When Lip Reading Kept the Cubs From a Title
You’ve seen lip reading cause many things, one of which is an obsession for orange peanuts.
But do you recall the time lip reading kept the Chicago Cubs from the World Series? Let’s dive in!
In 1989 there were only two divisions in each league, the East and West. There were no Wild Card teams, and the playoffs included a divisional series and the World Series.
In 1989 the Cubs battled the San Francisco Giants for the right to play in the World Series.
That playoff is remembered for Giants superstar, Will Clark’s offensive explosion. In the five games Clark batted a mere .650 (13 hits in 20 at bats). Perhaps his biggest hit came in game one of that series.
With bases loaded in a one-run game, Greg Maddux was visited by pitching coach Dick Pole and catcher Rick Wrona. As the legend goes… while visiting the mound the Giants first baseman read Maddux’s lips as he said, “fastball, high inside.”
The first pitch of that at bat, Clark blasted a high, inside fastball over the fence for a grand slam. Take a look at the situation here, starting at the 1:21:00 mark in the video.
Interestingly, this began an interesting phenomenon in baseball – covering one’s mouth.
In Pete Morris’ book, “A Game of Inches: The Story Behind the Innovations that Shaped Baseball,” it explains that after this moment Maddux began covering his mouth when talking on the mound.
There are some that deny this as the reason, including old Cub great Rick Sutcliffe. He has a couple of claims.
Sutcliffe and fellow Cubs great, Mark Grace, both believed Greg was the first to cover his mouth, but because he used to mouth his pitches. They believe, since he was so intellectual, he would mouth the signs the catcher would show – thus tipping off the batter. Since old habits are hard to shake, but began to cover his mouth when starring in for the next pitch.
There is another reason for the covering of his mouth however. Greg’s wife, Kathy might be the reason why. Sutcliffe explains.
“Greg was a guy who used some profanity from time to time. And finally, his wife told him: ‘If you’re gonna say those things when you’re on TV, at least cover your mouth.’
“So Greg was the first one I remember doing that,” Sutcliffe reported. “But honestly, he did it more to hide the profanity.”
If you remember watching Maddog pitch, you knew he was very prone to swearing on the mound. So while this could be the real reason for mouth covering, I still want it to be the Will Clark homer.
Nice article but the title is very misleading as if Greg Maddux not covering his mouth is the reason why the Cubs didn’t go to and WIN the World Series. They were never really in this series at all. That was the first game of the series and the Giants far outplayed the Cubs in all areas of the game. Mark Grace was the only bright spot on the entire team.
Then the Giants went to the WS and got swept by the A’s. I loved the ’89 team but it was a good team. Not a great team and definitely not one bad pitch from the WS.
While I understand your points, there were many that had thought the Cubs would have made the Oakland series a far better one. It’s difficult to say what if this or that, nearly 30 years later, but if he gets Clark out there and the Cubs hold on its a completely different series.
Also, the title isn’t meant to portray much substance at all in this piece. It does play what if so many years later, and in game 1 of a series no doubt.