Best Opening Days in Cubs History. #2: Two Legends Duel It Out to Open the Season

[Andrew Wright]

Opening Day games always have the potential to be a pitcher's duel between some of the game's best pitchers. Just listen to some of the matchups this season. Shota Imanaga vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Logan Webb vs. Hunter Greene, Paul Skenes vs. Sandy Alcantara and more. The potential for 1-0 or 2-1 games is very much there. That was the case on Opening Day in 1971 when Hall of Famers Bob Gibson and Fergie Jenkins toed the rubber against each other.

Cubs' right fielder Johnny Callison opened the scoring in the bottom of the fourth inning with a double, driving in Hall of Fame third baseman Ron Santo. Eventual Hall of Fame manager Joe Torre would knot the game up at one in the seventh inning with a solo home run off Jenkins. Both teams would remain scoreless until the bottom of the 10th inning.

That's when "slamming Billy Williams" stepped into the box and sent Cubs fans home happy on Opening Day. Williams hammered a home run into the right field bleachers for a walk-off winner on Opening Day for Chicago. It was a home run that got Williams closer to his 2,000th hit, 300th homer and 1,000th RBI, all of which he accomplished in that 1971 season. He and Joey Votto are the only two players in MLB history to accomplish those feats in the same season.

 While a 2-1 game doesn't seem like it is all that out of the ordinary, the wild part is that both starting pitchers went the entirety of the game. Jenkins went 10 innings, allowing just one run on three hits and striking out seven. Gibson went 9 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on seven hits, walking four and striking out five. Jenkins is one of just three pitchers in Cubs history to have those stats on the mound in a game when pitching at least 10 innings. Another little nugget, the time of the game was just one hour and 58 minutes.

The 71' season would unfortunately end in a missed postseason for the Cubs, but the thrill of a pitcher's duel and walk-off home run on Opening Day made for a special start to the season.

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