Without wallowing in melancholy, I like to look back at milestone anniversaries and add a little of my own context. Fifty years ago, the Cubs abandoned the old and trotted out a bunch of relative nobodies. At the time, we didn’t realize that the advent of free agency would transform professional sports and how we followed our teams. 1974 was the final year of the Oakland A’s dominance and the last of three consecutive WS titles. All of the above are connected but have been overlooked in recent years.

Charlie Finley famously saw the free agent writing on the wall and attempted to dump several players before he had to pay up. Other teams did so less obviously.

When the Cubs started disbanding the team that won the 2016 World Series, nobody noted the similarity with the 1969 Cubs forty years ago. Of course, the ’69 Cubs never won squat-they never even made the playoffs. However, that team is beloved among Cub fans. While I was only four in ’69, the stars were among the first pro athletes I looked up to.

As is the case with every beloved winner, or almost-winner, teams naturally decay. Players get old (all of a sudden), players move on or get injured-that’s life and professional sports. Some GMs get out in front of aging/decay and make the necessary moves decisions before things turn too ugly. Usually, fans and the media take these decisions personally. Such was the case when Theo and Jed dismantled the 2015-2018 Cubs.

Hall of Famer, Ernie Banks played his last game in 1971 and remained a coach, but other key players got the boot in the Winter of 1973 before the ’74 season began. Management never sold the fans or media on the idea of a rebuild. That term hadn’t been coined yet.

I’ll leave the baseball referencing to you to check out the stats but note the names of the key players traded and imagine what the 1974 roster looked like.

Transaction Date Cub player traded and what they received.

October 73 Fergie Jenkins for Bill Madlock and Vic Harris (Texas)

November 73 Glenn Beckert for Jerry Morales (San Diego)

December 73 Ron Santo for Steve Stone, Steve Swisher, and Ken Frailing (White Sox)

December 73 Randy Hundley for George Mitterwald (Minnesota)

The team would hold onto Don Kessinger and trade Billy Williams in October of 1974 to Oakland for Manny Trillo, Darold Knowles and Bob Locker.

Swisher and Mitterwald for Hundley, c’mon! Madlock became one of my favorites, but it didn’t soften the blow of losing Fergie. Like the more recent iteration of the Cubs, the earlier group was on their second manager after Leo Durocher was given the pink slip after the 1972 season. Whitey Lockman was a mere footnote before giving way to Jim Marshall in 1974. Both guys had more successful careers in their post-managerial stints with the Cubs. We’re all hoping that David Ross’s stint was a mere blip and that Craig Counsell is more Madden like than Marshall.

Because I was an eager 9-year-old baseball fanatic, I embraced that ’74 team-no matter how badly they turned out. But even I recognized they were a shadow of what had been. Other fanbases will continue to see great teams destroyed in the name of economics. I don’t know if the media suggested management made these moves because of contracts and impending free agency or for other reasons.

That earlier management group got rid of three future Hall of Famers in Santo, Williams and Jenkins and I don’t expect Rizzo, Bryant, Contreras, or Baez to achieve that honor, they were keys to the Cubs breaking the curse in 2016.