If you're of a certain age, you vividly remember the 1998 season…the most fun id ever had as a Cubs fan until 2016.
In late September, the Cubs were in a dogfight for the NL Wild Card. Cubs were in a crucial series at old County Stadium in Milwaukee.
7-5 Cubs, 2 outs, bottom of the ninth, Brewers have the bases loaded. Cubs closer Rod Beck on the mound.
And then it happened:
https://youtu.be/dlxpo9sTIC4?si=VbHwL-K3n9UOlTkS
An all-time Ron Santo call. Where were you when it happened? I was 17 and doped up on Vicodin because I had major knee surgery the day before. That was an experience.
23 comments
Dang skipping over 2003 is wild for most fun teams!
Appreciate the fun history though. I was just coming of age at the time so this new to me.
I don’t remember where I was when it happened, but I sure do remember kids on my little league team yelling Brant Brown to anyone who dropped a fly ball in practice! I’m sure I was called it at least once, I sucked and didn’t have the attention span for sports back then.
I remember Brant always hitting the ball hard and right at someone.
That year is my first memory of being a cubs fan. I was only 6 so there’s not a lot of details I remember but I remember the atmosphere.
That was a fun year
It’s funny but I do remember- I was listening on my Sony Walkman at the Lisle train station waiting to catch a train back into the city and the despair in Ronnie’s voice was palpable.
I was at that game! Can’t believe it’s been that long!
Standing at the bar area of the restaurant I was working at in Nashville. Not a lot of folks in the place at the time so watched the 9th. And I swear that I had the thought of “what if he drops it” when he settled under it.
That’s right. This was all my fault. It feels good to talk about it.
Nooooooooo!!!!
You missed 1969,I heaved
Let’s not do this
You lost me when you put 98 above 03 and 15. The homerun chase and the emergence of Kerry wood was great and all, but those playoff runs were better.
Well, apparently time doesn’t heal all wounds
1984….. Fuck Steve Garvey!!!
What makes it even worse is seeing he used the right technique of using two hands to catch and secure the ball in his glove.
This wasn’t showmanship biting him in the ass. This was a legitimate fluke.
6th grade I think. Lived in Jersey and it was all over the papers because they were competing with the Mets for the wildcard
If he doesn’t drop that ball, we dont get [this night](https://baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN199809280.shtml). Which was glorious for about 3 hours and 20 minutes and heart attack inducing for the last 15.
I said many F-words.
I remember exactly where I was—about 60 feet away from Brandt when he dropped that ball. Driving back home on 94 that night was like a funeral procession. Listening to WGN with them playing Ron’s reaction over and over.
Oh Lordy do I remember that exact moment. The only upside to this: I absolutely hated Brant Brown and talked trash about him all season, and my dad constantly told me I was wrong. That m-fer picked the WORST possible time, but he vindicated me.
I wasn’t born yet but isn’t Ron Santo’s line “Noooooo he dropped the ball.”
That was the week I turned 21, so some of the other things I was doing have made my memory a bit foggy, lol. But I absolutely remember watching the highlights of that one on Baseball Tonight and having it really hurt.
Brant Brown was SOOOOOO lucky the Cubs won the wild card. At least now we can laugh at it and Ron Santos’ hilarious call of it. But obviously, if this gaff cost the Cubs the wild card that year, this would be an all time worst moment.
But at the time, I was just starting middle school and I remember screaming at the TV.