The date in the headline likely sounds familiar to you.
Of course, it’s the date of The Sandberg Game, in which Ryne Sandberg burst on the national scene with a 5-for-6 performance that included game-tying home runs in the ninth AND 10th innings. The Cubs came from deficits of 7-1 and 9-3 to defeat the Cardinals 12-11 in 11 innings that afternoon on a game televised nationally. Sandberg drove in seven runs, got called “Baby Ruth” by Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog and got himself and the Cubs quite
a bit of attention. It’s not an exaggeration to say that this game transformed the Cubs as a franchise.
Sandberg drove in seven that day, but he did not drive in the winning run. That honor went to a little-used backup infielder named Dave Owen.
Setting the scene: The game is tied 11-11 heading to the last of the 11th. Leon Durham led off with a walk off Cardinals lefty Dave Rucker, who’d been brought in just to face Durham, back in the day of the LOOGY (left-handed one out guy).
Jeff Lahti replaced Rucker. Durham stole second and Herzog ordered both of the next two hitters, Keith Moreland and Jody Davis, intentionally walked.
That brought up the pitcher’s spot in the batting order. Cubs manager Jim Frey sent Owen up to bat.
As I noted above, Owen rarely played. This was just his second game in a week and his first at-bat in seven days.
He ran the count to 1-1. And then (the link below should go directly to the at-bat, if not, scroll to 3:17:30):
Dave Owen was drafted by the Cubs in the 10th round in 1979 out of Texas-Arlington. He had 22 at-bats for the Cubs in 1983 and played in 47 games for them in 1984, batting .194/.269/.290 in 93 at-bats, with one home run. After a brief cameo with the team in ‘85, he was traded to the Giants after the season… for Manny Trillo, who was making his return to the Cubs after several good years there in the 1970s.
Owen never played for the Giants; they released him at the end of spring training. He caught on with the Rangers, played a couple of years in their minor-league system, then was acquired by the Royals in a minor league deal in 1987. Owen went 0-for-5 for the Royals in ‘88 and that was it for his MLB playing career.
After his playing career, Owen became a scout for the Phillies and is credited for helping them sign Michael Bourn. Later he went to Japan and coached for Trey Hillman when he managed the Nippon Ham Fighters, and when Hillman became Royals manager in 2008, Owen became his bench coach.
Owen’s brother Spike (and yes, that was his actual given name) had a 13-year MLB career for the Expos, Mariners, Angels, Red Sox and Yankees and was acquired by the Red Sox by trade in mid-1986, starting all seven games at shortstop for them in the 1986 World Series.
