This season was, as you know, interrupted by a strike that wiped out about a third of the games. I have no doubt that had the season been played to its completion, the Cubs would have set a franchise record for losses. They lost 98 games in 1980 and did not improve over the winter.
It didn’t happen, and by the end of the year the team had new ownership in Tribune Co. and a new general manager in Dallas Green, and Green wasted no time in making trades to try to improve the team.
But first, a couple of “last gasp” deals from Bob Kennedy and the Wrigley ownership.