150 games played. Two more had more than 130 games played. In his book, The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, baseball historian Bill James cited manager Durocher's method of using his regular players everyday without any rest days as a factor in the Cubs' collapse. Overuse of the pitching staff may have played a part. During the first 118 games (74–43 record on August 13), the Cubs averaged about 4.7 runs a game and gave up only 3.5 runs per game, a 1.2 run per game advantage over the opposition. The last 45 games (18–27 record) saw a major reversal, with 3.7 runs per game for the team and 4.5 runs per game for the opposition (average Cub score would be a negative −0.8 runs per game versus opponents, almost a complete reversal from earlier play). Both the hitters and pitchers may have wilted as the season wound down. Perhaps most ominously, during one of the Cubs' games against the Mets, a black cat ran onto the field near Santo, and after the cat appeared, the Cubs' collapse began. This only fueled the myth of the Curse of the Billy Goat for many years afterwards. Season standings Record vs. opponents Notable transactions June 11, 1969: Adolfo Phillips and Jack Lamabe were traded by the Cubs to the Montreal Expos for Paul Popovich. Draft picks June 5, 1969: 1969 Major League Baseball draft Jim Todd was drafted by the Cubs in the 10th round. Pat Bourque was drafted by the Cubs in the 33rd round. Player signed June 9, 1969. Roster Game log |- style="text-align:center; background:#bbffbb;" |1||April 8|| Phillies||7 – 6 11||Regan (1–0)||Lersch (0–1)|| ||40,796||1–0 |- style="text-align:center; background:#bbffbb;" |2||April 9|| Phillies||11–3 ||Hands (1–0)||Wise (0–1)|| ||6,297||2–0 |- style="text-align:center; background:#bbffbb;" |3||April 10|| Phillies||6–2 ||Holtzman (1–0)||Fryman (0–1)|| ||5,422||3–0 |- style="text-align:center; background:#bbffbb;" |4||April 11|| Expos||1 – 0 12||Abernathy (1–0)||Sembera (0–1)|| ||7,281||4–0 |- style="text-align:center; background:#ffbbbb;" |5||April 12|| Expos||7–3 ||Grant (1–0)||Jenkins (0–1)||Sembera (2)||28,599||4–1 |- style="text-align:center; background:#bbffbb;" |6||April 13|| Expos||7–6 ||Regan (2–0)||Stoneman (0–2)|| ||27,664||5–1 |- style="text-align:center; background:#bbffbb;" |7||April 14|| Pirates||4–0 ||Holtzman (2–0)||Veale (1–1)|| ||3,114||6–1 |- style="text-align:center; background:#bbffbb;" |8||April 15|| Pirates||7–4 ||Aguirre (1–0)||Ellis (1–1)||Abernathy (1)||4,362||7–1 |- style="text-align:center; background:#bbffbb;" |9||April 16||@ Cardinals||1–0 ||Jenkins (1–1)||Carlton (1–1)|| ||16,418||8–1 |- style="text-align:center; background:#bbffbb;" |10||April 17||@ Cardinals||3–0 ||Hands (2–0)||Giusti (1–1)||Regan (1)||11,350||9–1 |- style="text-align:center; background:#bbffbb;" |11||April 19||@ Expos||6 – 5 11||Regan (3–0)||Shaw (1–2)|| ||16,005||10–1 |- style="text-align:center; background:#bbffbb;" |12||April 20||@ Expos||6–3 ||Jenkins (2–1)||Morton (0–1)|| ||N/A||11–1 |- style="text-align:center; background:#ffbbbb;" |13||April 20||@ Expos||4–2 ||Wegener (1–0)||J. Niekro (0–1)||McGinn (1)||28,025||11–2 |-