1977 Chicago Cubs season

1977 Chicago Cubs
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Philip K. Wrigley, William Wrigley III
General manager(s) Bob Kennedy
Manager(s) Herman Franks
Local television WGN-TV
(Jack Brickhouse, Lou Boudreau)
Local radio WGN
(Vince Lloyd, Lou Boudreau)
Stats ESPN.com
BB-reference
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The 1977 Chicago Cubs season was the 106th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 102nd in the National League and the 62nd at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished fourth in the National League East with a record of 81–81, 20 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies.

Offseason

On November 24, 1976, Bob Kennedy was named head of baseball operations for the Cubs. His first move was to inform Jim Marshall that he was fired as manager. Salty Saltwell‚ after a year as general manager‚ was named secretary and director of park operations. After Leo Durocher turned down an offer from Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley to manage the Cubs for the 1977 season, Herman Franks‚ who had briefly been a Cubs coach under Leo Durocher‚ was named the new manager.[1]

Notable transactions

Regular season

In 1977, the franchise experienced one of its biggest collapses. The Cubs hit a high-water mark on June 28 at 47-22 with an 8½-game National League East lead led by Bobby Murcer, who had 27 home runs and 89 RBI overall during the season, and Rick Reuschel, who had a record of 20-10. However, the Philadelphia Phillies cut the lead to two by the All-Star break, as the Cubs sat 19 games over .500, and the Cubs swooned late in the season, going 20-40 after July 31, finishing in fourth place at 81-81. The Cubs fell apart this season like a wet paper bag.......

On July 28, with the Cubs down 14-10 in the eighth inning of a game against the Cincinnati Reds, the Cubs pinch-hit for both of their middle infielders, replacing shortstop Iván DeJesús with José Cardenal and second baseman Mick Kelleher with Greg Gross. The Cubs scored three runs, making the score 14-13 going into the ninth inning. Since both replacements were typically outfielders, and the Cubs had just one player left on the bench who normally played middle infield to enter the game in the ninth inning, utilityman Dave Rosello, the Cubs allowed Cardenal to stay in the game and play second base while Rosello entered the game at shortstop. Rosello and Cardenal alternated between the two positions during the ninth inning depending on whether the batter was a left-handed or right-handed hitter. The Reds failed to score in the ninth, and the Cubs tied the game, forcing extra innings. At that point, the Cubs moved Cardenal to right field, and brought Bobby Murcer in to pay the infield instead, continuing to flip-flop the positioning of Rosello and Murcer for the remainder of the game, which wound up going thirteen innings. In all, Rosello wound up switching positions twelve times, and Murcer eight times.[13][14]

Season standings

NL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Philadelphia Phillies 101 61 0.623 60–21 41–40
Pittsburgh Pirates 96 66 0.593 5 58–23 38–43
St. Louis Cardinals 83 79 0.512 18 52–31 31–48
Chicago Cubs 81 81 0.500 20 46–35 35–46
Montreal Expos 75 87 0.463 26 38–43 37–44
New York Mets 64 98 0.395 37 35–44 29–54

Record vs. opponents

1977 National League Records

Sources:
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta 5–7 4–14 9–9 5–13 6–6 7–5 2–10 3–9 11–7 8–10 1–11
Chicago 7–5 7–5 6–6 6–6 10–8 9–9 6–12 7–11 7–5 9–3 7–11
Cincinnati 14–4 5–7 5–13 10–8 7–5 10–2 8–4 3–9 11–7 10–8 5–7
Houston 9–9 6–6 13–5 9–9 8–4 6–6 4–8 4–8 8–10 9–9 5–7
Los Angeles 13–5 6–6 8–10 9–9 7–5 8–4 6–6 9–3 12–6 14–4 6–6
Montreal 6–6 8–10 5–7 4–8 5–7 10–8 7–11 7–11 5–7 6–6 12–6
New York 5–7 9–9 2–10 6–6 4–8 8–10 5–13 4–14 6–6 7–5 8–10
Philadelphia 10-2 12–6 4–8 8–4 6–6 11–7 13–5 8–10 9–3 9–3 11–7
Pittsburgh 9–3 11–7 9–3 8–4 3–9 11–7 14–4 10–8 10–2 2–10 9–9
San Diego 7–11 5–7 7–11 10–8 6–12 7–5 6–6 3–9 2–10 8–10 8–4
San Francisco 10–8 3–9 8–10 9–9 4–14 6–6 5–7 3–9 10–2 10–8 7–5
St. Louis 11–1 11–7 7–5 7–5 6–6 6–12 10–8 7–11 9–9 4–8 5–7

Notable transactions

Roster

1977 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
1B Buckner, BillBill Buckner 122 426 121 .284 11 60
2B Trillo, MannyManny Trillo 152 504 141 .280 7 57
3B Ontiveros, SteveSteve Ontiveros 156 546 163 .299 10 68
SS DeJesús, IvánIván DeJesús 155 624 166 .266 3 40
LF Cardenal, JoséJosé Cardenal 100 226 54 .239 3 18
CF Morales, JerryJerry Morales 136 490 142 .290 11 69
RF Murcer, BobbyBobby Murcer 154 554 147 .265 27 89

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Biittner, LarryLarry Biittner 138 493 147 .298 12 62
Gross, GregGreg Gross 115 239 77 .322 5 32
Clines, GeneGene Clines 101 239 70 .293 3 41
Wallis, JoeJoe Wallis 56 80 20 .250 2 8
Darwin, BobbyBobby Darwin 11 12 2 .167 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Reuschel, RickRick Reuschel 39 252 20 10 2.79 166
Burris, RayRay Burris 39 221 14 16 4.72 105
Bonham, BillBill Bonham 34 214.2 10 13 4.36 134

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Roberts, DaveDave Roberts 17 53 1 1 3.23 23

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Hernández, WillieWillie Hernández 67 8 7 4 3.03 78
Broberg, PetePete Broberg 22 1 2 0 4.75 20
Todd, JimJim Todd 20 1 1 0 9.10 17
Giusti, DaveDave Giusti 20 0 2 1 6.04 15
Hernández, RamónRamón Hernández 6 0 0 1 8.22 4

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Wichita Aeros American Association Harry Dunlop
AA Midland Cubs Texas League Jim Saul
A Pompano Beach Cubs Florida State League Jack Hiatt
A-Short Season Geneva Cubs New York–Penn League Bob Hartsfield
Rookie GCL Cubs Gulf Coast League Ron Matney

Notes

References

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