Cubs made history, good and bad, in Atlanta's Turner Field

In 19 years of covering the Chicago Cubs on a daily basis, I've visited almost every big-league ballpark, including many that no longer exist.

The only two current parks I've missed are in Tampa Bay and Oakland. Some would say I haven't missed much in those two places.

The Cubs are playing at Turner Field in Atlanta for the final time this weekend. The Braves are moving to fancy new digs in the Atlanta suburbs next season after only 20 seasons at Turner.

I can't say that Turner Field was a favorite of mine, but in its short history, it has hosted plenty of memorable moments involving the Cubs, both good and bad for Cubs fans.

Let's take a look at a few.

Sammy blasts off

In 1998, Sammy Sosa hit 66 home runs, including some monster blasts. But none was more impressive to me — and to some others — than the one he hit off Greg Maddux on May 22.

In the first inning, Sosa lined a shot past Maddux, who reacted as if he could make a play on the ball. A second or two later, that ball was hitting the back wall beyond the center-field fence, 444 feet from home plate.

The homer was Sosa's ninth of the season.

“It was a missile, and — in my mind — it turned out to be the start of Sammy's historic run,” recalled Chuck Wasserstrom, the Cubs' media information coordinator at the time. “Sosa hadn't done much against Maddux career-wise at that point in time, but he connected on a ball that didn't clear Maddux's head by much. It was like one of those rising fastballs that scientists say can't happen; it did keep rising and rising and easily cleared the center field wall.

“Sammy hit a couple more homers that series, and started heating up before his epic June (when he hit 20 homers). When you're seeing the ball good, you're driving the ball up the middle — and he hit a line drive well over 400 feet to the back wall in center field. Like I said, it was a missile.”

Maddux's response after the game?

“Cool,” he said.

He could afford to say that. The Braves won 8-2.

Tapani's heartbreak

The Cubs met the Braves in the 1998 division series, getting swept in three games.

Their best chance for a victory was Game 2, when Kevin Tapani worked 9 innings. He gave up a home run to Javy Lopez with one out in the bottom of the ninth as the Braves tied the game at 1-1. Atlanta won in the bottom of the 10th.

Tapani went pitch for pitch that night with eventual Hall of Famer Tom Glavine.

“One of the best we've seen all year,” Cubs manager Jim Riggleman said of the pitching duel. “Tapani was outstanding. He just did a great job. We just couldn't put enough runs on the board to give us a little margin at the end.”

A July 4 declaration

After the Cubs had lost a 5-1 decision to the Braves on the Fourth of July in 2002, team president and general manager Andy MacPhail made his declaration: He had to fire manager Don Baylor.

MacPhail boarded a 6:10 a.m. flight for Atlanta the next day to give Baylor the bad news.

“I told Don, ‘I had to declare. I can't leave you out there twisting in the wind forever,'” MacPhail said at Turner Field. “We had gotten to the point where we need to declare, ‘Either you're in for the rest of the year, or we're making a change.'”

That was the beginning of momentous change for the Cubs. At the same time he fired Baylor, MacPhail promoted Jim Hendry from assistant GM to GM.

The Cubs brought Bruce Kimm from Class AAA Iowa to be their interim manager. Before Kimm could get to Atlanta, bench coach Rene Lachemann managed one game — another loss.

Lachemann, a crusty baseball lifer, lit into the team before his one and only game at the helm. When I tried to ask an opening question in the postgame news conference, he held up a hand and stopped me.

“Here's how we do things,” he said. “I give a little synopsis and then you can ask questions.”

It was the only synopsis ol' Lach was able to give.

“I asked them to play hard tonight,” he said. “And I thought they played hard. This club needs victories, not those moral victories.

“I told them about playing the game hard and playing with intensity. We didn't play the game hard (before), and we got a guy (Baylor) going home because we didn't play hard.

“I told them, ‘I'm here for one game. If somebody doesn't play hard and they embarrass the Cubs again like we have been embarrassed at certain times, I'm yanking your (butt) right off the field.'”

I wish the Cubs had kept Lach around the rest of the season; he would have made things a lot more fun and interesting. Hendry let Kimm go at the end of the year and wound up hiring Dusty Baker, who led the Cubs to more Atlanta memories.

Popping champagne corks

In 2003, the Cubs won their first postseason series since 1908 when they beat the Braves 5-1 in Game 5 of the NLDS at Turner Field behind 8 innings of solid pitching by Kerry Wood.

Cubs fans by the thousands made the trek to Atlanta for Games 1, 2 and 5, and after the series clincher, Wood and some of his Cubs teammates showered their fans with champagne.

Wood forgot to pack his glove for the trip, so he had to borrow teammate Mark Prior's.

“I did not put my glove in my bag when we left,'' Wood said. “At the last minute, I had to find a glove so I figured I'd find one with a lot of strikes in it.”

Baker was looking ahead to bigger things.

“The championship season is Step 1,” Baker said. “This is Step 2. The next step is the National League championship. Step 4 is World Series. I'm just happy for everybody in the Cubs organization and all the players and the people of Chicago. I'm really happy for Billy Williams and Ernie Banks, and especially Ron Santo.

“Boy, I never imagined this was going to happen in Year No. 1, but I'll take it. I'm quietly subdued and happy. I want to go back to the World Series.”

Alas, it didn't happen, as the Cubs fell in seven games to the Marlins in the NLCS.

But the Santo comment was touching. The former third baseman and then radio broadcaster was ailing and could not be with the team. During the NLCS, the Cubs hung Santo's No. 10 jersey in the dugout.

New era, same old story

The current owners of the Cubs, the Ricketts family, witnessed their first regular season game in charge on Opening Day 2010 in Atlanta.

Things began well enough, when Marlon Byrd hit a 3-run homer to stake Carlos Zambrano to a 3-0 lead.

Zambrano couldn't hold it, as he gave up 6 runs in the bottom of the first. Three came on a home run by a Braves rookie making his major-league debut. His name: Jason Heyward.

“Somewhat of an embarrassing loss, but at the same time, it's only one game, and we'll go from here,” said manager Lou Piniella, who wouldn't last the season.

As for those new owners, things would get worse before they would get better.

“They've got to understand that this is a long season,” said third baseman Aramis Ramirez after the game. “Opening Day doesn't mean anything. You want to win ballgames early in the season. But it's just a game. We didn't play the way we like to. We had a good spring. We didn't play good today.”