The 18th Jim Essian Day

Skip Johnson, aka Jim Essian here. Thought I’d stop in with the season 47/162nd of the way through.

If you’ve checked the Cubs’ May 2008 schedule, you might have noticed a couple of things:
1) The Cubs are 11-9 so far this month, not bad for starting the month 1-5 and having to play three games in Houston. If they go 6-3 against Pittsburgh, the Dodgers and the Rockies, they’ll have matched their win total for April, a month that earned a glowing review from hardscrabble blogger Mike Donohue.
2) What did those zany marketing guys do to May 22? I see the same people took over the banner of this site. I might have to do to Kermit what I did to Kirk Gibson once on an ice rink if he keeps this up. Maybe Kermit can get his act together and get MLB and the Cubs to treat May 22 on a calendar with the respect it deserves. Do you like the May 2008 calendar a little better with May 22 commemorated the way it was supposed to be?

Yes, today is a special day at HJE, Wrigley Field, Shea Stadium, baseball stadiums everywhere, Armenia, and anywhere humanity exists. It’s Jim Essian Day.

You all know the backstory. The Cubs had staggered out of the gate to an 18-19 record despite Jim Frey’s signings of Danny Jackson, George Bell and Dave Smith. Don Zimmer wasn’t getting it done, so as the Cubs arrived in New York to play the Mets May 20, the Cubs decided to fire Zimmer. Joe Altobelli lost the May 20 game in Zimmer’s absence.

Not convinced that a guy who succeeded Earl Weaver in style by winning a World Series in his first year managing the Orioles would do the job for the 1991 Cubs, Jim Frey summoned me from Des Moines. According to the New York Times (and their former Grade-A writer Malcolm Moran, who briefly wrote for the Tribune), Frey had considered another guy with a World Series ring, Davey Johnson. Again, not the quality needed for this bunch. He needed someone with actual fire. And he remembered the fire he saw when I managed the Pittsfield Cubs in 1988 and he visited.

“I stayed there five days, I guess. And he had kind of a scrappy-type club. They had a few good players, but not a lot of good players. I think he was the kind of guy who was willing to take some risks, show some nerve. I sensed while I was there that he was in control.”

Well, that Pittsfield team was scrappy. Unfortunately, the Chicago team I managed was crappy. Actually, I had a chance to manage a number of great players with the Cubs.

Look at who I had on that first lineup card: Ryne Sandberg! Andre Dawson! Greg Maddux! That’s three Hall of Famers if you’re counting. (I know, Dawson and Maddux aren’t in the Hall of Fame, but they eventually will be.) Then consider that I had Mark Grace, one of the most prolific hitters of the 1990s, and the not-quite-decomposed corpse of George Bell (just four years earlier AL MVP) in the lineup everyday, and you realize I had the makings of a team. Rick Sutcliffe even was still serviceable even though his arm was beginning to fall off and he spent most of the Essian-era on the DL. Hell, even Shawon Dunston was a decent shortstop even if he would never take a pitch.

There was a mountain of suck on the club, and this negated all that talent. Danny Jackson. Dave Smith. Jose Vizcaino. Luis Salazar. Damon Berryhill. Hector Villanueva. Jerome Walton. Chico Walker. Doug Dascenzo. Ced Landrum. An unhealthy Joe Girardi. Rey Sanchez. Shawn Boskie. Frank Castillo. Chuck McElroy. Les Lancaster. Bob Scanlan. Mike Harkey. Steve Wilson. Laddie Renfroe. Yorkis Perez. Thank God Gary Scott had already been sent down by the time the axe fell on Zim, or that would have been another Bottom 126er I had to babysit. As it was, I had 11 B126ers, 1 Cub Killer who should have also been a B126er, and 9 more players that probably occupy spots 127-135 on Kermit’s list.

We had good times and bad times as Cubs manager, but I shall always be remembered as a Cub. Until I return again to the Big Leagues… as Cubs manager. All it takes is for Lou Piniella to get charged with murder after bludgeoning Jason Marquis on the pitcher’s mound one of these days. The way Lou seems to be taking Marquis’ crap, I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens this weekend in Pittsburgh. Then Jim Hendry or Crane Kenney or Sam Zell can dial my number. Just remember what Dunston said about what others said about me:

They say, ‘If you play for Jim Essian, you’ll love him.’

And I am ready for this group of 2008 Cubs to love me. Well, except for Edmonds. I’m ready for him to be called to my office so I can tell him that we’re designating him for assignment.

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