The 1971 Cubs: What went wrong in this contending year

Fergie Jenkins pitches against the Giants, May 19, 1971Al Yellon created Bleed Cubbie Blue and has been its managing editor since 2005. He's also written three books about the Cubs, the latest is "Chicago Cubs Firsts."

So, I figured after writing about the 1969 Cubs failures and those of 1970 the last couple of days, I’d continue this brief series with a look at the team in 1971.

General manager John Holland was curiously inactive in the offseason. The only players acquired were the Breeden brothers, Danny (from the Reds) and Hal (from the Braves), and Carmen Fanzone from the Red Sox. Neither Breeden brother did much of anything for the Cubs (they played in a total of 48 games) and neither…