July 7, 1987 – After Andre Dawson had homered in the first off San Diego Padres Starting Pitcher Eric Show, Show comes up and in on Dawson hitting him in the face, in his next at-bat in the 3rd inning, touching off a bench-clearing brawl at Wrigley.
Show had already given up five runs and was sent to the showers after he scampered off the field.
Cubs starter that day, future Hall of Fame teammate Greg Maddux was told that if he didn’t get the win that day that he would be sent down to the minors. The Cubs had a big lead (5-2 in the 4th) and Maddux just had to get through the 5th inning to get the win. Maddux told Rick Sutcliffe, “I don’t care if I throw another pitch in the majors, the first batter is going down”. Maddux struck out the first two batters he faced and then plunked Benito Santiago. Maddux did not qualify for the win. Dawson had to rest his knees once in a while throughout the rest of his career, but he never sat out a game that Maddux started. The Cubs pulled this one out 7-5, and Dawson will finish the season with 49 home runs and win the MVP, Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Award. Dawson’s 49 home runs ranked second all-time for the Cubs at the time behind Hack Wilson’s 56, which at the time was the National League record.
Maddux did go down to the AA (minors) and pitched 3 games going 3-0 with a 0.98 ERA, he never again pitched in minor league baseball.
@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF90YWdzIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsiYmVmb3JlIjoiTGVhcm4gTW9yZSBhYm91dCB0aGUgdGVhbXMsIHBsYXllcnMsIGJhbGwgcGFya3MgYW5kIGV2ZW50cyB0aGF0IGhhcHBlbmVkIG9uIHRoaXMgZGF0ZSBpbiBoaXN0b3J5IC0gLSAtIC0gLSAtIC0gIiwiYWZ0ZXIiOiIiLCJsaW5rX3RvX3Rlcm1fcGFnZSI6Im9uIiwic2VwYXJhdG9yIjoiIHwgIiwiY2F0ZWdvcnlfdHlwZSI6InBvc3RfdGFnIn19@
