The Cubs were in the midst of a pretty dismal season, their third losing year in a row. They were 18 games under .500 at 43-61 and 14.5 games out of first place when they hosted the Rockies in the second
of a three-game series under the lights on a Tuesday.
This game started out as a slog. Edwin Jackson started for the Cubs and allowed three runs in the first inning. The Cubs scored one in the first and tied it up in the fourth on a two-run homer by Emilio Bonifacio, the last of two home runs he would hit for the Cubs in 2014.
Jackson only made it through four innings because he threw a ghastly total of 105 (!) pitches to 21 batters over those four innings. Rockies starter Jorge De La Rosa — who would pitch for the Cubs briefly in 2018 — didn’t do much better, throwing 118 (!) pitches over just six innings.
Then the teams went through a long, long, long, LONG time without scoring. The Rockies sent Tommy Kahnle, Adam Ottavino, Boone Logan, Matt Belisle, Rex Brothers (another future Cub!), Nick Masset and former Cub LaTroy Hawkins to the mound following De La Rosa. Those seven pitchers combined to throw nine shutout innings, allowing three hits and four walks, striking out seven.
The Cubs bullpen did a bit better than that, though: Carlos Villanueva, Wesley Wright, Justin Grimm, Brian Schlitter, Blake Parker, James Russell and Pedro Strop combined to throw 11 shutout innings, allowing three hits and four walks, striking out 10.
(Two of the above pitchers were still active in 2025 — Kahnle and Ottavino.)
That was a long slog of not very much at all happening.
Then the Cubs, having run out of relievers, sent catcher John Baker to the mound to throw the top of the 16th inning. He was the first Cubs position player to pitch since 2012 (Joe Mather) and just the second since Gary Gaetti in 1999.
Baker issued a one-out walk, then induced a double-play ball to end the inning.
In the bottom of the 16th — it’s now just about 1:30 a.m. — Baker was the leadoff hitter. He walked. Bonifacio sacrificed him to second. That was followed by Arismendy Alcántara being hit by a pitch. Anthony Rizzo singled, loading the bases.
That brought up Starlin Castro, who hit a line-drive sac fly to right, with Baker sliding across the plate in triumph.
Here’s the entire inning, including Baker’s pitching and scoring the winning run [VIDEO].
This became the thing of legend. T-shirts and a bobblehead commemorating the event were made. Eventually an event called “John Baker Day” was organized, with items raffled off for charity. Baker himself participated many times.
Baker didn’t hit very well for the Cubs in 2014, just .192/.273/.231 in 68 games, and retired at the end of the season. He spent several years in the Cubs organization, eventually becoming mental skills coach in 2019. In November 2020 he was hired by the Pirates to be their director of coaching and player development.
About a decade ago, Baker wrote an article for Fox Sports about “playing the game the right way.” When Fox Sports dumped all its columns and commentary, that article vanished, but part of it is quoted here. The “young, power-hitting first baseman” referred to is Rizzo, yet another example of how Baker had a positive impact on the Cubs for years after he played for the team.
Lastly, this game is one of the most famous in recent Cubs history, known to all as the “John Baker Game.” Games like this are one of the things baseball has lost with Rob Manfred’s ghost runner.
