Re: When is the last time you've seen a NCAA Football team have four straight shutout
Yes I knew that was a bit confusing. I believe Greg won twenty games when he was a Cub.
Correct. Maddux won 20 games in 1992 and his first Cy Young. The Braves had to decide whether to bid high for Barry Bonds or Maddux, and I was hoping they'd choose Maddux. He actually only took $500K more than the Cubs offered to go to Atlanta. He turned down an additional $8 million the Yankees would have paid him. (It seems hard to believe, but the Yankees of 1993 were not thought of as a team on the verge of a dynasty).
Klesko hit a 3 run homer the day we were there and the Cubbies knew the day was done with them facing Maddox. It was a free hat day and left field was showered with Cub hats after that. It was good though to visit Wrigley where Lou Gehrig and so many others had appeared.
You got me curious so I'm hunting for this game.
Here's what I find when Maddux faced Chicago from 1993-99 when Klesko was a Brave.
In 1993, Maddux pitched twice in Wrigley, a 1-0 Opening Day win, and a no decision in a Braves loss on 8/20.
Maddux did not pitch any games in Wrigley in 1994, 1996, or 1998.
1994
4/15 - Klesko hits a two-run dinger in a 19-5 Braves rout behind Tom Glavine
1995
8/26 - Maddux wins a 7-2 complete game over Steve Trachsel. Chipper hits a two-run HR in the fifth. Klesko leaves for a pinch-runner after an RBI single in a 5-run Braves third
1997
4/12 - Maddux pitches a great 7 innings but gets an ND in a 2-1 Braves win. Klesko goes 2 for 4 with a K and scores both Braves runs
7/22 - in the first game of a doubleheader, Maddux gives up 5 hits and goes the distance in a 4-1 win. Michael Tucker hits a 2-run HR, Klesko goes 1 for 4 with an RBI single in the top of the first
1999
5/15 - Cubs beat Maddux, 5-1, and Kelsko Ks twice. Cubs get three in top of first, Maddux goes 7.
Those are the only games both played at Wrigley.
So I searched Klesko.
He did have a game against the Cubs in ATLANTA (6/6/95) where he homered twice and drove in six runs (a grand slam and a 2-run HR).
Also - on 9/1/95, Klesko hit two 2-run HRs off Bullinger.....but that was also in Atlanta
Klesko hit a 3-run homer against the Cubs on 5/22/96 in Atlanta with Glavine pitching that was a 3-run HR.
Five days later in Chicago, Klesko hit a grand slam to give Glavine a 9-1 win.
I was hunting to try and find the box score for you. Don't take what I'm saying here as poorly reflective on you - I've had to learn that my memory is radically different from the recall others have. I think what PROBABLY happened is you saw Maddux pitch one time and Glavine at Wrigley when Klesko homered a DIFFERENT time (because there were a few of those). So I don't doubt the basics of what you remember - just some of the details.
And I "get" what you're saying about the legends of baseball playing somewhere - kinda cool. I was about to say, "I don't think Gehrig ever played in Wrigley Field because he was a Yankee and there was no interleague play back then.
But then I suddenly remembered that the Yankees swept the Cubs in the 1932 World Series where Ruth (allegedly) called his shot off Charley Root. So Gehrig DID, without question, play there in some rather meaningful games. In fact, Gehrig homered twice in that game, including right after Ruth's famed home run that may or may not have been predicted (probably was not).
In the bigger picture - thanks for sharing.