The Forgotten 1970 Chicago Cubs: Go and Glow

by William S. Bike

Chicago Cubs fans always will remember the beloved 1969 team. Yet the 1970 Cubs are, in many ways, more interesting. The Cubs added fascinating characters like Joe Pepitone and Milt Pappas to the legendary nucleus of Billy Williams, Ron Santo and Ernie Banks. The team came closer than in any year between 1945 and 1984--finishing only five games out of first place in one of baseball's hottest pennant races. Offering a fast-paced look at the season month by month, William S. Bike moves beyond wins, losses and statistics to relive Ernie Banks's 500th home run, the addition of "the basket" to the outfield walls and other iconic moments from a landmark year at Wrigley Field.

Genres: History, Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

Published May 17, 2021

Reviews

[Steve Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any Chicago Cub fan knows all too well about the 1969 team that first captured and then broke the hearts of millions of fans across the country. After holding on to first place for 155 days, a combination of the Cubs' collapse and the New York Mets' hot streak down the stretch ended any hopes of the North Siders' first appearance in the World Series since 1945.
In "The Forgotten 1970 Chicago Cubs," author William Bike makes the case that the 1970 version of the Cubs was actually better than the 1969 club that included five eventual Hall of Famers: Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins and manager Leo Durocher.
In fact, Bike says the Cubs would have gone on to win the pennant if they'd played in the West Division rather than the East Division. He also believes they would have beaten the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series for their first Series title since 1908!
Bike argues that the acquisition of pitcher Milt Pappas and outfielder/first baseman Joe Pepitone; more depth, on paper at least; and the strong starting pitching of Jenkins, Kenny Holtzman, Bill Hands and Pappas should have been enough to carry the Cubs to the Promise Land in 1970. Although they didn't steal too many bases, they had a powerful lineup with the likes of Santo, Williams, Jim Hickman and Pepitone in the middle of the order. The biggest loss that season was catcher Randy Hundley, who missed almost half the season with injuries. His absence from the lineup was worth at least 10 games in the standings, Durocher said.
While Durocher platooned more than he did in 1969, the Cubs' skipper still underutilized and stressed the young players such as Terry Hughes and Roe Skidmore, Bike says.
The author also points out that in 1970 and subsequent years, the Cubs' management got rid of players who went on to have success for other teams: Ted Abernathy, Jim Colborn, Boots Day, Joe Decker, Larry Gura, Oscar Gamble, Roger Metzger, Bob Miller and Dick Selma.
"All Cub management had to do was literally nothing -- just keep what they had -- and the team would have been a dominant one in the 1970s, instead of a perennial doormat or .500 club," Bike maintains.
If you're a baseball fan, especially a Cubs fan, I highly recommend "The Forgotten 1970 Chicago Cubs." The book includes a nice summary of what happened to each player, coach, Durocher, broadcaster, owner Phillip Wrigley, vice president/general manager John Holland and Wrigley Field after 1970.

[Tim Blackburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks For the Memories

I thought this was an excellent book and I had lots of fun reading it. 1970 was the year I discovered baseball cards and Mr Bike made those cards come alive with his obvious love of the Cubs. Of course, I was and am a Cardinal fan but loved reading about the guys on my baseball cards. Loved the computer simulation involving what if the Cubs and Cardinals had been assigned to the Eastern Division of the NL where they geographically belonged. Won't spoil your fun other than saying the hypothetical Cub postseason of 1970 was really a blast to read. Baseball fans of the 1970s will love this book.

[William J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book puts you right in Wrigley Field in 1970. You can almost smell the popcorn and hear the crack of the bat! You experience highlights like Ernie Banks' 500th home run, the team's 12-game losing streak exacerbated by manager Leo Durocher's radio show, the excitement of trades for players like Joe Pepitone (a fan favorite who traveled around Chicago in a limousine!) and Milt Pappas, and the white-hot three-team pennant race. The computer-generated fantasy playoff and World Series games are fantastic--I've never seen anything like that in a sports book!

[Mickey Mantle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a trip fown memory lane for a BOOMER Chicago baseball fan.
Quick fun read.
All kinds of typical Chicago fan woulda, coulda, shoulda.

[Susan Molloy · Rating 3 out of 5]

🖊 My review: As a Cubs fan, I found this book unexciting reading. Told in the first person as recollective memories, William S Bike presents his recollections of the 1970 Cubbies. I always have an interest in other people’s memoirs, and this book is no exception. It is interesting how one person can remember the weather one way, and another remembers it another. Case in point – Sunday, September 13, 1970. William S Bike remembers it as “rainy.” I remember it as not [someday I will explain why I specifically remember this day]; I even checked my diary from that date just to make sure my recollection was right; sure enough, it did not rain that day. Of course, perhaps where I lived – on the Northwest Side of Chicago – precipitation was negligible, so perhaps it rained at the Friendly Confines.

Why is this writing unexciting to me? It is the loads of name-dropping; loads and loads of friend names here, there, and everywhere in Forgotten 1970 Chicago Cubs: Go and Glow. On the other hand, the black and white photographs were fun to see. If this was not written so mechanically, it would have been more enjoyable to read.

📌 Would I read this again? Maybe; there is always next year.
🤔 My rating 🌟🌟🌟
🏮 Media form: Kindle Unlimited version.

🔲 Excerpts :

🔸Every Chicago Cubs fan, and pretty much every baseball fan, knows the story of the 1969 National League pennant race.

🔸My St. Sylvester’s friends Irene Pasulka and the late Dave Skrzypczynski and I planned to attend the September 13 [1970] game, but Irene could not go at the last minute, and Dave did not want to go either, because of the rain.

🔸Thirteen-year-old female classmates of mine that year would tell the Chicago Transit Authority [CTA] bus driver that they were twelve to get the cheaper child’s transit fare; then, when they got to Wrigley Field, they suddenly were fourteen so they could get in for free on Ladies’ Day.

🔸 My St. Sylvester’s buddy Karl Matuszewski recalled: “After the ’69 heartbreak, I lost all interest in baseball.

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[Gary Tallman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learned some things I didn't know.

As a lifelong Cubs fan, I was intrigued by the title of this book and the subject matter. I was 12 during the 1970 season having suffered through the '69 season, I might have blocked out the next year or two from my memory. This book nicely filled in the blanks. I must say I had a few visceral reactions to the reasons the cubs made some of their trades and how quickly and for no reason they discarded players like they were used tissues. It was also interesting to find out what happen
ed to the players once they left baseball. All in all it was an entertaining book and it brought back memories and some names from the past.