Who’s making the cut for my 1987 Chicago Cubs for this weekend’s Chicagoland APBA World Series Tournament in Woodstock, Illinois? I just sat down at a campus coffee shop and pared the team down to the 20-man roster.
It wasn’t too hard to do. I’m leaving it to the original regular cards. No XBs will make the team. There were only seven pitchers on the Cubs who got regular cards so that made the decision a little too easy.
Among the position players:
| Pos | Name |
| C | Jody Davis |
| 1B | Leon Durham |
| 2B | Ryne Sandberg |
| SS | Shawon Dunston |
| 3B | Keith Moreland |
| LF | Jerry Mumphrey |
| CF | Dave Martinez |
| RF | Andre Dawson |
| LF | Rafael Palmeiro |
| 1B | Manny Trillo |
| CF | Bob Dernier |
| MI | Paul Noce |
| C | Jim Sundberg |
…and the pitchers.
| Pos | Name | Gr |
| SP | Rick Sutcliffe | By |
| SP | Jamie Moyer | Dy |
| SP | Greg Maddux | Dy |
| SP | Scott Sanderson | Dyz |
| CL | Lee Smith | B*xyz |
| RP | Ed Lynch | Dy |
| RP | Frank DiPino | B*y |
Yes, we’ll have to rely on pluck and luck rather than our pitching. You’ve heard of “Spahn and Sain and pray for rain”? Well for us, it’s Sutcliffe on the hill and two days to kill”.
Right fielder Andre Dawson is ready and raring to go. Don’t be making any iffy calls or he’ll have something to say about that.
Some of the XBs who didn’t make the cut were real stinkers. I’ve already featured infielder Luis Quinones on Terrible Tuesday. I’m saving Chico Walker for a later date, too. He’s got a 66-6 and an 11-8. They’ll be staying home this weekend. Sorry guys.
But two of my favorite players did make the cut and will be playing this weekend. Ryne Sandberg? Andre Dawson? Nope. I like those guys plenty but I really have soft spots for Keith (not Mitch’s dad) Moreland and Jamie Moyer. Both played for my Thunderchickens way back when. Moreland was a draftee as a catcher and I acquired Moyer in a trade with Don Smith for Delino DeShields. I think both Don and I both thought Moyer was ready to retire at the time. Little did we know.
Looking forward to a great weekend!
Nice! Sometimes hard to look at a roster like that and figure out how they did so poorly. They actually finished 3 games above their pythagorean record. They were 7th in runs scored per game in a then 12-team NL and 11th in runs allowed per game.
Fascinating to see Maddux with a Grade D, but he was just 21 years old that season.
Tom,
I remember that season well. Dawson was awesome and Sutcliffe nearly won the Cy Young award, losing out to Phillies reliever Steve “Bedrock” Bedrosian. Sandberg got hurt and missed a bunch a games, but the hitting was great. Not sure why they traded Steve Trout at mid-season. He was doing well just before he left for the Yankees. Pitching was obviously the main issue as Maddux hadn’t fully developed into the annual Cy Young contender that he would become. Lee Smith was the anchor in the pen, but had an off year and then was traded by Jim Frey who became the GM after Dallas Green resigned. The franchise is still trying to recover from that terrible event as the Cubs were on the verge of becoming a dominant franchise under Dallas’s guidance and rebuilding of their farm system.
Looking at the standings that year the Pirates and Phillies were 4th and 5th with both just two games under .500. The east was a tough division that year.
The reserves must have truly been awful if Paul Noche makes your roster.