Cubs took their time building the 1984 division champs

To say they were a long shot to win the division would be putting it mildly. On March 26, however, the Cubs made the first of three trades that would help turn their luck.

The Cubs acquired pitcher Rick Sutcliffe from the Indians on June 13, 1984.

Hall of Fame closer Lee Smith summed up the Cubs’ inauspicious start to the 1984 season with devastating brevity:

‘‘We were just trying to keep our head above water and not get embarrassed,’’ he told the Sun-Times in a phone interview.

Moments from that playoff-drought-breaking season are lodged in Cubs fans’ memories. Who could forget the ‘‘Sandberg Game’’ or clinching in Pittsburgh?

The Cubs’ bumbling start to the season, on the other hand, doesn’t always make it into retellings of 1984. When it does, the Cubs’ stumble off the blocks makes the tale of how they assembled a playoff squad that much more compelling.

The Cubs went 7-20 in spring training that season. To say they were a long shot to win the division would be putting it mildly. On March 26, however, the Cubs made the first of three trades that would help turn their luck.

They acquired outfielders Gary Matthews and Bob Dernier and reliever Porfi Altamirano from the Phillies for reliever Bill Campbell and catcher Mike Diaz.

‘‘I was like a 10-year-old getting traded over to Chicago with Gary at the end of spring training,’’ Dernier said. ‘‘Reuniting with Ryno [Ryne Sandberg] was highly significant, and playing with the big redhead [Rick Sutcliffe], whom I had faced in high school. Everything was there, a great opportunity to do what I loved to do with a bunch of cats who did, too.’’

Sutcliffe wouldn’t join the team until mid-June. But the Cubs had their leadoff hitter in Dernier. Matthews would lead the league in on-base percentage that season, and he was an easy fan favorite.

‘‘If I had to pick an MVP for that team, it would be Gary Matthews,’’ Smith said. ‘‘Most pitchers would pick another pitcher. But Gary, he had this thing about him. He knew how to win, and he knew what it took.’’

By late May, thwarting preseason predictions, the Cubs were 10 games above .500 and leading the division.

The next trade came May 25, when the Cubs sent first baseman/left fielder Bill Buckner to the Red Sox for infielder Mike Brumley and right-hander Dennis Eckersley, who was a starting pitcher at the time but would become a Hall of Fame closer in the second half of his career.

Then to really make a push, the Cubs pulled off a six-player trade with Cleveland on June 13. The Cubs got Sutcliffe, catcher Ron Hassey and reliever George Frazier for outfielders Joe Carter and Mel Hall, right-hander Don Schulze and minor-league pitcher Darryl Banks.

The way Sutcliffe tells it, he and his team were playing in Oakland when Cubs general manager Dallas Green called to ask him to sign an extension as part of the trade.

‘‘I’m not going to sign an extension,’’ Sutcliffe remembers telling him. ‘‘When I’m done with this year, our plan is for me to go back home to Kansas City and play for the Royals. That’s always been my dream.’’

Even without an extension, the deal went through, completing the team that would end the Cubs’ 39-year playoff hiatus.

After winning the National League Cy Young Award and helping write a chapter in Cubs history, Sutcliffe still was planning to sign with the Royals. Then he got a call from beloved broadcaster Harry Caray.

‘‘He says, ‘I just want you to know something,’ ’’ Sutcliffe recalled. ‘‘He said, ‘The fans are going to love you wherever you go, but not like the Cub fan loves you.’ ’’

Sutcliffe called his agent and told him to meet him in Chicago. The ‘‘Red Baron’’ wasn’t leaving.

Contributing: Steve Greenberg

1984: Cubs' postseason of heartbreak