The 1973 Cubs: A last gasp at contention

Ron Santo at third base for the Cubs at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati in 1973Al 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."

I’ve written about this star-crossed 1973 Cubs team on quite a number of occasions, so this summary of that ballclub is going to kind of be a conglomeration of the previous articles, with some new material added.

Here goes.

The 1973 Cubs raced out to a 48-33 first half and after splitting a doubleheader with the Mets July 1, led the NL East by eight games. It felt as if the Cubs would finally, at last, bring home a division title, perhaps a NL pennant or…