This former Chicago Cubs player has an unique history
By Todd Welter
If you collected baseball cards in the late 1980s, you were guaranteed to get Chicago Cubs relief pitcher Frank DiPino.
Especially if your parents bought a pack of Donruss cards.
DiPino’s 1989 card seemed like it was strategically planted into every pack. He was no longer on the team.
You were hoping for Greg Maddux, Andre Dawson, Ryne Sandberg, or Mark Grace. Instead, DiPino was wearing the Cubbie blue alternate uniform every dang time.
It did not matter what brand you got—Fleer, Topps, Leaf, Score—his card was going to be in your pack.
Being a youngster who watched Chicago Cubs with my grandpa on WGN most afternoons, I swear DiPino never pitched in a game.
Although, that could be because Harry Caray neglected to mention DiPino entered the game because he was focused on getting his next Budweiser.
The record shows Frank DiPino pitched 210.1 innings with a 4.32 ERA and 173 strikeouts during two-and-a-half seasons on the Northside. The lefthander arrived in Chicago on July 21, 1986, in a midseason trade with the Houston Astros.
On this day in 1986, #Cubs traded Davey Lopes to the Astros for Frank DiPino
— Chicago Cub-Times (@ChicagoCubTimes) July 21, 2015
Former Chicago Cubs’ relief pitcher Frank DiPino is a baseball card legend.
If the Astros were hoping Davey Lopes would help their lineup down the stretch, well he did not provide that assistance. Lopes went on to hit .235 and one home run the rest of the season.
On a side note, Lopes was later named manager of the Milwaukee Brewers and proceeded to help run the Cubs’ rival into the ground.
The Chicago Cubs did not get much of a return from DiPino in 1986 as he had a 5.18 ERA for the rest of the season. He did come back with a 3.15 ERA in 1987 in 69 games. His final season at Wrigley was not so greater with a 4.98 ERA in 1988.
He signed with the Cardinals after the 1988 season and had the best season of his career. DiPino had a 2.45 ERA in 67 games.
Frank had a way of just missing out on making the playoffs. The Brewers traded him in 1982 to complete their deal for Don Sutton. The Crew made the World Series that season. The Astros went to NLCS in 1986 and the Cubs made it in 1989.
His career ended in July 1993 with the Kansas City Royals and never played in the big leagues again.
DiPino owns a small part of Chicago Cubs lore as he was the winning pitcher in the first night game at Wrigley Field.
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