June 26, 1994: Rick Sutcliffe wins in return trip to Wrigley Field with Cardinals

On what was supposed to be Harry Caray Day, a familiar face returned to Wrigley Field, where he had his greatest success with the first Chicago Cubs team to reach the postseason in 39 years. Rick Sutcliffe—38 years old in 1994 and 10 seasons removed from his 1984 National League Cy Young Award campaign—had to prove to the St. Louis Cardinals that he could still pitch. On this day, Sutcliffe pitched six innings to propel the Cardinals to a 3-1 win over the Cubs.

The Cardinals entered the 1994 season with a focus on improving the starting rotation from 1993’s 87-win ballclub. The major hurdle was payroll. “Unfortunately, we are looking for a pitcher who doesn’t make a lot of money,” said Cardinals general manager Dal Maxvill.1 St. Louis was dealt a significant blow when Donovan Osborne, who led Cardinals starters in ERA in 1993, underwent shoulder surgery and was lost for the season.2

Sutcliffe, who had won 82 games as a Cub from 1984 through 1991, made 64 starts with the Baltimore Orioles over 1992 and 1993. He was considered a clubhouse leader in Baltimore and believed he was going to sign another contract with the Orioles, but did not reach an agreement for 1994. The 6-foot-7 right-hander’s 5.75 ERA and significant knee injury in 1993 were eyed as factors precluding a deal.3 Believing he could still pitch, Sutcliffe signed a minor-league contract with the Cardinals and made St. Louis’s Opening Day roster.4

The signing was not popular with starting pitcher Bob Tewksbury, whose 17 wins and 32 starts topped the 1993 Cardinals. As Tewksbury stated in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Nothing against Rick Sutcliffe, who’s had a great career, but they got him at their price. $250,000, with a chance to make $250,000 more. That’s OK, but that move showed me they’re not going after somebody who’s in the top of his prime.”5

Even former Cardinal Terry Pendleton, now with the Atlanta Braves, called out the Cardinals ownership group for not spending more money. “They’re saving money. They’re not trying to win nothing. They know people will show up anyway. That’s pretty unfair to the fans. People will always show up. What else do they have in that town, except for hockey, sports-wise? Personally, I think it’s sad, [especially] for the fans.”6

Sutcliffe had a 3-3 record and a 6.69 ERA through his first 11 appearances of 1994, including nine starts, when he faced the Cubs on June 26 for the first time since leaving Chicago. St. Louis entered the game tied for third place in the NL Central Division, 6½ games behind the division-leading Cincinnati Reds.

Trailing the Cardinals in fifth place were the Cubs, who also had their share of troubles. Despite the team’s finishing 1993 with a winning record for the first time since 1989, general manager Larry Himes fired manager Jim Lefebvre. The 1994 season started very poorly for the Cubs and new manager Tom Trebelhorn, as they dropped their first 12 home games.7 On June 13 Ryne Sandberg, 1984 National League MVP and a 10-time All-Star at second base, stunned the baseball community by announcing his retirement at age 34, citing a lack of drive.

The Cubs had scheduled a Harry Caray Day celebration for the Sunday afternoon game, but a fall earlier that week sidelined the popular broadcaster.8 Nonetheless, WGN-TV’s Thom Brennaman and Steve Stone wore oversized glasses in tribute to Caray.

Sutcliffe controlled the game through the first three innings. Only Sammy Sosa was able to reach base, on a first inning two-out single, but he was erased on a force at second to end the inning.

With two outs in the third and nobody on base, Chicago shortstop Shawon Dunston—Sutcliffe’s Cubs teammate from 1985 through 1991—attempted to bunt on the first pitch. To Sutcliffe, this violated an unwritten rule.

“Shawon is lucky that we’re as close as we are,” Sutcliffe said after the game. “Because when he bunted [foul] with two outs [in the third inning], as you know, normally the next one goes right at your head. I looked at him and said: ‘Shawon, you know better than that. What in the world were you thinking?’”9

Sutcliffe considered throwing an inside pitch, but instead threw outside, and Dunston grounded out to end the inning.10

The Cardinals broke through against Cubs starter Steve Trachsel in the top of the fourth. Gerald Perry led off with a four-pitch walk. Trachsel rebounded to get Mark Whiten and Todd Zeile to fly out. But Luis Alicea got a fastball over the plate on a 1-and-0 count and knocked it over the right-field basket, and St. Louis led 2-0.

Sutcliffe remained effective with the lead. By changing speeds at or around the strike zone, he threw the timing of the Cubs’ hitters off. Only Sosa reached base against Sutcliffe, punching a second single to left with one out in the fourth, but he was stranded. The WGN cameras showed a disgusted Rey Sánchez slamming his bat after an inning-ending fly out in the fifth.

Chicago finally had a scoring threat in the sixth, with Sutcliffe still on the mound. Mike Maksudian, pinch-hitting for Trachsel, lined a leadoff single to right field. Dunston hit Sutcliffe’s next pitch deep to left field, and the ball bounced off the ivy-covered wall. Maksudian rounded third, as third-base coach Tony Muser sent him home.

It appeared that Maksudian was going to score; WGN’s Wayne Larrivee said, “Maksudian rounding third. He will score!” But the Cardinals completed a perfect relay, as left fielder Brian Jordan hit the cutoff man, Ozzie Smith, who fired a one-hop throw to catcher Terry McGriff just before Maksudian plowed through McGriff.

Still, the Cubs pushed across a run when Dunston advanced to third on a wild pitch and Mark Grace brought him in on a groundout to second. Sutcliffe finished the inning, and his day, by retiring Sosa on a fly ball to center.

The Cardinals got that run back the next half-inning. With one out in the seventh and Jim Bullinger on the mound in relief, Alicea singled and raced to third on McGriff’s single. When Sosa’s throw to third hit Alicea’s back and bounced away, McGriff took second on the error.

Cardinals manager Joe Torre sent up Bernard Gilkey to bat for Sutcliffe, who had thrown 70 pitches in six innings. Trebelhorn countered by calling for an intentional walk, and Jordan stood in with the bases loaded. But Bullinger’s second pitch to Jordan got away to the backstop, and Alicea scored to make it 3-1, Cardinals.

Torre brought in veteran left-hander Rob Murphy in the seventh. Murphy got Derrick May to line out, but Eddie Zambrano, pinch-hitting for Rick Wilkins, singled on a pop fly to left. With lefty-swinging Tuffy Rhodes due up, Trebelhorn sent up switch-hitter Kevin Roberson, and Torre countered with righty Mike Pérez. Pérez got Roberson to ground into an inning-ending double play, and then set the Cubs down in order in the eighth.

René Arocha came on for the save in the bottom of the ninth. After Dunston grounded out, Grace singled to bring up the tying run in Sosa. Sosa, who had emerged as a home-run threat with 33 homers in 1993 and 16 in his first 60 games of ’94, energized the Cub faithful.

Arocha and Sosa dueled to a 3-and-2 count, then on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Sosa swung and missed on an up-and-in fastball for the second out. May represented the last chance for the Cubs, but he flied out to Jordan, who had moved from left to center, to end the game.

After the game, Sutcliffe was both gracious and thankful that he got to cherish this moment in his career: “Running a couple of sprints before the game and having the fans stand up in the bleachers and cheer … those are things I’ll take to my grave with me. Harry Caray and the Chicago Cubs fans are the ones who really created me. They gave me any identity I’ve ever achieved.”11

Grace, Sutcliffe’s Cubs teammate for four seasons, complimented Sutcliffe on his six-inning performance this day. Grace cited Sutcliffe’s change of speeds to get the aggressive Cubs off-balance.12

Sutcliffe pitched in four more games with the Cardinals before another labrum tear ended his season and, as it turned out, his major-league career.13 He announced his retirement in April 1995, at the end of the players’ strike that shut down the 1994 season and delayed the start of the ’95 campaign.14 But in the twilight of his career, Sutcliffe got to enjoy one final game, and one final win, at Wrigley Field.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Mark Richard and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

 The author accessed Retrosheet.org and Baseball-Reference.com for pertinent information such as box scores, play-by-play, and other statistical data. He also consulted player biographies in the SABR BioProject; the RetroSimba.com St. Louis Cardinals history blog post of Rick Sutcliffe’s signing; and a recording of the television broadcast of the full game, posted on YouTube by the Cardinals Baseball Classics account.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN199406260.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1994/B06260CHN1994.htm 

https://retrosimba.com/2014/01/29/rick-sutcliffe-symbolized-sad-state-of-cardinals-in-1994/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HCfTpanx6g&t=4384s

Notes 

1 Rick Hummel, “No Benes,” The Sporting News, November 8, 1993: 33.

2 Rick Hummel, “Surgeon: Wait Didn’t Affect Osborne’s Chances For ’94,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 2, 1994: 47.

3 David Ginsburg (Associated Press), “Sutcliffe Is Wearing Wrong Bird on Chest.” Indianapolis Star, March 7, 1994: 2B. 

4 Dan O’Neill, “Cards, Sutcliffe Agree on Deal,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 1, 1994: 10.

5 Rick Hummel, “Improving Staff? It May Have to Be the Current Cast,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 18, 1994: 33

6 Marc Topkin, “Out of the Red—and the Running,” St. Petersburg Times, March 27, 1994: 1C.

7 “Wrigley Field Defeat Sets Record for Cubs,” South Bend Tribune, May 4, 1994: C2.

8 Rick Hummel, “Chicago Is Still His Kind of Town—Ex-Cub Sutcliffe Carries Cards 3-1,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 27, 1994: 19.

9 Fred Mitchell, “Sutcliffe Gives Old Pal Break,” Chicago Tribune, June 27, 1994. Accessed January 25, 2023. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-06-27-9406270082-story.html.

10 Mitchell.

11 Rick Hummel, “Chicago Is Still His Kind of Town—Ex-Cub Sutcliffe Carries Cards 3-1.” 15.

12 Toni Ginnetti, “Friendly Confines—Just Like Old Times for Sutcliffe,” Chicago Sun-Times, June 27, 1994. Accessed October 14, 2022 via NewsBank.

13 Rick Hummel, “Sore-Armed Sutcliffe May Finally Be Out of Comebacks,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 31, 1994.

14 Associated Press, “Sutcliffe Retires After 16 Seasons,” Chicago Tribune, April 22, 1995: 3, 3.