This page is dedicated to the best, underrespected team around...... the 1969 Chicago Cubs. This was the one case in which the best team lost. The '69 Cubs had 3 Hall of Famers, and one that should be in the Hall. I'm of course talking about Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ferguson Jenkins, and Ron Santo. There were also at least 4 more very solid, All-Star type players in Randy Hundley,Phil Regan, Don Kessinger and Glenn Beckert. Also there were ample bit players on the team. Jim Hickman, Kenny Holtzman, Bill Hands, Joe Niekro, and Gene Oliver off the bench. The only starter who wasn't didn't carry his weight was Don Young, a troubled rookie, who went insane. They also had one of the best managers ever, in Leo "the Lip" Durocher.

There are many people who say that Leo was the cause of the Cubs' failure. They say he drove them too hard. That's the way he learned the game, in the '20s and 30's. He later talked about this in a banquet in the early '80s. He said, "The only reason the '69 Cubs folded was because they didn't give me 100%. They gave me 140%" He was conceding that he had chewed them out too hard.

Here is a great painting of Ernie Banks, one of the best I've ever seen. (ŠJeff Suntala, not to be reproduced without his permission)

This is called the Boys of Summer and seemed appropriate.

"It's Wrigley Field. The fans are great, the sun is on my back.Let's play two!"-Ernie Banks

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