Many of you will likely remember Tim Blackwell, one of the typical “good field, no hit” catchers of the era.
Blackwell usually sported a walrus mustache; that’s how I remember him. But as you can see in
the photo at the top of this post, he wore a beard for a while as a Cub. That wasn’t all that usual for that era, especially for the buttoned-down Cubs. Blackwell was one of the first Cubs to wear a beard since… well, probably the late 19th Century when that was fashionable.
Here’s the full photo:
The clues, of course, reside in the Wrigley Field scoreboard, which show almost all of the matchups from that day. It’s just after 11 a.m., so the ballpark hasn’t yet opened for an afternoon contest. The people you see in the bleachers are likely team employees.
Some of the matchups are blocked, though, so for the full board we turn to this photo of Cubs backup outfielder Scot Thompson, clearly taken on the same day, just a few minutes earlier:
The matchups on the board read as follows.
NL: HOUSTON/SAN DIEGO, CINCINNATI/LOS ANGELES, ATLANTA/SAN FRANCISCO, ST. LOUIS/CUBS, MONTREAL/PITTSBURGH, NEW YORK/PHILADELPHIA
AL: OAKLAND/TEXAS, MINNESOTA/MILWAUKEE, BOSTON/NEW YORK, SOX/SEATTLE, BALTIMORE/KANSAS CITY, DETROIT/CLEVELAND
Blackwell and Thompson both played for the Cubs from 1978-81. There is just one series in those four seasons that matches these team matchups. It happened Sept. 15-17, 1978. Since there are no NITE GAME indicators on the board, and there were multiple night games on the first two of those dates, both of these photos had to have been taken before the Cubs/Cardinals game on Sunday, Sept. 17, 1978.
Blackwell was the starting catcher that day and went 0-for-2 with a walk. Thompson did not play. As you can see from the photo, it was overcast when they were taken and the tarp roll is on the field, indicating they might have been getting it ready to place the tarp on the field. In fact, the game that day was shortened to seven innings by rain. The Cubs won 4-2 and Ray Burris got credit for a complete game by throwing all seven innings.
Tim Blackwell hit .228/.328/.305 in a 10-year, 426-game MLB career with the Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Cubs, most of which (273 games) was with the Cubs. In 1980 he was more or less the Cubs primary catcher, playing in 103 games and batting .272/.352/.394 with five home runs. That plus throwing out 40.9 (!) percent of runners trying to steal got him a 3.0 bWAR season. That was the best bWAR figure for any Cubs batter in 1980 and 37th-best in the entire National League.
Blackwell resumed his lack of hitting the following year and left the team as a free agent. After his playing career he became a longtime manager in the minor league systems of the Giants, Mets, Orioles, Rockies, Brewers and White Sox, managing over 2,000 games in 16 seasons, finally retiring after 2008.
As I mentioned yesterday, I am running out of photos to sleuth. The photos that Getty Images used to have without dates… they now mostly have those dates. So if you have any Cubs photos lying around you’d like me to sleuth, please send them!
