On May 27th, St. Louis Cardinals Rookie Leon Durham went 1 for 5 with 1 RBI in first Major League game, as the Cards lost to the New York Mets 5-9.

When I first moved to Chicago and started to regularly attend Cubs games, Leon “Bull” Durham was a fixture. In his 10-year career with the Cards, Cubs, and Reds he made 2 All-Star Games (1982 & 1983) and won 1 Silver Slugger Award (1982). In the Cubs Pennant Run of 1984 he received a number of votes for League M.VP. He finished 12th.

The 1984 Cubs had a hell of a good infield: Bull Durham 1B, Ryne Sandberg 2B, and Ron Cey 3B. And when you add Jody Davis at Catcher, no wonder they won games and got to the National League Championshipc Series.

I was at the home opener in 1984. It was cold and the wind was blowing out. The Cubs beat the Met 11-2 and both Cey and Davis hit homers. Looking back at the boxscore, Durham went 1 for 4 that day with a Triple. I wish I could say I remembered the Triple. But I didn’t. Until I looked at the boxscore the only thing I could remember was that it was cold (54-degrees, apparently), that the wind was blowing out, and that the Cubs killed the Mets.

Looking at the boxscore now I see that the Mets pitcher that day was some Rookie named Dwight Gooden! Funny, I had not remembered that.

It was Gooden’s second career start. But it was a bad day for Doc. He only lasted 3.1 Innings that day, striking out 4, and giving up 6 Earned Runs! I guess even for the best pitcher on the planet in 1984, your first time pitching in Wrigley with the wind blowing out can be humbling.

Steve Trout started on the mound that day for the Cubbies. He pitched a complete game. For that day at least, he was the better pitcher.

On one of my moves over the years, I lost all but one of the scorecards for the games I attended at Wrigley, Comiskyy, and the Astrodome. The only scorecard I still have is one from the very first game I attended at Wrigley. And that was one someone else filled out and I picked up by accident.

Baseball is memory and history and story and conversation and myth. I began here with the intention of writing about Bull Durham and his glasses (he was one of the rare players who wore them) and his mighty swings. But I ended up thinking about the 1984 Cubs and then how I got to see Gooden pitch in just his second game ever and how much I have forgotten over the years.

Baseball, as they say, “is a funny game.” Especially when the wind is blowing out at Wrigley.