You might not think this photo has enough evidence or clues to figure out the date and situation.
After all the sleuthing photos I’ve posted here, though… you should not doubt me.
This photo is another from BCB reader Joe Coney.
What do we know about this photo at first glance? Pete Rose is playing first base for the Phillies at Wrigley Field, and Ryne Sandberg is the baserunner. Sandberg has clearly grounded a ball somewhere in the infield, and… is he safe or out? Looks like it’s going to be a close play!
That seems pretty random, but we can narrow this down. Rose played for the Phillies from 1979-83, but Sandberg didn’t debut for the Cubs until 1982, so this has to be 1982 or 1983. Rose played in 16 games at Wrigley Field in those two years. We can eliminate three of those games because Rose didn’t play first base until late in those games (started in RF in two of them and pinch-hit in the other) and Sandberg was not involved in any plays at first base in the innings Rose was at first.
So we’re down to 13 games.
I eliminated two games of these 13 in which Sandberg did not play. That leaves 11.
There are two other recognizable people in this photo. One is Marla Collins, who served as the Cubs “ball girl” for several years in the 1980s. The other is the first base umpire. We can’t see exactly who he is, but I know who he is NOT. I eliminated a game where Doug Harvey was the 1B umpire — that’s not Harvey. I eliminated another where Eric Gregg was the 1B umpire — that’s not Gregg.
Now we’re down to nine games, and it’s time to go methodically go through all of them to see if we can find a matching play.
The throw appears to be coming from the left side of the infield, so we can eliminate any ground ball to second base.
Seven plays remain after that. One of the six was in the second game of a doubleheader, and given the shadows and the fact that fans on the third base side are in full sun, it can’t be that one. Now we’re down to six, and one of those was in the ninth inning of a game in September, and fans in that area wouldn’t have been in sunshine that late in a September game.
Five plays now remain. Only one of these games had weather conditions listed in the boxscore, and those do match what we see here — 84 degrees and sunny. But I figured it was worth checking the other four.
I eliminated a game in May 1983 because the forecast high was 48.
Then I looked at the inning for the remaining games. Because we see the fans on the third-base side in full sun, this has to be early in a game — otherwise those fans would have been in the shade. I’m sure you’ve noticed this at games during the summer.
That leaves us with only one possibility. On Sunday, Aug. 8, 1982, Sandberg grounded to short in the bottom of the first inning. That’s the play we are looking at.
Sandberg batted leadoff that day and went 2-for-4 with two RBI. The Cubs trailed 4-0 going into the sixth, but Jay Johnstone hit a three-run homer in that inning and Sandberg’s two-run triple keyed a four-run eighth, and the Cubs won the game 8-5.
Just another little slice of Cubs history, featuring one of our favorite Cubs Hall of Famers.