Remember This Crap - 2002 Cubs

A lot of stuff happened, and a lot of it was bad and weird, just the way we like it

Sandwiched in between the 88 win near-miss 2001 Cubs and the 88 win heartbreaking 2003 Cubs were the gawdawful 2002 Cubs. They got a manager fired, which got Ron Santo's number unofficially unretired before it could actually be retired. Moises Alou showed up and immediately got hurt. Fred McGriff was still around putting up completely hollow stats.

They traded a Rookie of the Year for two pitchers, one of whom had 24 digits, and two prized rookies made their big league debuts. You'll learn the truth about Jon Lieber's rain delay gem, how Mark Prior allowed his first career hit to a teammate and just how much Don Baylor loved to bunt. Andy MacPhail showed himself the door, finally, and Sammy Sosa was still around smashing dingers, blowing kisses and ignoring cut off men.

Oh, and you'll also find about the dinner where somebody died rather than continue eating with Chip Caray.

How’d you like to watch three hours of Chip announcing Mark Prior’s debut?

Maybe you’d rather watch a two and a half minute version of it with Pat Hughes and Ron Santo instead? Yeah, let’s do that:

And here’s Joe Girardi announcing why the game on June 22 wasn’t played. You’ll also see Joe Buck’s original hair.

And, here’s the game from the next night which was on Sunday Night Baseball and there wasn’t any music, I guess out of respect for Daryl Kile’s love of awkward silences.