1988 Chicago Cubs season explained

The 1988 Chicago Cubs season was the 117th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 113th in the National League and the 73rd at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished fourth in the National League East with a record of 77–85, 24 games behind the New York Mets.

The first game under lights at Wrigley Field was on August 8 (8/8/88), against the Philadelphia Phillies. With the Cubs leading 3–1, in the middle of the 4th inning, a powerful thunderstorm rolled in. The game was suspended, and finally called at 10:25PM. Since the rules of Major League Baseball state that a game is not official unless 5 innings are completed,^[1] the first official night game in the history of Wrigley Field was played on August 9, when the Cubs defeated the New York Mets 6 to 4.

Offseason

• October 23, 1987: Dickie Noles was returned to the Chicago Cubs by the Detroit Tigers as part of earlier loan.^[2]
• December 8, 1987: Lee Smith was traded by the Chicago Cubs to the Boston Red Sox for Al Nipper and Calvin Schiraldi.^[3]
• December 14, 1987: Vance Law was signed as a free agent with the Chicago Cubs.^[4]
• February 12, 1988: Goose Gossage was traded by the San Diego Padres with Ray Hayward to the Chicago Cubs for Keith Moreland and Mike Brumley.^[5]
• March 31, 1988: Mike Bielecki was traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Chicago Cubs for Mike Curtis (minors).^[6]

Regular season

President of the United States Ronald Reagan threw out the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day at Wrigley Field.

After 5,687 consecutive day games played by the Cubs at Wrigley, the lights were finally lit on August 8, 1988, when 91-year-old fan Harry Grossman gave a countdown and pressed a button, for a game with the Philadelphia Phillies. The game began before an announced crowd of 39,008. The Cubs were leading 3 to 1 and coming to bat in the bottom of the fourth when the rain delay began. The umpires called the game after waiting two hours, ten minutes.^[7] The Cubs played the first official night game the following night against the Mets and won, 6–4.^[8]

Notable transactions

• July 14, 1988: Dave Martinez was traded by the Cubs to the Montreal Expos for Mitch Webster.^[9]
• July 15, 1988: Jim Sundberg was released by the Chicago Cubs.^[10]

Roster

1988 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers		Catchers Infielders		Outfielders		Manager Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C		98	309	80	.259	7	38
1B		134	486	144	.296	7	57
2B		155	618	163	.264	19	69
SS		155	575	143	.249	9	56
3B		151	556	163	.293	11	78
LF		152	580	178	.307	8	53
CF		75	256	65	.254	4	34
RF		157	591	179	.303	24	79

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
	70	264	70	.265	4	26
	88	249	57	.229	6	33
	100	188	50	.266	6	20
	76	164	41	.250	1	14
	26	75	16	.213	0	4
	24	73	16	.219	3	6
	46	73	20	.274	0	5
	63	66	9	.136	0	9
	34	60	15	.250	0	1
	24	54	13	.241	2	9
	17	16	3	.188	0	0
	4	6	0	.000	0	0
	2	5	2	.400	0	1

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	34	249.0	18	8	3.18	140
	32	226.0	13	14	3.86	144
	34	202.0	9	15	3.48	121
	29	166.1	9	13	4.38	140
	5	34.2	0	3	2.60	18
	1	5.0	1	0	7.20	4
	1	3.1	0	0	8.10	1

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	29	112.2	6	7	4.15	57
	22	80.0	2	4	3.04	27
	19	48.1	2	2	3.35	33

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
	46	4	4	13	4.33	30
	63	2	3	6	4.98	69
	44	4	6	5	3.78	36
	35	2	2	1	3.32	24
	22	2	1	0	4.91	19
	19	1	1	1	7.66	22
	11	1	2	0	5.28	6
	7	1	0	0	5.84	6

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

^[11]

References

• 1988 Chicago Cubs season at Baseball Reference

Notes and References

1. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/official_rules/start_end_4.jsp Rule 4.10(c)(1)
2. News: Tiger-Cub Trade Even!. October 24, 1987. Toledo Blade. 16.
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/smithle02.shtml Lee Smith Statistics
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lawva01.shtml Vance Law Statistics
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/g/gossari01.shtml Rich Gossage Statistics
6. Web site: Mike Bielecki Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com . September 19, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090331131723/http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bielemi01.shtml . March 31, 2009 . live .
7. News: Rain halts night debut for Cubs . August 9, 1988. Toledo Blade. September 19, 2011. 17.
8. https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/chi-chicagodays-wrigleylights-story-story.html The Cubs get lights at Wrigley Field <20 years ago this year>
9. Web site: Mitch Webster Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More . 2024-08-20 . Baseball-Reference.com . en.
10. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sundbji01.shtml Jim Sundberg Statistics
11. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997