April 23, 1982: Rookie Ryne Sandberg records first two homers as Cubs drop slugfest to Pirates

The Chicago Cubs opened 1982 with rookie Ryne Sandberg at third base, months after acquiring him in an offseason trade with the Philadelphia Phillies. Held to one hit in his first 32 at-bats, the 22-year-old Sandberg entered the Cubs’ April 23 game with the Pittsburgh Pirates batting just .140. On a windy day at Wrigley Field, however, Sandberg previewed his rise as one of the franchise’s all-time greats, notching the first two home runs and first stolen base of his Hall of Fame career, scoring four runs, and driving in three in Chicago’s 12-10 loss.

On January 27, 1982, the Cubs and Phillies swapped shortstops. Chicago’s Iván de Jesús, a 29-year-old five-season starter, traded places with Philadelphia’s Larry Bowa, a 36-year-old 12-season starter. The Phillies’ levy for the seven-year age gap was Sandberg, a .293 hitter in Triple A who had appeared in 13 big-league games in September and October 1981.1

Both veterans had set roles at their new National League East Division addresses, but Sandberg’s destination was less certain. Chicago’s newspapers labeled him a “middle infielder with good speed but a light bat”2 or speculated about deploying him in center field.3 But first-year manager Lee Elia, most recently a third-base coach and minor-league manager with Philadelphia, sent Sandberg to third.4 “[M]ust be considered among the candidates for 1982 Rookie of the Year,” the Chicago Tribune’s season preview noted. “Big career ahead.”5

In the short term, however, Sandberg had only one hit in his first eight games as a Cub. Elia gave him a vote of confidence – “we feel he’s a player of the future”6 – and sat him for a game, then advanced him to second in the batting order when Chicago visited Pittsburgh on April 16.7 Sandberg had two hits in his second game at the new spot and three hits a day later.

Still, Sandberg’s totals as of the Cubs’ home-ballpark rematch with the Pirates remained meager. He had 7 hits – all singles – in 50 at-bats. His only RBI, a sacrifice fly, owed more to a teammate’s initiative than his own skill: Gary Woods had surprised Pittsburgh’s defense on April 16 by scoring on Sandberg’s 200-foot popup to second baseman Johnny Ray.8

As brisk winds gusted toward the bleachers at Wrigley Field on April 23,9 Sandberg batted with one out in the first against right-hander Eddie Solomon, who had allowed two of his three hits five days earlier. Sandberg singled, then got his first big-league stolen base. He took third on Bill Buckner’s groundout and scored on Leon Durham’s single. Chicago added a run when Keith Moreland hit a high fly ball to short right that Dave Parker misjudged.10 It landed for a triple, and Durham came home for a 2-0 lead.

The de Jesús-Bowa-Sandberg trade was not the only Cubs-Phillies exchange of the 1981-82 offseason. Pitcher Mike Krukow went to Philadelphia during December’s winter meetings, netting two members of the Cubs’ April 23 lineup: left fielder Moreland and pitcher Dickie Noles.11 Noles, a 25-year-old right-hander, had issued no walks in his seven-inning, two-run win against the Pirates on April 17,12 but Pittsburgh’s Jason Thompson walked to begin the second.

Bill Madlock singled and Mike Easler – batting .143 and dropped from second to sixth in manager Chuck Tanner’s batting order13 – singled to right to score Thompson. Pirates were at second and third after Durham’s throw home, and Tony Peña’s double put Pittsburgh ahead, 3-2. A fourth Pirates run tallied three batters later, via Omar Moreno’s sacrifice fly.

The teams traded jabs over the next few innings. Woods’ leadoff homer in the bottom of the second made it a one-run game. Later in the inning, Sandberg’s walk and Bump Wills’ single set up Buckner with a two-out RBI opportunity,14 but a groundout stranded the runners. Easler had another RBI single in the third, and Moreno’s second sacrifice fly gave the Pirates a 6-3 lead in the fourth.

The Cubs’ bottom-of-the-fourth counterpunch was a historic moment for Sandberg. Ty Waller hit for Noles and singled with one out. An out later, Sandberg drove Solomon’s pitch over the left-field bleachers and onto Waveland Avenue.15 His first big-league homer cut Pittsburgh’s advantage to 6-5.

Veteran right-hander Allen Ripley was Chicago’s new pitcher in the fifth, and another big inning gave the Pirates a cushion. Thompson singled with one out and moved to third on Madlock’s double. Easler hit a sinking drive to left; Moreland – the Cubs’ starting catcher for the first two weeks of the season but newly reassigned to left16 – “barely missed a sensational diving catch,” per the Chicago Tribune.17 It went for Easler’s third RBI single in three at-bats, and Madlock stopped at third.

Peña then doubled in Madlock. Two batters later, leadoff hitter Moreno notched his first four-RBI game since 1979 by driving Easler and Peña home with a single.18 Their second four-run frame of the game put the Pirates ahead, 10-5.

Solomon was done after a scoreless fifth, and Paul Moskau threw a clean sixth. Moskau, a preseason waiver claim,19 then began a two-out seventh-inning rally by singling off rookie Herman Segelke. Moreno’s walk moved Moskau into scoring position, and Ray’s single scored Pittsburgh’s 11th run of the day.

Sandberg faced Moskau soon after Harry Caray – a new voice on the Cubs’ broadcasts in 1982 after leaving the crosstown White Sox’ booth – sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” for the crowd of 8,813.20 Aided by the strong breeze, Sandberg launched his second homer of the day into the right-center bleachers.21

As in the early innings, the Pirates had an answer. Thompson began the eighth with an opposite-field homer to left off Segelke, his third round-tripper of the season.22 When Moskau dispatched the first two Cubs in the bottom of the eighth, the Pirates appeared solidly on high ground, four outs from victory with a 12-6 lead.

But pinch-hitter Bob Molinaro – who, like Caray, had changed his affiliation from White Sox to Cubs for ’82 – singled,23 and a rash of Pittsburgh miscues followed. Parker bobbled Wills’ single to right; the error put Cubs at the corners. Moskau wild-pitched Molinaro home.

Sandberg grounded to Ray, who failed to come up with the ball. The Cubs again had runners on first and third after the error. Buckner’s single made it 12-8 as Sandberg advanced to third.

The lefty-swinging Durham had three hits against righties Solomon and Moskau, and Tanner called in left-hander Rod Scurry, whose 1.23 ERA masked some of the shakier aspects of his season: 8 walks and 5 of 7 inherited runners scored in 7 1/3 innings. Scurry threw a wild pitch, allowing Sandberg to score his fourth run of the game, then walked Durham.

Pittsburgh’s seemingly secure victory had transformed into .389-batting Moreland representing the potential tying run, but Tanner summoned longtime fireman Kent Tekulve. The submarine-throwing Tekulve induced an inning-ending force at second.

Tekulve returned in the ninth, and the Cubs soon had another threat. Lee Lacy, Easler’s defensive replacement in left, dropped Jody Davis’s routine fly ball for an error. Woods bunted down the third-base line for a hit. Bowa’s slow grounder went for an infield single, and the bases were loaded.24

Elia sent up veteran pinch-hitter Jerry Morales, and Tekulve’s first pitch was his trademark sinker. Morales grounded it to Ray, who started a double play. Davis scored, but the Pirates were one out away. Wills bounced another sinker to shortstop Dale Berra,25 and Pittsburgh escaped with a 12-10 win.26

The game ended with Sandberg on the on-deck circle.

“Earlier in the season, I was getting out in front of the ball, not making solid contact,” he said afterward. “About the time we got to Pittsburgh [April 16], it just came to me gradually, so I relaxed and started meeting the ball. I don’t think about hitting home runs.”27

“I was happy to see him have a good day,” Elia added. “He gives us defense and speed. He’s not a home-run hitter. He’s a contact guy.”28

Sandberg hit .271 in 1982 with 103 runs scored, the most by a rookie in franchise history since 1895.29 On September 3 he started at second base for the first time. Elia said he wanted to give Pat Tabler – a September call-up with big numbers at Triple A – a shot at third.30 Sandberg won his first of nine straight Gold Gloves at second in 1983.

In 1984 Elia was gone and Jim Frey, known for developing hitters with the New York Mets and Baltimore Orioles, was the Cubs’ manager. Sandberg had a breakout year, earning league MVP honors.31 Another two-homer game at Wrigley Field, with a pair of game-tying shots against Hall of Fame-bound St. Louis Cardinals closer Bruce Sutter, was Sandberg’s signature moment of the 1984 season, as the Cubs broke their 39-year postseason drought.

Sandberg played 15 seasons in Chicago, appearing in 2,151 games, more than any Cub besides Ernie Banks, Cap Anson, and Billy Williams.32 His 282 home runs ranked fifth in franchise history as of 2025.33 His 344 steals, nearly double those of any Cub after the Deadball Era, were fourth.34 He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005.

Author’s Note

The author was inspired to write this article after the deaths of Lee Elia and Ryne Sandberg in July 2025.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Gary Belleville and copy-edited by Len Levin. SABR members Gary Belleville and Kurt Blumenau provided insightful comments on an earlier version of the article.

Photo credit: Ryne Sandberg, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN198204230.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1982/B04230CHN1982.htm

Notes

1 Jayson Stark, “Bowa Becomes a Chicago Cub: Phillies Get DeJesus in Three-Player Deal,” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 28, 1982: 1-D; Jerome Holtzman, “DeJesus Traded for Bowa, Rookie,” Chicago Tribune, January 28, 1982: 4,1. Philadelphia had selected Sandberg from a Spokane, Washington, high school in the 20th round of the June 1978 amateur draft. In six big-league at-bats with the Phillies, Sandberg had one hit – a single against the Cubs’ Mike Krukow in Philadelphia’s 14-0 loss at Wrigley Field on September 27.

2 Holtzman, “DeJesus Traded for Bowa, Rookie.”

3 Joe Goddard, “Cubs Deal DeJesus to Phillies for Bowa,” Chicago Sun-Times, January 28, 1982: 120.

4 Sandberg’s Opening Day assignment to third base resulted in the release of 1981 starter Ken Reitz, who had three years and more than $800,000 remaining on his contract. Jim Obert, “At Least the Bettors Like the ‘New’ Cubs,” Chicago Sun-Times, April 4, 1982: C1.

5 Jerome Holtzman, “The Cubs Lineup,” Chicago Tribune, April 4, 1982: 4,4.

6 “Briefing,” Chicago Tribune, April 12, 1982: 5,5.

7 Dave Van Dyck, “Pirates Top Cubs in 12th,” Chicago Sun-Times, April 17, 1982: 74.

8 Associated Press, “Cubs Lose 4th in a Row on Moreno’s Hit in 12th,” Rockford (Illinois) Register Star, April 17, 1982: 1C; Jerome Holtzman, “Cubs Caught in a Web of Strange Happenings,” Chicago Tribune, April 17, 1982: 2,3

9 The Chicago Tribune reported “a 23 mile-per-hour gale” during the game. Bob Logan, “Thar She Blows: Pirates Beat the Cubs – But It’s Hardly a Breeze,” Chicago Tribune, April 24, 1982: 2,1.

10 Charley Feeney, “Tekulve’s Relief Bails out Bucs,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 24, 1982: 13.

11 Jerome Holtzman, “Busy Cubs Add Power, Pitching,” Chicago Tribune, December 9, 1981: 5,1. The trades between the Cubs and Phillies and Elia’s hiring as manager followed former Philadelphia manager and executive Dallas Green becoming the Cubs’ general manager in October 1981. Jerome Holtzman, “Phillies’ Green Says Yes to Cubs; Elia Will Manage,” Chicago Tribune, October 10, 1981: 2,1.

12 A 55-minute rain delay in the eighth inning denied Noles’ opportunity for a complete game in the Cubs’ 10-2 win; Elia replaced him with Willie Hernández when play resumed. Jerome Holtzman, “Cubs Drown Pirates, End Hitting Drought,” Chicago Tribune, April 18, 1982: 4,3.

13 Charley Feeney, “Lower in the Order, Easler Hits a New High,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 24, 1982: 13.

14 The Cubs had obtained second baseman Wills, who had spent the first five seasons of his career with the Texas Rangers, in a March 26 trade for pitchers Paul Mirabella and Paul Semall. Jerome Holtzman, “Cubs Gets Wills for Speed, Leadoff Punch at 2d Base,” Chicago Tribune, March 27, 1982: 2,1.

15 Logan, “Thar She Blows.”

16 Elia began the season with the newly acquired Moreland starting at catcher ahead of 1981 primary catcher Jody Davis. He moved Moreland to left and returned Davis behind the plate because of Moreland’s defensive struggles, including eighth-inning passed balls that allowed the tying run on April 16 in Pittsburgh – on a pitch that broke through the webbing of his mitt – and the go-ahead run against the New York Mets on April 21. Holtzman, “Cubs Caught in a Web of Strange Happenings”; Jerome Holtzman, “Cubs Surrender to Mets Indefensible,” Chicago Tribune, April 22, 1982: 4,3; Jerome Holtzman, “Paradise Lost? Elia Rearranges the Deckhands on Cubs’ Floundering Ocean Liner,” Chicago Tribune, April 23, 1982: 4,3.

17 Logan, “Thar She Blows.”

18 The four-RBI game matched Moreno’s career high, accomplished five times in his 12-season career.

19 The 28-year-old Moskau had spent the first five seasons of his career with the Cincinnati Reds before being released by the Baltimore Orioles, then signed by Pittsburgh, days before Opening Day in 1982. Russ Franke, “Will Verdict Favor Moskau?” Pittsburgh Press, April 2, 1982: C-1; Russ Franke, “Pirates Add Moskau to Uncertain Pitching Staff,” Pittsburgh Press, April 4, 1982: D-4.

20 Caray had begun singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch at White Sox home games in 1976; he continued the ritual after joining WGN-TV’s Cubs broadcasts in 1982. An April 16 Chicago Tribune column lamented that “the response [to Caray singing during the seventh-inning stretch] at Wrigley Field has been, at best, tepid.” Bob Verdi, “Holy Clinker! Harry Doesn’t Carry,” Chicago Tribune, April 16, 1982: 4,1. Caray sang “Ballgame” at Wrigley Field through the end of his broadcast career in 1997.

21 Logan, “Thar She Blows.”

22 It was the third and final appearance of Segelke’s major-league career. The 23-year-old right-hander had made the Cubs’ Opening Day roster in 1982 after his fifth appearance in spring training with the club. He was demoted to Triple A with an 8.31 ERA on April 28 and never returned to the majors. Jerome Holtzman, “Fifth Time the Charm for Cub Rookie,” Chicago Tribune, April 2, 1982: 4,1; “Crane Prep Star Picks Illinois,” Chicago Tribune, April 29, 1982: 4,6.

23 The Cubs had acquired Molinaro, a 31-year-old veteran of three American League clubs, on March 29 to complete a deal that sent pitcher Lynn McGlothen to the White Sox in August 1981. Jerome Holtzman, “Cubs Pick Up Molinaro from Discard Pile, Keep Dealing for Mazzilli,” Chicago Tribune, March 30, 1982: 4,1.

24 Feeney, “Tekulve’s Relief Bails out Bucs.”

25 Feeney, “Tekulve’s Relief Bails out Bucs”; Russ Franke, “Shift out of Second Easy for Pirates’ Easler,” Pittsburgh Press, April 24, 1982: A-6.

26 It was Tekulve’s first save of the season; his 20 saves in 1982 ranked fifth in the NL, and he led the majors with 85 appearances. Solomon was credited with the win and Noles was charged with the loss.

27 Logan, “Thar She Blows.”

28 Joe Mooshil (Associated Press), “Pirates Outscore Cubs, 12-10,” Pontiac (Illinois) Daily Leader, April 24, 1982: 6.

29 Bill Everitt’s 129 runs scored in 1895, when the franchise was known as the Chicago Colts, remain the franchise rookie record as of 2025. Sandberg finished sixth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting in 1982. Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Steve Sax won the award, and Pittsburgh’s Ray was second.

30 Robert Markus, “Padres Gang Up on Cubs’ Kids,” Chicago Tribune, September 4, 1982: 2,3. The Cubs finished 1982 at 73-89 and in fifth place in the NL East. The Pirates were fourth at 84-78.

31 Dave Van Dyck, “Frey’s Advice Pays Off for Sandberg,” The Sporting News, April 23, 1984: 16; Douglas S. Looney, “They’d Be Dyin’ Without Ryne,” Sports Illustrated, May 28, 1984: 62.

32 Sandberg’s Chicago tenure was interrupted by his apparent retirement in June 1994. He returned in 1996 and played through the end of the 1997 season.

33 Ahead of Sandberg in home runs with the Cubs are Sammy Sosa (545), Banks (512), Williams (392), and Ron Santo (337).

34 Ahead of Sandberg in steals with the Cubs are Frank Chance, who played his final game as a Cub in 1912 (402); Bill Lange (400, final game in 1899); and Jimmy Ryan (370, final game in 1900).