24 year old Ferguson Jenkins was coming into his own as the team's ace (20-13, 2.80).  Rich Nye (13-10, 3.20) gave Durocher 205 innings.  The rest of the staff was a mix and match adventure.  21 year old rookie lefty Ken Holtzman was 9-0, 2.53 in his 12 starts after being called up.

BULLPEN:  The pen was solid, but not spectacular.  Chuck Hartenstein (9-5, 3.08, 10 sv) would be considered the closer.  Bill Hands (7-8, 2.46) saw more action (150 innings), but he was more valuable as a swingman than a pure reliever.  Former Red Sox fireball Dick Radatz (1-0, 6.56, 5 sv) was shot.  He started out as the closer, but was eventually replace by Hartenstein.

BENCH:  Zero pop on this bench.  In fact nobody hit higher than retread Al Spangler's .254.  Thankfully Randy Hundley caught 152 games, because backup John Boccabella hit just .171.

My buddy Jeff created the 1967 Cubs team set with some fantastic new photos.  Below are some of the key recreations that he made.