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on the line.
    The starting pitchers, which also included Roy Henshaw for two spot starts, were so good they only needed the bullpen in three games, and in one of those it was Warneke who came on in relief. In all but one of the 21 wins the Cubs gave up three or fewer runs. When Root had an off day and allowed nine runs against Brooklyn, he still got a “W” as center fielder Freddie Lindstrom drove in five runs in an 18–14 victory.
    The offense that season was led by a pair of veterans in catcher Gabby Hartnett and outfielder Chuck Klein, who led the Cubs with 21 homers. Hartnett’s .344 average and 91 RBIs earned him the NL MVP award, which he won despite missing nearly two weeks in August with torn ligaments in his ankle.
    The 1935 club also benefited from 18-year-old Phil Cavarretta, who drove in 82 runs after taking over first base from veteran Charlie Grimm. The affable Grimm clearly enjoyed the attention his clubhouse speech got, which was as legendary in its time as Lee Elia’s rant was 47 years later. Following the 16 th consecutive win, Grimm told the Chicago Tribune , “After I give the boys this slogan about being loose, I keep a sharp eye for symptoms of unlooseness, and as victory is piled upon victory I see the boys are getting looser and looser and better and better.”
    The Cardinals didn’t go down without a fight. They won 8-of-10 as the Cubs started their streak and didn’t give up first place until September 14. The pennant hadn’t been decided when the Cubs arrived in St. Louis on September 25, but Warneke’s 1–0 shutout that day put them up four with four to play, and two days later Lee beat Dizzy Dean in the first game of a doubleheader to clinch the pennant.
    The Cubs also took the nightcap to win their 21 st straight, not to mention their 100 th game of the season, a milestone they haven’t reached since.

11. Lou Brock and Greg Maddux: The Ones Who Got Away
    Every team has players they gave up on for whom a crystal ball surely would have come in handy. But not every team gave up Lou Brock for a sore-armed pitcher or let Greg Maddux—arguably the greatest pitcher of his generation—walk away in his prime for nothing.
    Lou Brock
    In the history of the Cubs, no name has been more maligned than that of Ernie Broglio, at least until Steve Bartman came along. As with Bartman, it’s unfair to look askance at Broglio since he didn’t pull the trigger on the June 15, 1964, deal that sent Brock, Jack Spring, and Paul Toth to St. Louis for Broglio, Doug Clemens , and Bobby Shantz.
    Broglio, a right-handed starter, was neither old nor a mere prospect when he came to the Cubs. He had gone 21–9 in 1960 and the year prior to the trade won 18 games with a stellar 2.99 ERA. He was, however, finished. The first sign of a problem came in his second start with the Cubs when he retired the first batter—and nobody else. He gave up four singles, a double, a homer, and walked a man before being mercifully pulled.
    Nobody knew he would only go 7–19 over three seasons with the Cubs before his major league career ended due to arm problems, and keep in mind that Cubs general manager John Holland wasn’t the only one excited about the deal. The headline in the Chicago Daily News the morning after the trade declared, “Now we have two contenders!” and one in the Chicago Tribune read, “Santo Jubilant About Trade for Broglio.”
    “With our pitching staff,” said excitable Cubs third baseman Ron Santo, then 25, “now we can win the pennant.”
    What did happen was the Cubs finished in eighth place and the Cardinals, with Brock hitting .348 and stealing 33 bases in 103 games, won the pennant and defeated the New York Yankees in the World Series.
    Should the Cubs have known what they had in Brock? Unequivocally, yes. Brock was signed by the Cubs and came through their farm system, reaching the majors in 1961 at the age of 22. He was not a prototypical lead-off man due to his high strikeout rate, but