May 17, 1979: The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 23-22, on a day when the wind was blowing out at Wrigley Field in Chicago. It becomes known as the Wild Day at Wrigley.
Chicago is known as the Windy City, although that nickname comes from the political kind of wind, a.k.a. "hot air." It's actually not one of the country's windiest cities, although being on Lake Michigan does provide the occasional blast of wind. This is much more pronounced at Soldier Field, which right on the Lake, than it is at Wrigley, which is one mile inland.
It is well-known among baseball fans, who often cite this game as evidence, note that, at Wrigley, the wind blows out, leading to lots of home runs. But what is less well-known is that, about half the time, the wind blows in. As a result, Cubs management has often built their team around home-run hitters, when history shows that they do better when they build their team around pitching, and take advantage of the wind blowing in.
But on this day, it was blowing out: The game started at 1:30 PM Central Time (2:30 Eastern), with a temperature of 68 degrees, and the wind was, indeed, blowing out toward left field at 18 miles per hour.
Dennis Lamp started for the Cubs, and he allowed 2 home runs, to Mike Schmidt and Bob Boone; a double to Larry Bowa; 3 singles and a fielder's choice, before Cub manager Herman Franks mercifully relieved him. Randy Lerch started for the Phils, and he didn't get out of the 1st inning, either: He loaded the bases, and gave up a grand slam home run to Dave Kingman. At the end of the inning, it was Phillies 7, Cubs 6.
The Phillies scored 8 runs in the top of the 3rd, including a 3-run homer by Garry Maddox, a good hitter but not really a power hitter, and better known for his fielding. Former Pittsburgh Pirates slugger, turned New York Mets broadcaster, Ralph Kiner once said, "Two-thirds of the Earth is covered by water. The other third is covered by Garry Maddox." The Phils added 2 runs in the top of the 4th, making it 17-6. In the bottom of the 4th, the Cubs got homers from Kingman and Steve Ontiveros, so it was 17-9.
The Phillies scored 4 in the top of the 5th, 21-9. The Cubs struck back in the bottom of the 5th, including home runs from Bill Buckner and Jerry Martin, closing to within 21-16. And in the bottom of the 6th, they scored 3, including Kingman's 3rd homer of the game, making it 21-19. The Phils added a run in the top of the 7th. In the bottom of the 8th, the Cubs got singles from Iván DeJesús, Scot Thompson, Buckner, Martin and Barry Foote, and tied the game at 22-22.
Neither team could score in the 9th inning. With 2 out in the top of the 10th inning, Schmidt hit a home run off Bruce Sutter. Rawly Eastwick, who had gotten the Cubs out 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 9th, did so again in the bottom of the 10th, and it was over.
Mike Schmidt
For the Phillies: 23 runs, 24 hits, 2 errors, and 15 men left on base. For the Cubs: 22 runs, 26 hits, 2 errors, and 7 men left on base. Eastwick was the winning pitcher, Sutter was the losing pitcher, the time of the game was 4 hours and 3 minutes, and 14,952 people paid to attend this game. The Cubs scored 22 runs, at home, out-hit their opponents, and left half as many men on base. And yet, they never led for so much as a single at-bat.
Philadelphia Phillies 23, Chicago Bears 22. To put this offensive outburst in perspective: In the 1979 NFL season, out of 16 regular-season games, there were 9 games, including 3 that they won, where the Philadelphia Eagles didn't score 23 points; and there were 9 games, including 4 that they won, where the Chicago Bears didn't score 22. And these were not weak football teams: Both made the Playoffs. (The Eagles beat the Bears, 27-17, in an NFC Wild Card Playoff, so that's another game in which the Bears didn't outscore the Cubs from May 17.)
In 2011, the Major League Baseball Network listed its 20 Greatest Games, allowing for availability of TV broadcasts, so it was pretty much from 1975 onward. This game was listed at Number 20, and was thus the premiere of their Baseball's Greatest Games series.
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May 17, 1979 was a Thursday. These other Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-5 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. At age 39, Willie Stargell hit 2 home runs, part of a season where he won the National League's Most Valuable Player award, and led the Pirates to win the World Series.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Jim Rice and Butch Hobson hit home runs. Carl Yastrzemski went 2-for-3 with 2 walks. Eddie Murray went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-3 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 3-0 at the Astrodome in Houston. Ed Halicki pitched a 2-hit shutout.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-6 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 2-for-4 with a walk.
* The California Angels beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-5 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Rod Carew went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Robin Yount went 1-for-5. Paul Molitor went 0-for-5.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-1 at the Oakland Coliseum.
* The Montreal Expos played the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Rain caused the game to be suspended after 10 innings, with the game tied, 2-2. It was resumed on June 25, and, immediately, Warren Cromartie led off the top of the 11th with a home run, and the Expos won, 3-2.
* And the New York Yankees, the Detroit Tigers, the Seattle Mariners, the Texas Rangers, the Cincinnati Reds and the San Diego Padres were not scheduled.
Football was out of season. Game 7 was played in the NBA Western Conference Finals. The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Phoenix Suns, 114-110 at the Kingdome in Seattle. The Sonics went on to beat the Washington Bullets, reversing the result of the previous season's Finals.
Game 3 was played in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Montreal Canadiens beat the New York Rangers, 4-1 at Madison Square Garden. The Canadiens would win the Cup in 5 games.
And the World Hockey Association's Finals were between Games 4 and 5. The Winnipeg Jets would beat the Edmonton Oilers in 6 games. The WHA would then fold, and the Jets, the Oilers, the Quebec Nordiques and the Hartford Whalers would be absorbed into the NHL.
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