Did leaon Durham and Lee Smith throw the 1984 playoffs
September 20, 2009Lee Smith and leon Durham were very good friends on the Chicago Cubs. They were usually roommates and hung around together ignoring their White teammates. They discussed current events and were horrified to see how things were like in Chicago in the early eighties. Harold Washington had got elected in Chicago and the city was very racially polarized. They had good years in 1984, but when the playoffs came it was another story. Lee Smith got hammered in his appearances and gave up the winning home run in game four to Steve Garvey. leon Durham would let a ground ball go through his legs as the San Diego Padres defeated the much stronger Chicago Cubs to go into the World Series. I often wondered if these two let these things happen as a punishment for the racism they experienced in Chicago. Was it their way of getting back at the fans? The way they played in the National league Championship series that year makes me wonder.
