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in the 31,997th inning?

December 7, 2006 - The Chicago Cubs today selected outfielder Josh Hamilton from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays minor league system in the Major League portion of the Rule 5 Draft and traded him to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for cash considerations.  Making it both one of the best Rule 5 Draft choices and one of the worst prospect sales in MLB history.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20061207&content_id=1753669&vkey=pr_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

Actually I think that's the last time the Cubs have been no-hit.

I always love watching or listening to interviews of old guys talking about what happened when they played, or old announcers talk about when they were in the booth.  After watching the link AndyMacFAIL posted, I watched another video youtube recommended, an interview with former Cub radio announcer Vince Lloyd:   In the interview Lloyd is talking about an exchange he had with Leo Durocher about who was going to start at SS one day when Leo was concerned Kessinger was not hitting enough to start  (it was Kessinger's first first full season, and Leo's first year with the Cubs).

While love the interviews like that, I also like looking at the records to check the memories....

Lloyd remembers Leo starting Roberto Pena at SS on opening day, and says Pena was a "kid (who) could hit, but had boards for hands."  According to Lloyd Pena made 3 errors that day and cost the Cubs the game, and that Leo then went with Kessinger the rest of the year, even though he really didn't want to.

The record.... well, it is a bit different.

Kessinger was the opening day SS, in a game the Cubs lost 1-0 to Marichal; Pena PH for the pitcher in the game, but never took the field.  http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN196604120.shtml In fact Pena only made one error for the Cubs all season in 1966 (he only had 17 AB in 6 games before he was sent down to the minors before the end of April in 1966) and that was his only year with the Cubs when Durocher was there.  In fact, in 1966, the only player the Cubs had who made more than 1 error at SS was Kessinger.

So might Lloyd have had the year and the player wrong, but still the story right?

Well, in 1967, the next season, the Cubs won on opening day, with Jenkins beating Bunning and with Kessinger starting at SS.  http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN196704110.shtml  Opening day 1968, the Cubs lost, but Kessinger started and played the whole game at SS, and while there were 3 errors in the game, leading to 3 unearned runs, the errors came from Santo, Kessinger and RFer Lou Johnson.  http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN196804100.shtml

And in 1969 the Cubs not only won on opening day, but Kessinger was a well entrenched starter, having made the All Star team in 1968 and repeating in 1969.

In other words, Lloyd, while I have no doubt he was accurately sharing his memory and telling the truth of what he remembered, was simply wrong.  And I like Lloyd... even if his memory was not the best in the world.

And even with the 3 E's, it was mostly Cubs pitching that cost them a W that day; they needed a 3-run HR from Banks in the bottom of the 9th to take the game to extras.

I assume the game ended in a tie, and was never completed...they apparently stopped play after 10, presumably due to darkness.

As was mentioned above, Pena had three errors on opening day.  I remember reading the papers at the time (I was stationed in Glasgow, Montana), and being impressed that after that game, he had a higher batting average (750) than fielding average.  He was 3 for 4 in that game if I remember right.

He didn't spend too long with the Cubs, but this seems appropriate to put here.

Hall of Fame slugger, broadcaster Kiner dies

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/10414280/new-york-mets-icon-ralph-kiner-died-age-91