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Reactions
Cubs fans remember the heartbreakersCNNSI.com looked at a few of the transactions that made Cubs fans shout, "Say It Ain't So." Then we opened the mailbag and let users vent on those and other dirty deals from over the years. Here is a sampling of your reactions:
Lee Smith for Al Nipper and Calvin Schiraldi. Let's get rid of Dunston and replace him with someone who stinks(Blauser). Jose Vizcaino for Young. This is the best, let's get rid of all our pitching prospects for Matt Karchner (BUST BUST BUST). Hey let's sign has-beens and keep all prospects in the minors until all their confidence is gone. These are only a few. I could go on but I won't.
Signed, A Moron For Being A Cub Fan
I was born into a family of Cub Fans, was named after a Cub (Stan Hack), and have loved them ever since. I always felt sad when a Cub was traded, but I also remember trading Ivan DeJesus for Larry Bowa and some guy named Ryne Sandberg. You see, it works both ways.
The Lou Brock trade was before I was born. But, I had to watch him get his 3,000th hit in a Cardinal uniform against Dennis Lamp of the Cubs. I grew up in Western Illinois where you're either a Cubs or Cards fan. Nobody was a White Sox fan back then because they had cheesy uniforms. I got in a lot of fights in school that were started by Cardinal fans teasing me about the Lou Brock trade. The Bill Madlock trade really hurt too. I liked Bobby Murcer, but he was no Bill Madlock. And Steve Ontiveros was leaky. For me the biggest pain was watching the Cubs trade Palmeiro for Mitch Williams. I wanted to strangle Jim Frey. He should do time in Leavenworth for that. They wouldn't have had to trade for reliever if they wouldn't have traded Lee Smith or Dennis Eckersley. I know Eckersley wasn't a reliever back then, but they should've figured out something. When Maddux left for Atlanta, I was sick for about week after that. I still have a hard time watching him pitch in a Braves uniform. Even though he's been there several years now.
Jim Frey and Larry Himes were the worst thing that could've ever happened to the Cubs. After Dallas Green built a great team and farm system, those two knuckleheads tore it apart. I think they both should serve time for their crimes. I don't think getting fired is a fair enough punishment for them because of the impact of their bonehead decisions.
As far as the Cubs are concerned. Just one fiasco will haunt forever. The loss of Greg Maddux.
One of the worst trades for the Chicago Cubs was the Mickey Morandini for Doug Glanville. All I have to say is that Glanville is still playing for the Phillies and Morandini is long gone. Glanville is good in a Phillies uniform, but much, much better in a Cubs jersey.
In 1999-2000, the Cubs tore down their franchise, starting with the trade of Rod Beck for next to nothing. (I keep up with the Red Sox, and I mean nothing.) Then the Sammy Sosa rumors, which, luckily, crashed in the runway. Afterward, H-Rod went to the Marlins for next to nothing, and Mark Grace leaves for nothing. Now ... all the fans on Sheffield Ave. can still see Sammy, and a 92-year World Series drought continue. What next?
NOVEMBER 28, 2003: KERRY WOOD SIGNS WITH BRAVES
What bugs me most about letting Grace go is that the Cubs big-wigs said that they wanted a first baseman that would hit more home runs. Grace annually hits .320 15-18 HR, 80-90 RBI. The Cubs then signed Coomer, who hits .270, 16 HR, and 60 RBI. How does Grace feel about that? I guess he'll get over it by the time he plays in this year's NLCS and World Series.
Up until the Cubs didn't resign Mark Grace, who was my favorite Cub for years, the other biggest disappointment was when Shawon Dunston left. As a kid, my hometown of Midland played site to the Double-A Cubs farm team, and that's when I became a life-long Cub fan. I remember watching Shawon play here and loving the way he played the game, and his cannon arm at shortstop. Between Dunston, Ryno, and Grace, the Cubs had a great infield trio, until Dunston left and Ryno retired.
I finally got to attend my first game at Wrigley last year, and although being there was like a dream come true, not being able to see Grace play (he was injured), Wood not pitch (they switched Lieber and Wood), and watching Maddux pitch as a Brave (another trade that hurts), the thrill wasn't as great as it could have been.
Without a doubt, the biggest travesty occurred when the cheapskate Chicago Cubs brass wouldn't give Greg Maddux the $$$ he deserved. He even WANTED to stay with the Cubs, but apparently, the Cubs felt it best to let yet another future Hall of Famer go elsewhere (Joe Carter, for example). I must really be a die-hard Cub fan to love a team that has, until recently, refused to pay the necessary bucks to keep good talent around. You definitely get what you pay for. In their case, not much.
I have been a Cub fan for 22 of my 30 years on this planet, and have witnessed some awful decisions coming from the Cub front office. But the release of Mark Grace tops them all. I've been lucky enough to see Mark in action about a dozen times, including on my honeymoon in Chicago (my husband is a Cub fan too), and I know that the team will be diminished by his absence. I cried when Harry Caray died, and I cried when I found out that Mark had been let go. He was a true Cub, with the true spirit of what being a Cub means (or used to mean). I wish Mark the best of luck with the D'backs, and I plan to follow his career there. Maybe he can get the credit and a triumphant season there that he could never get with the Cub organization.
My personal heartbreak was when the Cubs traded Jamie Moyer to the Rangers. I was 15 and very much a fan. But that was 13 years ago and I'm just about over that and then we're slapped in the face again by the Cubs management - they let Gracie get away and sign that arrogant, showy Sosa to a four-year extension. I will always be a Cub fan, it's in my blood, but it really stinks knowing that one of the richest teams in baseball won't go after the top free agents like Mussina and Rodriguez and then give $72 million to a guy his fellow teammates are even fed-up with. Maybe with all that money he can hire someone next year to make sure he makes it to spring training on time!!
The Cubbies are my team. I go back to '45, when I was 10 and growing up in Galesburg, Ill. I knew they would lose to the Tigers. They did. They have made numerous blunders in trades, signings and non-signings. Here is the worst. The day that they didn't sign Maddux and let him go to Atlanta broke my heart again. WHAT STUPIDITY! That was the day I realized I could be a major league GM or Owner (if I had the bucks). I'm certainly a helluva lot smarter than the do-do birds running the Cubs. Maddux would never have gotten away. Neither would Palmiero and a host of others.
Don't know when the powers in Chicago, who have the money, will wake up and repay us loyal fans for all the heartaches and support over all these years. Yes, I still go the Wrigley to experience the prettiest ballpark in America. I don't go to see the Cubs win. That is a sad joke!
The transaction that still stings after all this time involves my dear beloved Cubs. It is the free agent signing of Mel Rojas. Rojas was supposed to solve the Cubs bullpen problems. But instead he was a complete bust. And ever since, Cubs closers have flopped. There was the failed Doug Jones experiment. Rick Aguilera, Rodd Beck, the list goes on, but it all started with Rojas.
The Cubs broke my heart as a kid when they traded the latest of their can't miss prospects, a powerful 1st baseman named to Karl Pagel to the Cleveland Indians for Cliff Johnson, a power hitting Catcher/1st Baseman. I was so upset, I switched allegiances to the only team below them in the standings, the St. Louis Cardinals. Pagel never amounted to anything, but I was fed up with the Wrigleys and their incompetent management. Little did I know that the Tribune Company would be even worse!
If I was a fortune teller, I would forsee that the Cubs will rue the day that they gave Jon Garland to the White Sox for Matt Karchner. Of course, there's always the Lou Brock trade that will haunt the North Siders forever!
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Carter, the Cubs first-round draft selection in 1981, hit .259 with 396 homers and 1,445 RBIs in 16 seasons with six teams.