The strike year of 1981 will never be on a Chicago Cubs highlight reel.

The year the Chicago Tribune acquired the team, the Cubs might have fielded the worst hitting infield in baseball history. Six middle infielders played for the Cubs in 1981, and the best any of them hit for the year was .218.

Their best fielder, starting shortstop Ivan DeJesus, hit an embarrassing .184. His backup Scott Fletcher (.217) offered only a slight improvement at the plate, but was far inferior in the field.

Meanwhile, Cubs second baseman Steve Dillard hit a whopping .218 for the season. His backups Pat Tabler (.188), Joe Strain (.189), and Mike Tyson (.185) were even worse.

It's not like the Cubs had a traditional power hitter manning the hot corner either. Ken Reitz hit .215 for the season and managed to hit only two home runs. (Not exactly what they were looking for in a player they acquired in exchange for Hall of Fame reliever Bruce Sutter.) Reitz's backup Heity Cruz was only a slight improvement. He hit .229.

If you add up all of their statistics for 1981, three quarters of the Chicago Cubs infield hit a combined .203 in 1204 at bats. (The fourth quarter of the infield was first baseman Bill Buckner, who would make the only all-star game appearance of his career that year.)

Luckily for the Cubs, this terrible season led to the first choice in the 1982 Amateur Draft--and they wisely chose an infielder who would help them in a few years--Shawon Dunston. Even luckier, the Philadelphia Phillies made one of the worst trades in history (Ryne Sandberg & Larry Bowa for Ivan DeJesus) the year after that.

Within three years the worst infield in Cubs history had been completely overhauled, and came within a few outs of qualifying for the 1984 World Series.

(Photo: 1981 Topps baseball card)