December 9, 1980: The Chicago Cubs Trade Bruce Sutter

December 9, 1980: On this day, the Chicago Cubs traded their best player, relief pitcher Bruce Sutter, to their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, for 1st baseman Leon Durham, 3rd baseman Ken Reitz, and a player to be named later, who turned out, 13 days later, to be utility player Ty Waller.

Waller went to Herbert Hoover High School in San Diego, as did Ted Williams. Waller was no Splendid Splinter: He played all of 47 games for the Cubs, and 63 in the major leagues overall, and never amounted to much. Reitz had been an All-Star and a Gold Glove, but got hurt, played just 82 games for the Cubs in '81, batted .215, was released, played 7 more games in the majors, and had to retire before his 31st birthday.

The key for the Cubs appears to have been Durham: The latest in a long line of one-dimensional players they hoped would bomb home runs out of Wrigley Field. It almost worked: From 1982 to 1987, he hit very well for them. But he was not a good fielder, and if not for a former Cub, Bill Buckner, his error in the deciding game of the 1984 National League Championship Series might be the most famous fielding miscue in baseball history. He was done at 32.

Sutter gave the Cardinals 4 years, leading the NL in saves in 3 of them. In 1982, he helped them win the World Series. In 1984, he set a single-season record (since broken) with 45 saves. He would be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He and Mariano Rivera are the only players, besides Jackie Robinson for whom it was universally retired, to wear Number 42 and have it retired by their teams.

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December 9, 1980 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 8 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Washington Bullets, 107-104 at Madison Square Garden. Ray Williams led all scorers on the night with 42 points.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 112-89 at the Boston Garden.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the San Diego Clippers, 114-87 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 96-83 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Chicago Bulls, 123-108 at the Chicago Stadium. Leonard "Truck" Robinson scored 40 points for the Suns.

* The Los Angeles Lakers, the defending NBA Champions, beat the Dallas Mavericks, a 1st-year expansion team, 103-92 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Utah Jazz, 115-90 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat their arch-rivals, the Seattle SuperSonics, 111-98 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

There were 3 games in the NHL:

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Washington Capitals, 4-2 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota North Stars, 4-1 at the Checkerdome (as the St. Louis Arena was then known).

* And the Buffalo Sabres and the Colorado Rockies played to a tie, 4-4 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

October 7, 1984: Gatorade On the Glove

October 7, 1984: Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. Winner takes the Pennant. The San Diego Padres are in their 16th season, and have never won one. The Cubs haven't won one in 39 years victims of the so-called Curse of the Billy Goat during the 1945 World Series. Something has to give, as they begin play at San Diego's Jack Murphy Stadium.

The Cubs lead 3-0 going into the bottom of the 6th, but the Padres score 2 runs. Eventual NL Cy Young Award winner Rick Sutcliffe begins the bottom of the 7th by walking Carmelo Martinez. Garry Templeton bunts him over to 2nd.

The batter is Tim Flannery, pinch-hitting for pitcher Craig Lefferts. He was a good-fielding 2nd baseman, but not much of an upgrade at the plate. He hits a dribbler to 1st base, and Leon Durham lets it go through his legs -- much as the man he replaced as Cub 1st baseman, Bill Buckner, will do in the World Series 2 years later. Martinez scores the tying run.

Earlier in the season, Durham had been on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Could he, and the Cubs, have been hit by "The Dreaded SI Cover Jinx" and the Curse of the Billy Goat?

The play became known as "Gatorade On the Glove," because someone allegedly spilled some Gatorade on Durham's glove. That shouldn't have mattered: Durham didn't get his glove in the right spot. It's not as if the ball bounced off a Gatorade spot on his glove, it never even touched the glove.

Then the Padres pile it on. Alan Wiggins singles. Tony Gwynn doubles Flannery home with the go-ahead run. Wiggins also scores on the play. And last night's Padre hero, Steve Garvey, singles home Gwynn. The score is 6-3, and it stays that way.

Because of their games airing on cable-TV "SuperStation" WGN, broadcast nationally out of Chicago. the Cubs had caught the attention of fans who were nowhere near the City of the Big Shoulders. Their move to end a 39-year drought of Pennants, and a 76-year drought of World Series wins, fired people's imagination.

This included me, then a 14-year-old Yankee Fan, who enjoyed that they beat out the New York Mets for the NL Eastern Division title, getting revenge for 1969. There were 3 members of the Yankees' 1981 Pennant-winners on the Padres: Graig Nettles, Goose Gossage, and outfielder Bobby Brown (no connection to the earlier Yankee 3rd baseman of the same name). It had only been 3 years, but, for Yankee Fans, that 1981 Pennant now seemed very far away. Unlike the '81 Yanks, the Cubs couldn't win the Pennant.

For Padre fans, it is their 1st Pennant, and the biggest moment in San Diego sports since the Chargers won the 1963 AFL Championship. For Cub fans, it is a bigger heartbreak than 1969. In 1969, it took them an entire month to melt down; in 1984, it takes less than 24 hours. (They hadn't seen nothin' yet: In 2003, it would take them 15 minutes.)

UPDATE: The Padres have a team Hall of Fame. From the 1970s, they have inducted 1st baseman Nate Colbert, right fielder Dave Winfield, pitcher Randy Jones, owner Ray Kroc, and team president Emil "Buzzie" Bavasi. From the 1980s, they have inducted right fielder Tony Gwynn, shortstop Garry Templeton, catcher Benito Santiago, manager Dick Williams and general manager Jack McKeon.

From the 1990s, they have inducted Gwynn, 3rd baseman Ken Caminiti, pitcher Trevor Hoffman, team owner John Moores, general manager Kevin Towers, and team president Larry Lucchino. From the 2000s, they have inducted Hoffman, Moores, Towers, and pitcher Jake Peavy. They have also elected longtime broadcasters Jerry Coleman and Ted Leitner.

Bavasi, Coleman, Winfield, Jones, Fingers, Templeton, Gwynn and Hoffman have also been inducted into the San Diego Hall of Champions. So have Goose Gossage, Graig Nettles and David Wells, although Nettles and Wells were inducted mainly because they are San Diego natives who excelled elsewhere more than for the Padres.

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October 7, 1984 was a Sunday. While the Detroit Tigers had wrapped up the American League Championship Series 2 days earlier, there was NFL action. Most notably, Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears breaks Jim Brown's career rushing record of 12,312 yards. The Bears beat the New Orleans Saints 20-7 at Soldier Field. Payton would eventually be surpassed by Emmitt Smith, who still holds the record.

Other games played that day:

* The New York Jets beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 17-16 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Minnesota Vikings, 35-31 at Tampa Stadium.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Buffalo Bills, 27-17 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-7 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. This matchup would be revisited in the AFC Championship Game, where the Dolphins again won at Three Rivers.

* The New England Patriots beat the Cleveland Browns, 17-16 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Houston Oilers, 13-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Indianapolis Colts, 35-7 at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Detroit Lions, 28-7 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Green Bay Packers, 34-28 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

* The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Dallas Cowboys, 31-20 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Los Angeles Rams, 30-28 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

* The Los Angeles Raiders beat the Seattle Seahawks, 28-14 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* And the next day, on ABC Monday Night Football, the San Francisco 49ers beat the New York Giants, 31-10 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands. The 49ers went on to win Super Bowl XIX, beating the Dolphins.