The Boys of Zimmer: 30 Years Later - February 5, 1989

While recently blogging about a random Cubs pitcher, Pat Perry, I became immersed in articles from 1988 and 1989. This is the 30th anniversary of the 1989 Cubs "Boys of Zimmer," a team that reached the postseason after a five year hiatus. This daily series will look back at Chicago Tribune articles and columns from 30 years ago, day by day.

We start with February 5, 1989. I was surprised to find an entire page in the Chicago Tribune devoted to Cubs baseball for the upcoming season. I had looked back at February 4, 1989, and there was nothing.

Jerome Holtzman is one of the most renowned baseball writers in the game's history. So it feels appropriate that a Holtzman column popped up on this day thirty years ago. He writes of new Cubs pitcher, Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams.

Also on the page was a feature story on Leon Durham, who was still a free agent after spending the second half of 1988 in his hometown with the Cincinnati Reds. He would sign with the St. Louis Cardinals for the 1989 season, his last in Major League Baseball.

And there was this...signing the young Cubs. The team would hang onto Mark Grace for the next decade, it was a pitcher named Greg Maddux that would get away a few years later.