Today in Cubs history: Rick Monday saved an American flag

EDITOR’S NOTE: A version of this article ran here at BCB 10 years ago on the 40th anniversary of this event. Lightly edited, and with some new information added, I thought you’d like to read it again on the 50th anniversary.

It was a Sunday that began as any other baseball day at Dodger Stadium. The Cubs, who would wind up with their second straight 87-loss season that year, entered that afternoon with a 6-7 record. The Dodgers, who eventually finished second in the NL West with 92 wins, were 4-9.

The game between the Dodgers and Cubs had no baseball out of the ordinary. The Cubs came from behind in the eighth inning to tie the contest only to lose in extra innings, 5-4.

But it was what happened in the Dodger Stadium outfield in the fourth inning that day that will make this particular game forever remembered. Richard Dozer, recapping that day’s game in the Tribune, described Monday’s save:

Monday explained his role in the chase for the flag with more clarity than anything else discussed in the clubhouse.

”I saw these clowns come out on the field, and I didn’t know what they were doing. I thought they were just out there to prance around,” he recalled.

”But then they spread the flag out like a picnic blanket. I was just going to run them over until I saw them with the can of lighter fluid. I could see they were going to try to burn it.”

After Monday raced in front of left fielder [José] Cardenal and grabbed the flag, he gave it to a security man. The demonstrators were taken to a nearby police station. It was reported they were American Indians, and one of them said something about “squatters” taking over the country. This could not be verified.

One was identified as William Thomas, 37. He gave Eldon, Mo. as his hometown. The other was not identified because police said he was a juvenile, but was reportedly Thomas’ 11-year-old son.

A few days later, the Los Angeles Times reported that Thomas had done this to call attention to what he claimed was his wife’s “imprisonment” in a Missouri mental institution. from Vice that gives more detail on Thomas and his family, along with a lot of detail about the incident and its aftermath.