Jenkins Gets 15th Win as Cubs Close in on '69 All-Star Game

Hall-of-Famer Fergie Jenkins defeated the Washington Senators 3-2 as the Cubs notched their 61st win before the 1969 All-Star Game.

Jenkins pitched like an all-star versus the Senators, scattering eight hits and striking out eight batters in besting Washington's Dick Bosman. The victory came on the heels of Dick Selma's two-hit shutout the day before, as he won 4-0 against the Senators and the Cubs neared the end of their interleague schedule.

Interleague play hasn't necessarily been a blessing for the Cubs as they've compiled just an average 15-12 record heading into a three-game set with Seattle in their final interleague matchup. That compares to a 46-22 record against their traditional NL rivals.

Overall, the replay Cubs stand at 61-34 after 95 decisions, compared to 59-36 in real life.

The Cubs continue to rely on strong pitching and timely hitting. In addition to Jenkins at 15-5, Ken Holtzman has a record of 13-7 and Bill Hands stands at 11-6. Phil Regan and Ted Abernathy each have six saves out of the bullpen.

Billy Williams and Ron Santo are leading the offense. Williams is batting .325 with 12 home runs, 63 RBI and 50 runs scored. Santo's batting average keeps rising -- he's now at .272 -- and he leads the team in home runs with 14 and RBI with 64. He has scored 45 runs and leads the team in on-base percentage at .384.

Leadoff hitter Don Kessinger leads the team in runs scored with 60, to go along with his .275 batting average. The Cubs also have benefited from the return of Glenn Beckert from an injury that kept him out of about 30 games. He is hitting .314 in the number-two spot and has scored 39 runs.

Rightfielder Jim Hickman has had a number of key hits in recent weeks, raising his average to .261, with 12 home runs and 39 RBI. Randy Hundley has been steady behind the plate, also batting .261 with 35 runs scored and 41 RBI.

Hall-of-Famer Ernie Banks is starting to get it going. He now has 8 home runs and 31 RBI.

Here are some of the highlights from other recent games:

June 27: Steve Carlton of the Cards out-duels Holtzman, winning 4-2 at Wrigley Field. Lou Brock iced it with a home run in the ninth inning.

June 28-29: The Cubs win two out of three games against the Yankees, including a 7-2 win by Jenkins in the first game of a Sunday doubleheader at Wrigley Field.

July 1: Santo drives in two runs with a single in the top of the 11th inning to lead the Cubs over the Orioles 7-5. Beckert went 4-for-6 with two runs and two RBI in his return to the lineup. The Orioles went on to win the next two games.

July 8: Jenkins shuts out the A's 6-0 to snap a six-game losing streak. Yikes! Jenkins beat Catfish Hunter in another showdown between hall-of-fame pitchers.

July 10: Hickman hit a two-run homer and the Cubs rally for three runs in the eighth inning to beat the A's and win two of three games at the Oakland Coliseum.

July 12: Santo hits a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Cubs beat the White Sox 7-2. Santo had four RBI, Banks added a home run, and the Cubs ended up going 3-3 against their cross-town rivals.

Note: Here are the up-to-date stats for my Cubs replay.

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Interleague Schedule Can't Slow '69 Cubs

With a three-game sweep of the Red Sox, the Cubs pushed their record to an incredible 53-19 in a replay of the team's memorable 1969 season.

The latest victory was a 5-4 walk-off win in the 21st inning as Jim Qualls singled off Fred Wenz to bring home Jim Hickman, who had led off the inning with single. Dick Selma got the win for the Cubs, who were led by Hall-of-Famers Billy Williams and Ernie Banks, who each tallied five hits and a home run.

The win over Boston raised Chicago's interleague record to 7-2, including a pair of victories over Detroit and two wins over the crosstown rival White Sox. In this replay, the Cubs will play 30 interleague games in all, six against the White Sox. (Of course, it wouldn't be until 1997 that the Cubs would play an interleague game for real!)

The Cubs continue to be led by their strong starting trio of Fergie Jenkins (11-4), Bill Hands (10-4) and Ken Holtzman (13-4). Each has thrown three shutouts and they have totalled 37 complete games! Ted Abernathy has 4 wins and 6 saves out of the bullpen to go along with Phil Regan's 3 wins and 5 saves.

Leadoff man Don Kessinger has ignited the offense with his .295 average and 53 runs scored.

Williams and Ron Santo have buoyed the center of the lineup -- Williams is hitting .335 with 9 home runs and 52 RBI; Santo leads the team with 10 home runs and has driven in 48 runners. Willie Smith has 9 home runs in his part-time role.

Paul Popovich has admirably filled in for the injured Glenn Beckert since being acquired in a trade with the Dodgers. In 16 games, Popo is batting .288 with 11 runs and 11 RBI. After his slow start, Hickman continues to provide punch at the bottom of the lineup with 8 home runs and 30 RBI.

Next up for the Cubs are games against division rivals Pittsburgh and St. Louis before hosting a three-game set versus the Yankees at Wrigley Field.

Here are some of the highlights from the past 30 games:

May 25: Randy Hundley smacks a three-run pinch-hit home run in the top of the ninth inning to propel the Cubs to an 8-6 win over the Padres.

May 31: Jenkins shuts out the Braves 5-0, limiting Atlanta's lineup to five singles and striking out nine.

June 7: Light-hitting Nate "Pee Wee" Oliver smacks a grand slam to lead the Cubs to an 8-3 win over the Reds. Oliver, primarily a pinch runner to this point in the season, was starting for the injured Beckert.

June 9: Two days later Al Spangler hits his second home run of the season, a walk-off two-run dinger to defeat the Reds 8-6.

June 14: Reds right-fielder Bobby Tolan hits a walk-off grand slam to beat the Cubs 9-5. He had hit a solo home run in the eighth to tie the game. Willie Smith had put the Cubs ahead in the top of the ninth with a two-out, two-run pinch-hit home run before Tolan helped the Reds rebound.

June 17: Jenkins throws a three-hit shutout as the Cubs defeated the White Sox 7-0 in the first interleague game of the season.

June 20: Hands loses a 1-0 one-hitter after allowing a seventh-inning solo home run to Mack Jones of the Expos.

June 21: The Cubs pound Tigers ace Mickey Lolich in a 9-4 win over Detroit.

Note: Here are the up-to-date stats for my Cubs replay.

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Cubs Start Fast in '69 Replay

With a doubleheader sweep over the expansion Expos, the Cubs improved to 10-3 on the season in an APBA baseball game replay of Chicago's 1969 season.

In the opener, the Cubs "exploded" for 9 runs on 10 hits in the sixth inning, knocking out Montreal starter Carl Morton and propelling Fergie Jenkins to his third victory of the season. The Cubs won 12-1, despite only one extra-base hit, a double by Ron Santo.

1969 Topps Team Poster

Equally indicative of the Cubs' season so far, Chicago rallied for a 6-3 victory in the nightcap, scoring 5 runs in the top of the seventh on three singles, three walks and a hit batsman.

So far, the Cubbies have hit a grand total of three home runs, two by reserve outfielder Willy Smith and one by Billy Williams. Williams is hitting .294 with 10 RBI; Santo has scored 8 runs and driven in 8; and catcher Randy Hundley leads the regulars in hitting at .359, with 7 RBI.

What the Cubs lack in hitting they've more than made up in pitching, with a team ERA of 2.17! In addition to Jenkins, Cubs' starters Bill Hands, Ken Holtzman and Joe Niekro all have a pair of wins. They've also tossed 6 complete games and a shutout.

Chicago has had just enough hitting to win half their games by one or two runs. Among the highlights:

• A 3-1 win on opening day, featuring a complete game by Jenkins and a two-run double by Williams.
• A 1-0 win by Jenkins to extend the Cubs season-opening win streak to 5 games. Santo drove in the winning run in the bottom of the first, after a double by Williams.
• A 5-4 victory over the Pirates on a two-out, three-run home run by Smith in the bottom of the eighth inning. 
• A 3-2 extra-inning win by Holtzman, who went all 10 innings. The Cubs tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the ninth on doubles by Glenn Beckert and Santo. They took the lead in the 10th on a leadoff walk by rookie Oscar Gamble, who scooted all the way to third on a sacrifice bunt by Holtzman. Don Kessinger drove him in with a sacrifice fly to right field. 

Following on the heels of my replay of the Milwaukee Brewers' 2008 campaign, I'm already seeing some significant differences, even though both squads posted 90-win seasons.

While the Brewers bashed 198 homers and stole 158 bases, the Cubs rely on a steadier offense throughout the lineup, stringing together singles and walks and counting on their superior starting pitching to keep games close. The Cubs aren't slow -- except for Santo -- but they've amassed all of three stolen bases in 13 games.

In contrast to Milwaukee's feast-or-famine attack and a maddening number of strikeouts, the Cubs so far have been in every game, and always seem to have runners on base. It challenges the manager's patience from time to time, however, as the Cubs often go three, four and five innings in a row with base runners but can't string together enough walks and singles to tally a score. But I'll get over it.

Replay Notes: I'm using the 1969 reprint set, so I've got every player who stepped to the plate or the mound that season. Along with the Cubs actual starting pitchers, I'm using opponents' real lineups, paying attention to trades and injuries for home and away teams.

With so many players available, I'm limiting Cubs batters to 102 percent of their actual plate appearances. Likewise, for pitchers I'm sticking to their actual games started and 102 percent of actual innings for relievers.

Frustrated by the lack of singles -- and lower batting averages -- in my Brewers' replay, I took Kevin Burghardt's suggestion on the APBA Baseball Facebook page of turning a 65-35 into a single when the bases are empty. I'm hoping this also will compensate for my tendency to always put in the opponent's top-rated reliever, even when he probably wan't always available in "real life."

Finally, I couldn't resist tweaking the schedule, throwing in a smattering of inter-league games, including a home-and-home series against the cross-town rival White Sox.

Anyway, the Cubs are off today before another doubleheader against the Pirates at Forbes Field. And those "Amazing Mets" are on the schedule for eight games in the next two weeks ...

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P.S. Here's a link to my current stats, if anyone is that interested ... 

A Trip Back to Wrigley: Replaying the '69 Cubs

The 1969 Cubs included future Hall-of-Famers Ernie Banks, Fergie Jenkins, Billy Williams and Ron Santo.

Ultimately, the decision just came down to enjoying replaying games with hall-of-famers.

I'm just starting my quest to replay the Chicago Cubs infamous 1969 season in APBA baseball -- with a few twists. For example, I've ditched 30 games against division rivals to add some inter-league games, including a home-and-home series against the crosstown White Sox.

In addition to managing Cubs legends Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins and Ron Santo, I'm looking forward to almost daily encounters with opposing hall-of-famers, from Bench and Seaver to Clemente, Mays and Aaron. Replaying games with such greats makes the 1969 Cubs an easy replay choice. For me, 1969 is part of one of baseball's golden eras.

And then there's the personal connection. Although my favorite team remains the Milwaukee Brewers, I was born in the Chicago area and lived on the north side of the city in Northbrook until third grade. That's when I moved north and started rooting for the Brew Crew.

But I can remember my grandma following the "Cubbies" and talking about the team when we visited her north side apartment in Winnetka.

Looking through the Cubs APBA cards, it's hard to believe they finished 8 games behind the Mets! Sure, the Mets had A starters Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman, but they didn't have Santo. Banks and Williams suiting up every day. It was more like Art Shamsky, Ed Kranepool and Ron Swoboda.

The Cubs won 92 games that year, but are known more for their epic September collapse, and giving way to the Miracle Mets, who went on to defeat the invincible Baltimore Orioles in the World Series.

The Cubs starting rotation was solid, with three B starters -- Jenkins, Bill Hands and Ken Holtzman. Where they could have used some help was a shutdown reliever. They had to depend on Phil Regan (CZ) and Ted Abernathy (BY).

The team's strength, of course, was it's everyday lineup. In addition to Santo, Williams and Banks, it featured all-star double-play combo Don Kessinger and Glenn Beckert. The Gold Glove shortstop was among the league leaders in runs, hits and doubles. Santo finished second in runs batted in (121)  and eighth in home runs (29). Williams finished the year in the top 10 in a half-dozen categories, including hits, runs, doubles, triples and RBI.

On the mound, the Cubs big three combined for 58 wins: Jenkins (21-15); Hands (20-14) and Holtzman (17-13).

One of the cool things about the 1969 APBA reprint set is that it includes a card for every player who got into a game that season. While it's neat to see some future stars who got their first taste of the big leagues that season (e.g. Ted Simmons, Carlton Fisk, Steve Garvey, Bill Buckner, Cesar Geronimo) I don't see going out of my way to find two at-bats for the Cubs' sixth-string catcher Randy Bobb!

The Cubs will open the season against the Phillies at Wrigley Field. Play ball!

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