Tag / Keith Moreland

by admin

And Print It!

Former Cubs manager Lee Elia, who became an infamous part of baseball history following an epic rant in 1983, passed away Tuesday just shy of his 88th birthday.  Born in Philadelphia, Elia spent all of his short major league career in Chicago, in 1966 with the White Sox and in 1968 with the Cubs.  Following the end of his playing career, Elia was a coach for the Phillies in 1980 and 1981 under manager Dallas Green.  When Green was hired by the Tribune Company to be their new executive vice president and general manager for the recently acquired Cubs, he hired Elia to be the team’s new manager.

With an influx of former Phillies on the roster, the Cubs finished 73-89 in 1982, their first season under Elia.  1983 didn’t start much better and, after a tough 4-3 loss to the Dodgers dropped them to a 5-14 record on April 29th, Keith Moreland and Larry Bowa were verbally assaulted by a fan.  In his cramped office, with a small number of reporters peppering him with questions, Elia went off.  in his tirade, Elia had plenty to say about the denizens who took in day baseball every day.

What … what the fuck am I supposed to do? Go out there and let my fuckin’ players get destroyed every day, and be quiet about it? For the fuckin’ nickel/dime people that show up? The motherfuckers don’t even work! That’s why they’re out at the fuckin’ game! They ought to get a fuckin’ job and find out what it’s like to go out and earn a fuckin’ living. Eighty-five percent of the fuckin’ world is working. The other fifteen come out here.

Surprisingly, Elia survived the ordeal, but not the season.  He was fired on August 22nd after saying he had never heard of a Braves rookie, Gerald Perry, who had just gone 4-for-9 with a home run and six RBI in a three-game sweep.  Elia returned to the Phillies organization, managing in the minor leagues and rejoining the big-league club’s coaching staff.  In 1987, he was named manager of the Phillies, going 51-50 after taking over the club.  He was retained for 1988, but a 65–96 record and a last place finish in the NL East led to his dismissal.

Regardless of his success, or lack thereof, on the diamond, he will always be a baseball immortal thanks to his off-the-cuff remarks on a late April afternoon in the bowels of Wrigley Field.

by admin

The Hall Comes Calling

Cubs radio play-by-play man Pat Hughes was awarded the 2023 Ford C. Frick Award yesterday, presented annually for excellence in broadcasting by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.  Hughes, who joined the Cubs booth in 1996, will have spent 28 of his 41 seasons as a broadcaster for the Cubs after starting his career with the Twins in 1983 followed by a twelve-season run with the Brewers.

Hughes joined the Cubs booth in 1996, joining long time color commentator, and Cub legend, Ron Santo.  The chemistry between the two grew to the point where their broadcasts came to be known as “The Pat and Ron Show”.  Following Santo’s death in 2010, Hughes has worked alongside former Cubs Keith Moreland and Ron Coomer.

Along the way, Hughes has called many memorable moments, including eight no-hitters, the 25-inning contest between the White Sox and the Brewers which remains the longest game in American League history, Kerry Wood’s 20-strikeout game in 1998, Mark McGwire’s record-breaking 62nd home run in 1998, and, of course, the final out clinching the Cubs 2016 World Series title.

Hughes, 67, is the sixth announcer with ties to Chicago to earn the honor, following Ken Harrelson, Milo Hamilton, Harry Caray, Jack Brickhouse, and Bob Elson.

by admin

By The Numbers – 54

In 1929, uniform numbers appeared on the back of baseball jerseys for the first time, thanks to the Indians and the Yankees.  By 1937, numbers finally appeared across all uniforms, both home and away, across both major leagues.  Since that time, 81 distinct numbers have been worn by members of the White Sox, while the Cubs boast 76.

Today, we continue our look at those players, picking our favorite, if not the best, player to wear each uniform number for both Chicago teams with #54.  30 players have donned #554 while playing in Chicago, 18 for the White Sox and 16 for the Cubs.

I guess if a Hall of Famer wears the same number on both sides of town, he should be the pick, no?  Rich “Goose” Gossage was selected by the White Sox in the 9th round of the 1970 draft.  He made his debut in April of 1972 against the Royals and spent most of the next four seasons in the bullpen for the White Sox, culminating with an All Star appearance and 26 saves in 1975.  So, of course, in 1976, he was moved in to the starting rotation, going 9-17 with a 3.94 ERA in 29 starts, though he did earn his second straight All Star appearance.  Following the season, as Bill Veeck tried to find a way to use free agency to his advantage, Gossage was traded, along with Terry Forster, to the Pirates for Richie Zisk, who was entering his walk year.

After becoming one of the most dominant stoppers of the late 70s and early 80s, Gossage returned to Chicago in 1988, when he was acquired by the Cubs from the Padres in exchange for Mike Brumley and Keith Moreland.  In 46 appearances, he went 4-4 with a 4.33 ERA, earning only 13 saves.  He was released towards the end of spring training in 1989.


Gossage returned to Chicago as a visitor in 1991 and gave up a walk-off grand slam to Robin Ventura in what might just be my favorite regular season home run.  He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2008.

by jim

Cub News Abounds

rich_renteria_piratesYesterday was a busy day at the corner of Clark and Addison, as three different news stories broke about the Chicago Cubs.

1) Word broke early in the day yesterday that the Cubs are set to name Rick (formerly Rich) Renteria as their new manager today.  Renteria most recently was the bench coach for the Padres.  The hope is that he will be able to better communicate with the rising Latin American prospects because he is bi-lingual.

I’m not sure what to make of this hire. It seems foolish to hang a hiring decision solely on what languages a guy can speak, but hopefully Renteria brings a little more to the table than that.

2) The Cubs notified WGN that they are opting out of their current television deal following the 2014 season.  The station has 30 days to agree to a higher rights payment determined by a third party consultant hired by both WGN and the Cubs.  If they do not, the Cubs are able to take the 70 game package to the open market.

There doesn’t seem to be much of an option on free TV other than the current setup, and their deal with Comcast Sports Net prohibits them from going to another cable channel, so the odds are that they re-up, at least until 2019.  At that point, the CSN deal will also be up and the Cubs can start looking at creating their own network similar to NESN or YES.

3) As if that wasn’t enough, word broke yesterday afternoon that Keith Moreland, who took over the color analyst spot on WGN following the death of Ron Santo, would not be returning for a fourth season.  In a statement released by WGN, Moreland said that he wishes to spend more time back home in Texas.

I must admit that I have not listened to a lot of Cubs baseball these past few years, but Moreland seemed like he was doing a good job, certainly a more competent one than his predecessor.  Reaction to this news on the Interwebs, however, would indicate that Cub fandom was not enamored with his work and are happy to see him go.