- Larry Biittner was a backup left fielder and first baseman for the Chicago Cubs.
- 1978 Stats: .257, 4 HR, 50 RBI in 120 games
- 1978 Highlights:
- April 28 - Appeared as a pinch hitter in the top of the 10th inning and singled in the eventual winning run to help the Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves 4-3
- June 16 - Had four hits and scored twice in Chicago's 7-6 win over the Houston Astros.
- Sept 24 - Had two hits and knocked in the winning run in the top of the 9th inning as the Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4.
.
- Bruce Sutter had one of his roughest years (statistically speaking) in 1978. His ERA was below 2.00 for most of the season until August 19. On that date Sutter entered the game against the Cincinnati Reds in the top of the 9th inning with the Cubs leading 6-3. Bruce allowed three runs to score (including a 2-run homer by Ken Griffey) and the game went into extra innings. Sutter then allowed three more runs in the top of the 10th to lose the game. His ERA went from 1.91 to 2.54 and he never recovered. Sutter still went to his second of five straight All Star Games.
- 1978 Stats: 8-10, 3.19 ERA, 27 saves in 64 games
- 1978 Highlights:
- July 11 - Pitched 1 2/3 shutout innings and earned the win in the All Star Game.
- August 1 - After getting a nine-day rest, Sutter pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts to save the game for winner Dennis Lamp. The Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2.
- August 7 - Earned his fifth save in seven days by striking out Dave Parker, preserving a 5-4 Cub victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The 1978 Chicago Cubs were a pretty average team. They were pretty good for the first half of the season and were in first place in the NL East as late as June 23. But the team had only one player in double figures in home runs (Dave Kingman) and only one pitcher in double figures in victories (Rick Reuschel). The Cubs also suffered due to going 4-14 against first place Philadelphia.
Team Record: 79-83, .488, 3rd in NL East, 11 games behind Philadelphia
Manager: Herman Franks
Attendance: 1,525,311 (6th in NL)
Team Batting: .264 (1st in NL)
Team Home Runs: 72 (11th in NL)
Team Stolen Bases: 58 (5th in NL)
Team ERA: 4.05 (11th in NL)
Team Fielding: .978 (4th in NL)
NL All Stars: Bruce Sutter (P)
Award Winners: none
League Leaders: Ivan DeJesus (runs, 104)
Batting Leader: Bill Buckner (.323)
HR Leader: Dave Kingman (28)
RBI Leader: Dave Kingman (79)
Stolen Base Leader: Ivan DeJesus (41)
Victory Leader: Rick Reuschel (14)
Losses Leader: Rick Reuschel, Dennis Lamp (15)
Saves Leader: Bruce Sutter (27)
Best ERA (starters): Dennis Lamp (3.30)
Best ERA (relievers): Lynn McGlothen (3.04)
Players who could have had 1978 Cubs cards (over 100 AB for position players, over 40 innings pitched for pitchers):
Jerry White (OF - .272, 1 HR, 10 RBI in 59 games) - rookie card in 1979
Mike Vail (OF - .333, 4 HR, 33 RBI in 74 games) - pictured with NY Mets
Rodney Scott (3B -.282, 0 HR, 15 RBI, 27 stolen bases in 78 games) - pictured with Oakland A's
Dave Rader (C - .203, 3 HR, 36 RBI in 116 games) - pictured with St. Louis Cardinals
Tim Blackwell (C - .223, 0 HR, 7 RBI in 49 games) - pictured with Montreal Expos
Lynn McGlothen (5-3, 3.04 ERA in 49 games - 1 start) - Pictured with SF Giants
Ken Holtzman (0-3, 2 saves, 6.11 ERA in 23 games - 6 starts) - Pictured with NY Yankees
- Steve Swisher was traded (with Jerry Morales and cash) to the St. Louis Cardinals for Hector Cruz and Dave Rader in December 1977.
- Swisher started 34 games behind the plate for the Cardinals in 1978. He was backing up Ted Simmons, so Steve didn't figure to get much playing time. Swisher had his best offensive season, batting .278 in 115 at bats. It would be the last year of Steve's career that he would get over 100 at bats.
- 1978 Stats: .278, 1 HR, 10 RBI in 45 games
- 1978 Highlights:
- June 25 - Hit his only home run of the season, knocked in two runs, and scored twice to help the Cardinals beat the Montreal Expos 7-5.
- Aug 5 - Knocked in two runs in the Cardinals' 5-3 win over the New York Mets
- Aug 12 - Had three hits, 1 RBI, and 1 run scored as the Cardinals beat the Mets 5-1.
- Herman Franks was a good-field/no-hit catcher during his playing career. Franks started with the St. Louis Cardinals organization and then moved on to the Brooklyn Dodgers organization in 1940. He had a large gap in his career during World War II. Herman became a player-manager in AAA in 1947, but then left the Dodgers to be a backup catcher for two years with the Philadelphia A's.
- Franks worked as a coach under Leo Durocher with the New York Giants from 1949-1955. Franks was alleged to have been involved in a scheme to steal the opposing catcher's signs during critical games (including the Bobby Thomson home run game) in 1951.
- After the 1955 season Franks left the Giants. He briefly did some scouting for the Giants and then served as the General Manager of the AAA Salt Lake City Bees from 1956-1964. During that time Franks had short stints as a Giants coach in 1958 and in 1964.
- Herman replaced Alvin Dark as manager of the Giants in 1965. The Giants had four straight second place finishes during his tenure from 1965-1968.
- Franks stepped down as the Giants' manager after the 1968 season. He mostly stayed out of baseball except for a short stint as the Chicago Cubs' pitching coach in 1970.
- After the 1976 season Franks was hired as manager of the Cubs. The team had a good year in 1977 and were above .500 in both 1978 and in 1979. Herman resigned with one week to go in the 1979 season.
- Herman had a short stint as the General Manager of the Cubs in 1981.
- Franks died at the age of 95 on March 30, 2009.
- After the 1977 season Jerry Morales was traded (with Steve Swisher and cash) to the St. Louis Cardinals for Hector Cruz and Dave Rader. Jerry was used as the Cardinals' starting right fielder for most of the season. Morales struggled in St. Louis and after the 1978 season he was traded to the Detroit Tigers.
- 1978 Stats: .239, 4 HR, 46 RBI in 130 games
- 1978 Highlights:
- May 10 - Hit a 2-run home run to tie the game at 5-5 in the 5th inning. The Cardinals eventually beat the LA Dodgers 6-5.
- May 30 - Had three hits and scored two runs as the Cardinals beat the New York Mets 8-2.
- Ivan De Jesus was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1969. DeJesus worked his way through the Dodgers' system, but there wasn't room for him on the major league club. After having limited playing time in 1974, 1975, and 1976 Ivan was traded (with Bill Buckner and a minor leaguer) to the Chicago Cubs for Rick Monday and Mike Garman.
- DeJesus was given a chance by the Cubs and he made the most of it. DeJesus played in 155 or more games in each of the next four seasons (1977-1980). Ivan batted .266 with 91 runs scored in 1977.
- Ivan led the NL in runs scored (104) in 1978 and also stole 41 bases.
- In 1979 DeJesus scored 92 runs and batted .283. He also had a career high with 10 triples.
- Ivan's stats started to drop off in 1980. He dropped to .259 and scored only 78 runs. DeJesus did steal a career high 44 bases.
- DeJesus played in 106 games in 1981, but that was the strike year. He had a .194 batting average and Ivan's days in Chicago were numbered. After the 1981 season DeJesus was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for Ryne Sandberg and Larry Bowa (WHOOOOOOPS!!).
- Ivan was the starting shortstop for the Phillies from 1982-1984. He didn't put up the numbers that he did in Chicago. In 1982 DeJesus batted .239 in 161 games, in 1983 he batted .254 in 158 games, and in 1984 Ivan batted .257 in 144 games. In 1983 DeJesus batted .250 (3 for 12) in the NL Championship Series and .125 (2 for 16) in the World Series.
- In 1985 the Phillies gave the starting shortstop job to Steve Jeltz. DeJesus was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Dave Rucker. Ivan backed up Ozzie Smith at shortstop and Terry Pendleton at third base. Both players were durable, so DeJesus didn't get to play much (.222 in 78 at bats).
- DeJesus became a free agent after the 1985 season and signed with the Montreal Expos. He didn't make the team and was released at the end of spring training. Ivan signed with the New York Yankees on May 1 and spent some time with AAA Columbus. He went 0 for 4 in seven games for the Yankees and was released on June 24. Ivan then signed with the Cincinnati Reds in July and played in the minors but was released after a couple of weeks.
- In 1987 DeJesus signed with the Cardinals. Ivan spent some time in AAA but was released by the Cardinals in June without getting back to the majors. He signed with the San Francisco Giants, played in AAA Phoenix, and spent a little bit of time in San Francisco (2 for 10 in 9 games).
- DeJesus moved on to Detroit in June 1988. He spent most of the year in the minors but was up with the Tigers for about a week in July (.176 in 7 games). Ivan played in the minors for the Tigers in 1989 but he never made it back to the majors.
- After his playing career DeJesus had various managing and coaching jobs, mostly in the minors. Ivan served as a coach with the Chicago Cubs in 2010 and in 2011.
- 1978 Stats: .278, 3 HR, 35 RBI, 104 runs scored
- 1978 Highlights:
- Apr 16 - Went 3 for 4 with 2 doubles and 1 RBI to help the Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1.
- June 16 - Had three hits and knocked in the go-ahead run in the top of the 9th inning against the Houston Astros. The Astros were able to tie the game twice in the 9th and 10th innings, but the Cubs eventually won the game 7-6 in 12 innings.
- July 28 - Doubled and scored the only run in the game in the 7th inning of Chicago's 1-0 win over the San Francisco Giants.
- This was the last of four seasons that Manny Trillo spent as the Chicago Cubs' starting second baseman. After the 1978 season Trillo was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies.
- In 1978 Trillo was right at league average in fielding percentage, but he would improve his defense and win three Gold Gloves in the next four seasons in Philadelphia.
- 1978 Stats: .261, 4 HR, 55 RBI in 152 games
- 1978 Highlights:
- April 9 - Had four hits in Chicago's 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates
- May 2 - Went 2 for 4 and doubled in the winning run in the 10th inning as the Cubs beat the LA Dodgers 5-4.
- July 23 - Went 2 for 4 and scored two runs to help the Cubs beat the San Diego Padres 4-3.
- Steve Ontiveros had his 1978 season shortened by an injury in late July. Even before the injury Steve was having a rough time. He was batting .143 in 44 games at the end of May and didn't get his average above .200 for good until June 19.
- 1978 Stats: .243, 1 HR, 22 RBI in 82 games
- 1978 Highlights:
- June 11 - Had three hits to get his batting average to the .200 mark for the first time. The Cubs beat the San Diego Padres 7-4.
- July 6 - Doubled, homered, and knocked in three runs in a losing cause as the Cubs lost to the New York Mets 9-6.
- Rick Reuschel was the ace of the Chicago Cubs in 1978. Rick was the only pitcher to win 10 or more games for the Cubs.
- 1978 Stats: 14-15, 3.41 ERA in 35 starts
- 1978 Highlights:
- Mike Krukow was used in relief during the first three weeks of the 1978 season. Mike was sent to AAA Wichita in early May and made 7 starts. Krukow was recalled in late June and after one relief appearance was a started for the rest of the season. Mike won his first four starts and had an excellent .750 winning percentage.
- 1978 Stats:
- Chicago Cubs: 9-3, 3.90 ERA in 27 games (20 starts)
- Wichita Aeros (AAA): 2-3, 3.91 ERA in 7 starts
- 1978 Highlights:
