Cubs position player pitchers: Doug Dascenzo
Thirteen years have passed since Larry Biittner’s turn on the mound for the Cubs. Position player pitching was still pretty rare in Major League Baseball. And then came the spring of 1990. You have to remember the context here: The Cubs had come off a division title year in 1989 in which they won 93 games. But they had gotten off to a slow start in 1990 and, after muddling around .500 much of April and May, went on a 4-13 slide that put them 10 games under .500 at 22-32 and in last place in the NL East. A four-game winning streak followed, but the Cubs were still 9.5 games out of first place after winning the first of a series against the Mets at Wrigley Field. The next afternoon was a disaster. Mets pitchers pounded starter Mike Bielecki for eight runs in less than two innings, and the next two relievers, Kevin Blankenship and Dean Wilkins, weren’t much better. The Cubs were still within shouting distance at 11-6 when manager Don Zimmer called on left-hander Joe Kraemer to start th...
