1989 Chicago Cubs season

1989 Chicago Cubs
National League East Champions
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1876)
Eastern Division (since 1969)
Location
Wrigley Field (since 1916)
Chicago (since 1876)
Other information
Owner(s)	Tribune Company
General manager(s)	Jim Frey
Manager(s)	Don Zimmer
Local television	WGN-TV/Superstation WGN (Harry Caray, Steve Stone, Dewayne Staats)
Local radio	WGN (Dewayne Staats, Dave Nelson, Harry Caray)
Stats	ESPN.com BB-reference
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The 1989 Chicago Cubs season was the team's 117th season, the 114th in the National League and the 74th at Wrigley Field. Highlighting the season was the Cubs' second National League Eastern Division championship with a record of 93–69. The Cubs had All-Star seasons from Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, Rick Sutcliffe and Mitch Williams; Jerome Walton was the NL Rookie of the Year. Ultimately, the team was defeated four games to one by the San Francisco Giants in the 1989 National League Championship Series.

Offseason

• December 5, 1988: Rafael Palmeiro, Jamie Moyer, and Drew Hall were traded by the Cubs to the Texas Rangers in exchange for Paul Kilgus, Mitch Williams, Curtis Wilkerson, Steve Wilson, Luis Benitez (minors), and Pablo Delgado (minors).
• December 7, 1988: Scott Sanderson was signed as a free agent by the Cubs.
• December 8, 1988: Rolando Roomes was traded by the Chicago Cubs to the Cincinnati Reds for Lloyd McClendon.
• March 28, 1989: Rich Gossage was released by the Cubs.

Regular season

Season standings

NL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago Cubs	93	69	0.574	—	48–33	45–36
New York Mets	87	75	0.537	6	51–30	36–45
St. Louis Cardinals	86	76	0.531	7	46–35	40–41
Montreal Expos	81	81	0.500	12	44–37	37–44
Pittsburgh Pirates	74	88	0.457	19	39–42	35–46
Philadelphia Phillies	67	95	0.414	26	38–42	29–53

Record vs. opponents

1989 National League Records Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	5–7	8–10	8–10	6–10	6–6	2–10	8–4	4–8	7–11	6–12	3–9–1
Chicago	7–5	—	7–5	5–7	7–5	10–8	10–8	10–8	12–6	8–4	6–6	11–7
Cincinnati	10–8	5–7	—	8–10	8–10	4–8	4–8	4–8	7–5	9–9	8–10	8–4
Houston	10–8	7–5	10–8	—	10–8	4–8	6–6	9–3	7–5	8–10	8–10	7–5
Los Angeles	10–6	5–7	10–8	8–10	—	7–5	5–7	6–6	7–5	6–12	10–8	3–9
Montreal	6–6	8–10	8–4	8–4	5–7	—	9–9	9–9	11–7	5–7	7–5	5–13
New York	10–2	8–10	8–4	6–6	7–5	9–9	—	12–6	9–9	5–7	3–9	10–8
Philadelphia	4-8	8–10	8–4	3–9	6–6	9–9	6–12	—	10–8–1	2–10	4–8	7–11
Pittsburgh	8–4	6–12	5–7	5–7	5–7	7–11	9–9	8–10–1	—	3–9	5–7	13–5–1
San Diego	11–7	4–8	9–9	10–8	12–6	7–5	7–5	10–2	9–3	—	8–10	2–10
San Francisco	12–6	6–6	10–8	10–8	8–10	5–7	9–3	8–4	7–5	10–8	—	7–5
St. Louis	9–3–1	7–11	4–8	5–7	9–3	13–5	8–10	11–7	5–13–1	10–2	5–7	—

Notable transactions

• August 24, 1989: The Cubs traded players to be named later to the Atlanta Braves for Paul Assenmacher. The Cubs completed the deal by sending Kelly Mann and Pat Gomez to the Braves on September 1.
• August 30, 1989: Calvin Schiraldi, Darrin Jackson and a player to be named later were traded by the Cubs to the San Diego Padres for Marvell Wynne and Luis Salazar. The Cubs completed the deal by sending Phil Stephenson to the Padres on September 5.

Roster

1989 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers 45 Paul Assenmacher 36 Mike Bielecki 51 Kevin Blankenship 39 Paul Kilgus 43 Joe Kraemer 50 Les Lancaster 31 Greg Maddux 37 Pat Perry 41 Jeff Pico 21 Scott Sanderson 32 Calvin Schiraldi 40 Rick Sutcliffe 38 Dean Wilkins 28 Mitch Williams 44 Steve Wilson		Catchers  9 Damon Berryhill  7 Joe Girardi  1 Rick Wrona Infielders 12 Shawon Dunston 17 Mark Grace  2 Vance Law 15 Domingo Ramos 11 Luis Salazar 23 Ryne Sandberg 16 Greg Smith 19 Curtis Wilkerson		Outfielders 29 Doug Dascenzo  8 Andre Dawson 30 Darrin Jackson 10 Lloyd McClendon 18 Dwight Smith 11 Phil Stephenson 24 Gary Varsho 20 Jerome Walton 33 Mitch Webster 25 Marvell Wynne		Manager  4 Don Zimmer Coaches  6 Joe Altobelli  5 Chuck Cottier 35 Larry Cox  3 José Martínez 34 Dick Pole

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
C	Damon Berryhill	91	334	86	.257	5	41
1B	Mark Grace	142	510	160	.314	13	79
2B	Ryne Sandberg	157	606	176	.290	30	76
3B	Vance Law	130	408	96	.235	7	42
SS	Shawon Dunston	138	471	131	.278	9	60
LF	Dwight Smith	109	343	111	.324	9	52
CF	Jerome Walton	116	475	139	.293	5	46
RF	Andre Dawson	118	416	105	.252	21	77

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
Phil Stephenson	17	21	3	.143	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Greg Maddux	35	238	19	12	2.95	135

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Scott Sanderson	37	146	11	9	3.94	86
Paul Kilgus	35	145.2	6	10	4.39	61

Relief pitchers

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO

NLCS

Game 1

October 4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
San Francisco	3	0	1	4	0	0	0	3	0	11	13	0
Chicago	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	8	1
W: Scott Garrelts (1-0)   L: Greg Maddux (0-1)   S: None
HR: SF – Will Clark (1), (2), Kevin Mitchell (1)  CHC – Mark Grace (1), Ryne Sandberg (1)
Pitchers: SF – Garrelts, Brantley (8), Hammaker (9)  CHC – Maddux, Kilgus (5), Wilson (8)
Attendance: 39,195

Game 2

October 5 at Wrigley Field in Chicago

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
San Francisco	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	1	5	10	0
Chicago	6	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	X	9	11	0
W: Les Lancaster (1-0)   L: Rick Reuschel (0-1)   S: None
HR: SF – Kevin Mitchell (2), Matt Williams (1), Robby Thompson (1)  CHC – None
Pitchers: SF – Reuschel, Downs (1), Lefferts (6), Brantley (7), Bedrosian (8)  CHC – Bielecki, Assenmacher (5), Lancaster (6)
Attendance: 39,195

Game 3

October 7 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chicago	2	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	4	10	0
San Francisco	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	X	5	8	3
W: Don Robinson (1-0)   L: Les Lancaster (1-1)   S: Steve Bedrosian (1)
HR: CHC – None  SF – Robby Thompson (2)
Pitchers: CHC – Sutcliffe, Assenmacher (7), Lancaster (7)  SF – LaCoss, Brantley (4), Robinson (7), Lefferts (8), Bedrosian (9)
Attendance: 62,065

Game 4

October 8 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chicago	1	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	4	12	1
San Francisco	1	0	2	1	2	0	0	0	X	6	9	1
W: Kelly Downs (1-0)   L: Steve Wilson (1-1)   S: Steve Bedrosian (2)
HR: CHC – Luis Salazar (1)  SF – Matt Williams (2)
Pitchers: CHC – Maddux, Wilson (4), Sanderson (6), Williams (8)  SF – Garrelts, Downs (5), Bedrosian (9)
Attendance: 62,078

Game 5

October 9 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chicago	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	10	1
San Francisco	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	X	3	4	1
W: Rick Reuschel (1-1)   L: Mike Bielecki (0-1)   S: Steve Bedrosian (3)
HR: CHC – None  SF – None
Pitchers: CHC – Bielecki, Williams (8), Lancaster (8)  SF – Reuschel, Bedrosian (9)
Attendance: 62,084

The Giants made it to their first World Series since 1962 with a 3-2 win over the Cubs to win the 1989 National League pennant, four games to one. The final game pitted Mike Bielecki against a well-rested (due to his quick exit from Game 2) Rick Reuschel. Reuschel made amends for his poor start in Game 2 by giving up only one run over eight innings. The one run Reuschel gave up was an unearned run the Cubs scored when Walton reached on an error by Mitchell and then scored on Sandberg's double. The Cubs held the 1-0 lead until the seventh inning when Will Clark tripled and scored on Mitchell's sacrifice fly.

With two outs in the eighth, the Cubs appeared ready to send the series back to Chicago. But Candy Maldonado pinch-hit for Reuschel and walked. Bielcki then proceeded the load the bases by walking both Butler and Thompson. Don Zimmer sent for Mitch Williams to end the jam, but Clark drove home the pennant winning runs with a single to center that gave the Giants a 3-1 lead. Les Lancaster got Matt Williams out to end the inning but the Cubs were finished.

The Cubs did rally, however, in the ninth with three straight singles that made it 3-2. But Sandberg grounded out sending the Giants to their first World Series since 1962.

Awards and honors

• Ryne Sandberg, National League Leader, Runs (104)

All-Star Game

• Ryne Sandberg, Second Base, Starter
• Andre Dawson, Outfield, Reserve
• Rick Sutcliffe, Pitcher, Reserve
• Mitch Williams, Relief Pitcher, Reserve

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Iowa Cubs	American Association	Pete Mackanin
AA	Charlotte Knights	Southern League	Jim Essian
A	Winston-Salem Spirits	Carolina League	Jay Loviglio
A	Peoria Chiefs	Midwest League	Brad Mills
A	Charleston Wheelers	South Atlantic League	Greg Mahlberg
Short-Season A	Geneva Cubs	New York–Penn League	Bill Hayes
Rookie	Wytheville Cubs	Appalachian League	Steve Roadcap

External links

• 1989 Chicago Cubs
• 1989 Cubs on a Chicago-centric wiki