Cubs historical sleuthing: Burt Hooton edition

This is a photo of Burt Hooton pitching for the Cubs.

Well, you’re thinking, that’s obvious. But you’re probably also thinking, “How is Al going to figure this one out? There really aren’t many clues.”

Ah, but that’s where you are incorrect, dear reader. There are actually plenty of clues here. Here’s the full photo for your reference:

First, the uniform Hooton is wearing was the Cubs’ road uniform for just one year, 1972. This photo, in fact, is one of the clearest photos I’ve seen of that uniform, which is the only one in team history that had a number on the front, centered.

Okay, so this is a 1972 road game. Hooton pitched in 16 road games that year. How are we going to narrow this down?

Second clue: This is obviously a day game. That eliminates 11 of Hooton’s 1972 road starts. That leaves five possible day games.

Third clue: This is a grass field. In the early 1970s, artificial turf fields had turf that was kind of a ghastly shade of bluish green, and this color isn’t that. That eliminates two road games at St. Louis and one at San Francisco.

We are now down to two possible games: Friday, April 21, 1972 and Sunday, Aug. 6, 1972, both at Shea Stadium.

This is a bit of a leap, but I’m going to take one more thing in the photo as a clue. That’s not an August sun we are looking at; the angle of the sun is lower than you’d see in August.

Further, the game-time temp listed in the boxscore for the April 21 game is 58 degrees. The boxscore for the Aug. 6 game doesn’t list a temperature, but the Chicago Tribune’s weather page says it was 80 degrees that day in New York. Hooton is wearing long sleeves. It’s doubtful he would have done that in August.

Presuming all of that is true, there’s one more thing that I think clinches it: This was Hooton’s first start after his no-hitter against the Phillies on April 16, 1972. That got quite a bit of attention and it would have made sense for a photographer to go to that Cubs/Mets game to take photos of Hooton — remember, back then photographers did not routinely cover every MLB game, as they do now.

Hooton threw seven innings in the game Friday, April 21, 1972 and allowed two runs, striking out nine. But the Cubs ran into vintage Tom Seaver. Seaver threw a four-hit shutout, also with nine strikeouts, and the Mets won 2-0.

Do you agree with my conclusion?