Aug. 19--Today is the 46th anniversary of the Cubs division-clinching win in 1969, or at least what we presumed at the time was the unofficial clincher -- a game that cemented our feeling that this actually was "The Year" we always heard about.
Ken Holtzman threw a no-hitter against the Braves before 41,033 at Wrigley Field, leaving the Cubs with an eight-game lead over the Mets and 8 1/2; over the Cardinals.
Of course, the Cubs did not win the division, falling apart down the stretch in one of the epic collapses in the history of sports.
But it sure seemed like a good bet watching the celebration on the field, with players led by Ron Santo, mobbing Holtzman like it was a World Series clincher. A few dozen Bleacher Bums hopped over the left field wall and got in on the action as well.
Tribune sportswriter Robert Markus wrote that day that the Bleacher Bums were "always boisterous, but driven to unprecedented fits of frenzy by Holtzman's feat."
It was quite an unusual no-hit performance. Holtzman struck out no one and said he threw "nothing but fastballs the last few innings."
But the wind was blowing in and he got several nice defensive plays, as when left fielder Billy Williams went into the well in left in the seventh and caught a would-be home run by Hank Aaron that blew back into the park and ultimately into the well, landing in Williams' glove.
The Tribune game story by Richard Dozer referred to the well as the "concave area where the wall curves into an off set 75 feet from the foul line." It was a different era for baseball and sportswriting.
Sitting in the Cubs' dugout before Tuesday's game, I reminded Williams about the catch and we talked about the game.
"I remember the catch," he said. "The two things I remember -- Kenny Holtzman had a good curveball, which he always had, and a good fastball. And the last ball Aaron hit to Glenn Beckert. When we were in the clubhouse we were always laughing at Beckert because he went to the ball and said 'I've got to catch this ball. It's a no-hitter.' He was always shaking and stuff.
"Any time you have a guy throw a no-hitter, you're going to have some great plays. Santo probably made some great plays at third base because you had some great hitters on that Atlanta ballclub. The wind was blowing in, so that was in (Holtzman's) favor. When Aaron hit the ball (to me), the ball was out of the park. You can see it. They show it a lot (on the Wrigley video board).
"But I didn't give up on the ball. I stayed on the ball and came back in. I can still see Aaron kicking the dust (around first), like Joe DiMaggio did, when that ball didn't go out of the ballpark. Kenny pitched two no-hitters. That sucker was a good athlete. He hit a home run in a World Series (with the A's)."
I still have a yellowed, partially torn Tribune front page from the next day's paper. It has five photos from the day, including one of Santo hugging Holtzman in the clubhouse, and also the three final outs. I'd forgotten Don Young almost ran into Don Kessinger on a pop-up for the first out in the ninth.
One of the articles quotes Willie Smith yelling "Break out the champagne" in the clubhouse, adding that Holtzman "settled for a beer."
After Ernie Banks died last January, Holtzman, a private man, agreed to send email responses to questions I had about his relationship with Mr. Cub. I also asked him why he thought the '69 Cubs were still so beloved, even though they didn't win anything, and in fact crushed a lot of fans' hearts.
"I think the '69 Cubs remain a special memory for so many Chicago fans because for 24 years they had been second-division dwellers and now, in the age of the baby boomers and the upheaval of American culture, we were going to be the end of the futility and the beginning of a new era in Chicago sports," he wrote back.
"When it all collapsed at the end, it was so disappointing that many of those fans simply refused to forget the fun and excitement of the first five months of that season and now, as parents and grandparents, that team remains a link to their youth.
"Ernie Banks represents the heart and excellence of that team, just like Stan Musial does for Cardinals fans and Roberto Clemente does for Pirate fans."
Kids today probably roll their eyes when oldsters like us drone on about the '69 Cubs, just as we might have when our grandparents regaled us with stories about the '45 World Series. You can't really blame them. We get it. We're old.
But the kind of passion a 10-year old Cubs fan now feels for Anthony Rizzo, Jake Arrieta, Kyle Schwarber and the rest of the 2015 Cubs mirrors our affection for Banks, Williams, Santo, Holtzman and the '69 Cubs.
Hopefully this generation will get a better ending, and someday they can drone on to their grandkids about that great summer in Chicago when they first started thinking this actually is "The Year."
