Big Daddy... Big Ed... Now Big Bill! It's the Big section!
Actually Big Bill won more games than the Spaceman. He was a two time 20 game winner and finished second in the MVP vote for the 1938 NL Champion Cubs.
When the Cubs were putting together their wonderful pitching staff in 2003, Zambrano was almost an after thought on a staff with Prior and Wood.
Now he is not only the last one left, but he's the only one to emerge as a legit ace.
Why Piniella took him out of Game 1 of the 2007 Division Series is a mystery, like the Loch Ness Monster, that may never be solved.
I was going to put Mark Prior in the rotation... and had the Cubs won the 2003 pennant, he'd be here. But this is not a list of unfulfilled potential.
Sutter was one of the great relievers of all time and he made his mark as a Cub.
He saved 31 games for a .500 1977 team, thus leaving his first mark as a big time closer.
He became a regular All Star, culminating in his wonderful 1979 season when he struck out 110 posted a 2.22 ERA over 101 1/3 relief innings. He saved 37 for the sub .500 Cubs and won the Cy Young Award.
He later clinched a World Series and got a plaque in Cooperstown... and both times he was wearing a hated Cardinals hat.
If there was a Mount Rushmore for Relief Pitchers, then Rollie Fingers, Mariano Rivera, Rich Gossage, Dennis Eckersley and Bruce Sutter belong on it.
Then again that is five faces and Mount Rushmore has only four.
OK, maybe that is a bad analogy.
Elston was a classic late blooming player.
A product of the Cubs system, he was dealt to the Dodgers. Over his two years in the Dodgers system he pitched a grand total of 1 inning for Brooklyn before being sent back to the Cubs.
The Game of "I don't want him, you take him" ended when suddenly at age 30, he blossomed into an All Star for the 1959 Cubs team.
Not bad for a 30 year old nobody wanted.
I know some people will give me hell for not including Lee Smith on that Mount Rushmore that I mentioned with Bruce Sutter.
Well first of all, in my incredibly tough criteria for Closer Greatness, I say you need to be a closer for a World Series winner. That's not my ONLY criteria, but I am not flexible about that.
And the only post season highlight involving Lee Smith in a Cubs uniform was his letting up Steve Garvey's home run in Game 4 of the 1984 NLCS.
No dishonor in saying you were not as good a closer as Fingers, Gossage, Rivera, Eckersley nor Sutter.
Oh the highlights that Carlos Marmol can have if he can take over the closers role.
His strikeout totals are jaw dropping. (114 in 87 1/3 innings???)
Admit it Cubs fans... you've thought about the scenario and its been with Marmol on the mound.
Didn't the whole idea of Kerry Wood clinching a World Series title just make sense?
I mean he was supposed to be one of the two aces to lead the team to glory.
He was their blazing 20 strikeout in a game stud! He homered in Game 7 of the 2003 NLCS.
And after injuries ravaged his career, he reinvented himself into an All Star Closer.
Why did the Cubs dump him? To make room for Kevin Gregg? The reliever who basically torpedoed the Marlins season last year?
Doesn't make a lick of sense to me. Kerry Wood is a Cub through and through and he should come back.
Smiling Stan was an All Star regular in the 1930s. The Third baseman had little power (he never hit more than 8 in any of his 16 seasons) but was a great contact hitter and hit for a terrific average (.301 career.)
On the verge of elimination, Hack singled home the tying and go ahead runs with a fifth inning single.
The Tigers would tie the game and in extra innings tried to win the Series. But in the bottom of the 12th with 2 outs, Hack doubled to left, scoring Broadway Bill Schuster, to end the game and force a Game 7.
The Cubs would lose that Game 7 and haven't won a pennant since. Meaning that Smiling Stan Hack won the last World Series game victory in Cubs history.
I really wanted to include Shawon Dunston, whose arm was so terrific and probably had 20,000 times the ability of Evers. But I can't deny a Hall of Famer.
The Cubs had a first round pick named Rafael Palmeiro. He was a good left handed hitting outfielder and first baseman. He nearly won the batting title in 1988, his last year with the Cubs finishing second to Tony Gwynn.
He was a lean, line drive, doubles in the gap hitter. He hit 14 homers in 1987, but that clearly wasn't going to be his M.O.
The Cubs sent him packing to Texas in the deal that sent Mitch Williams to Chicago.
Let's just say he changed there... but he looked destined to be a great left handed hitter. If only that were enough.
The Cubs last won the pennant in 1945.
The National League MVP in 1945 was Phil Cavaretta.
He drove in 97 runs that year and had an OPS of .949 with only 6 homers. He won the batting title that year.
They didn't win the World Series in 1945... but don't blame Phil!
(Yes I know he was primarily a first baseman, but he played 538 games in the outfield and I didn't want to leave Phil out!)
I've written a lot about Cubs of the past... but Soto, a Cub of the present and the future, belongs here.
From his homer in the 2007 Division Series, it seems like he has marked his territory in Cubs lore. Even Peter Gammons wrote about him as an MVP candidate in 2008.
The 2008 Rookie of the Year hits for power and calls a great game and is already an All Star.
Allow yourself to picture it Cubs fans... Soto jumping into Marmol's arms!
25TH MANJOE TINKER
What? I have Evers and Chance on here and I'm not supposed to include Tinker?
It's part of probably the only poem in the history of poetry that I actually liked!
Besides he hit the only home run in the
1908 World Series. How many other Cubs can claim to have homered in a World Series that the Cubs WON? None.
The infield is complete!
Now THAT is a complete team. You know it's deep when you have Tinker, Evers and Chance off of the Bench.
The depth, power and passion of the home grown team will be hard to match. Could there be any beloved Cubs left that the Cubs acquired?
Oh... there's a Hall of Famer or two.
Read on.
ALL TIME ACQUIRED CUBS TEAM
STARTING CATCHERJODY DAVISWithout a doubt one of the most popular Cubs during the 1980s, Davis was a Rule 5 heist from the Cardinals, who exposed him because of his ulcers.
His popularity has more to do with hard nosed play than any eye popping statistics.
But he WAS a Gold Glove catcher.
He DID smack 24 homers in 1983.
And he DID have a terrific
NLCS in 1984... crushing 2 homers, driving in 6 runs, batting .389 with an OPS of 1.201.
Maybe his popularity isn't that hard to figure out after all!
When Lee got the big two run double as a Marlin (in the wake of the underrated Alex Gonzalez error) in
Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS, I am guessing he would NOT be considered beloved by Cubs fans.
But armed with his World Series ring, he joined the Cubs and became a an All Star, Gold Glove winning MVP candidate (finishing 3rd in 2005 when he won the batting title and had the NL's top OPS).
He continued his hot post season hitting with a .333 average in the 2007 Division Series and a .545 average and a 1.401 OPS in the 2008 Division Series.
Granted they didn't win those years, but unlike the Cubs, he can look back to 2003 with happiness.
The Cubs wanted the Phillies' Larry Bowa.
The Phillies wanted the Cubs' Ivan DeJesus.
It could have been a straight swap and it probably would have been the biggest "So What?" trade of the 1980s.
Two shortstops... neither bad. Neither great.
But the Cubs said "Hey! We think DeJesus is a little better than Bowa. Can you throw someone else in... just a farm hand so it could a 2 for 1 deal?"
The Phillies could have thrown in Jay Baller... Steve Jeltz... maybe Tony Ghelfi... and this would have been a forgotten trade.
But someone in the Phillies front office said "Eh... give them Ryne Sandberg."
And the Cubs got an MVP... they got a Hall of Famer... they got the face of the franchise for a decade.
What I am saying is I am sure someone lost their job in the Phillies front office.
I am including DeJesus on this list for four reasons.
1) He actually had a few good years in Chicago, including leading the NL in runs in 1978 and smacking 10 triples in 1979.
2) The Cubs have had a hard time acquiring other shortstops.
3) Nomar Garciaparra's year and a half in Chicago was injury plagued.
4) Cubs fans should be so thankful that the Phillies overvalued him and were able to get Ryne Sandberg out of the deal!
The Cubs had a real revolving door of third baseman after Ron Santo retired. Some have been good. (Bill Madlock, Ron Cey, Vance Law) but no long term solution.
And then the Cubs found a trading partner with that gift that keeps giving... the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Always quick to blame economics and the lack of a salary cap for not fielding a .500 team since 1992, the Pirates would probably fare well if they could get something... oh I don't know... USEFUL when they deal away All Star caliber right handed power hitters.
More than veteran Jose Hernandez, Bobby Hill and someone named Matt Bruback.
Ramirez has been the rock at third base, winning the Hank Aaron Award in 2008 and crushing 4 homers in the 2003 post season.
I hope the Cubs sent Pittsburgh a thank you note.
Notice I put SENIOR on there.
Sarge was already an established major leaguer when he came to the Cubs prior to the 1984 season. He fit in perfectly in Wrigley, getting his only top ten finish in the MVP vote.
He has the best on base percentage in the league, was a solid run producer and a huge fan favorite in Wrigley.
In fact it was his saluting the Bleacher Creatures that earned him the nickname Sarge. He hit two homers in
Game 1 of the 1984 NLCS... which things looked so promising.
His son's year and a half in Chicago... well that was before he discovered HGH, so let's just say he didn't get the same love from the Wrigley faithful.
The Giants had Hack Wilson. He actually was in their starting outfield for the 1924 World Series... but after a lousy 1925, John McGraw gave up on him.
The Cubs picked him up and found a slugger on the scrap heap.
In fact they found a slugger who hit more homers in one season than any National Leaguer with 56.
The first National Leaguers who have passed him were Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds. I will just say that as a fact. You interpret it anyway you want. (Ryan Howard also passed him in 2006.)
That same year that he hit 56 homers, he drove in 191.
Do you know who has hit more in one season? Juiced or not?
NOBODY!
That year he batted .356 with an OPS of 1.177.
The National League did not elect an MVP that year. I have a hunch that Hack Wilson would have won it.
STARTING RIGHT FIELDERANDRE DAWSONHey! Another great slugger that fell into the Cubs lap.
In the middle of collusion, Expos star Andre Dawson desperately wanted a new contract, but nobody would offer him one.
I mean who could POSSIBLY use a player who hits 20 homers, bats in the .280s, has speed and is a Gold Glove right fielder?
He gave the Cubs a deal that even the colluders couldn't refuse: A blank contract.
Dawson would sign it and they assign the number value in good faith... good faith with guys who were FOUND GUILTY of collusion.
The Cubs signed him for $650,000. Best $650,000 they ever spent.
He hit 49 homers, drove in 137, won the Gold Glove, the Silver Slugger and gave the 2 million fans who showed up to see a last place team something to cheer about.
He won the NL MVP and got a nice big fat raise.
While the colluders will NEVER get the grief they deserve, let's give Dawson the credit HE deserves. He just wanted to play!
He should be a Hall of Famer... NOW!
OK, maybe this is the Red Sox fan in me talking... but let me have Billy Bucks here.
He was a terrific all around hitter in Chicago and won the 1980 batting title.
You think this is excessive praise? Well I think he's received excessive grief over the years so I am swinging the pendulum back.
Should I have included Leon Durham?
You mean the guy who let the ball go through his legs?
Yes he had only three fingers on his pitching hand. It's probably the coolest and most literal nickname in baseball history.
He mangled his hand in a farming accident and it forced him to learn how to grip the ball differently.
The result was an unholy breaking ball and 55 career shutouts, six straight 20 win seasons, 13 saves in 1911 and unlike most Cubs, he also had World Series glory.
In the
1908 World Series, he won Game 1 out of the Bullpen and then threw a complete game shutout in Game 5.
Kids, don't get any ideas and start cutting your fingers off!
Oh did you think that Ryne Sandberg was the only Phillies minor leaguer dealt to the Cubs to wind up in the Hall of Fame?
Au contraire! Nearly 2 decades before the Ivan DeJesus deal, Fergie Jenkins, he of 8 career games and no starts with the Phillies found a new home in Chicago in a deal that sent veterans Larry Jackson and Bob Buhl to Philadelphia.
WHOOPS!
Jackson and Buhl were long out of baseball when Jenkins won the 1971 NL Cy Young Award. He had six straight 20 win seasons in a Cubs uniform. He was also good for 20 complete games a year and led the NL in strikeouts in 1969.
He returned to the Cubs at the end of his career. In his final year his teammate was Ryne Sandberg.... just a thought to make Phillies fans sick.
I am not a betting man, but I am sure that if you listed the odds for "Who would win the NL Cy Young Award for 1984" before the season began, there would be a few favorites.
Perhaps Fernando Valenzuela. Maybe Mario Soto. Maybe defending Cy Young winner John Denny.
I am guessing Rick Sutcliffe wouldn't be high on the list. He wouldn't have been high on the list in April or May either. He wasn't even in the National League. He was still pitching for Cleveland.
Then he came over to the Cubs in one of the most successful midseason deals in history.
The Cubs were in third place behind the Phillies and Mets when he arrived.
Then he started winning a few games. In fact he won 16... and only lost 1.
He won his last 14 decisions. He won Game 1 of the 1984 NLCS and homered as well! He had the lead in the 7th inning of a clinching Game 5... OK, he picked a bad time to lose his first game since June 29.
But it was a heck of a season. And whoever put a bet down on "Rick Sutcliffe" to win the NL Cy Young Award CLEANED UP!
The Cubs picked up an ace who became a 5 time All Star in a Chicago uniform for three nondescript players in 1939.
In 1940 he won 20 games, had an ERA of 2.50 and struck out 124, second in the league in all three categories.
He let up a second inning single to the Tigers Rudy York... and that's it! He spun a 1 hit complete game shutout that gave the Cubs a 2-1 series lead.
Oh by the way, the team the Cubs stole him from?
The Phillies.
Note to the Phillies... STOP DEALING WITH THE CUBS!
Cubs fans... if there was a baseball genie you could ask a wish for, what would it be?
OK, besides a never emptying keg.
It would be to see the Cubs winning a World Series, am I right?
As a Red Sox fan, I used to visualize the moment of a Red Sox World Series clinching in my head before each season. And then in 2004 and later in 2007 I actually saw it... trust me, it was even more special because I visualized it.
So the Cubs have gone 100 seasons without doing it. The last person do have that highlight? The last person to throw a pitch and then celebrate a championship?
Orval Overall.
And yes, that is his real first name. Mr. and Mrs. Overall decided to name their child Orval.
Go figure.
On October 14, 1908 in front of 6,210 fans in Detroit, he got Boss Schmidt to ground out to catcher Johnny Kling who threw to Frank Chance to end
Game 5 of the World Series.
And the Cubs won the World Series.
Until it happens again (and it will) Orval Overall is the last person to know what that feels like.
Myers was best known as either the Met who made Jesse Orosco expendable or the Nasty Boy who clinched the World Series for the 1990 Cincinnati Reds.
But he had his highest save total with the 1993 Cubs when he notched 53 saves, then a National League record.
OK, he wasn't a fan favorite with EVERY Cubs fan. Especially not the one who stormed the field to try and beat up Randy Myers after blowing a critical game in 1995.
Now I am not condoning that fan's action... but who hasn't been that mad when their bullpen closer blows a game?
The Vulture (he of the 14-1 record out of the pen for the 1966 L. A. Dodgers) continued his vulture like ways when he was traded to the Cubs during the 1968 season.
He won 12 games and saved 17 for the 1969 Cubs, throwing 112 innings in relief.
He gave the Cubs some steady relief (many outings for more than 1 inning) although he had some... um... rough outings down the stretch.
Charley Root has won more games than anyone in a Cubs uniform. He is the only Cubs pitcher with 200 wins (he finished with 201.)
With the likes of Three Finger Brown, Fergie Jenkins and Greg Maddux in Cubs history, I had a hard time believing that. But why would
Baseball-Reference.com lie to me?
Root is best remembered for giving up Ruth's supposed called shot in
Game 3 of the 1932 World Series. Whether Ruth called the shot is unclear. (Root claimed he didn't.) What is beyond debate is he got rocked that game. He let up back to back shots to Ruth and Gehrig.
So why is he in the bullpen?
I HAD to include Root, and he saved 40 games for the Cubs over 16 seasons, including 8 in 1938 which was second most in the NL.
So I am putting him in the pen. Just don't bring him in to face Ruth.
Look at that face. Look at that facial hair. Look at that gut.
If I could invent a closer the way those guys in Weird Science invented a woman, that closer would look and act like The Shooter.
As a closer, he did the job wonderfully his first year in Wrigley. He saved 51 games including 14 of his first 15. And down the stretch he got a save or a win in 14 straight appearances between August 27th and September 17th.
And in an irony that shows that the Giants can be as haunted as any franchise, Beck came in to the 9th inning of a
one game playoff between the Cubs and his former San Francisco teammates for the 1998 Wild Card.
The Cubs took a 5-0 lead into the 9th but these are the Cubs and they seemed hellbent in coughing it up. The Giants scored two runs and had runners on first and third and only one out.
With the tying run at the plate, Beck came in and retired Jeff Kent and Joe Carter to clinch the Wild Card.
Oddly, manager Jim Riggleman did not bring in Beck to close out the 1-0 lead in Game 2 of the Division Series (and steal home field advantage from the heavily favored Braves.) The Braves rallied and won in extra innings. Imagine if they brought in the Shooter.
Beyond the stats, he loved the game and seemed to relish being a Cub. He lived his last years in a camper near a ballpark in Arizona, having beers with fans. The Shooter will be missed.
OK, let me say right off of the bat that I know I am going to get a tremendous amount of flack for this pick.
I know that Joe Borowski is actually not a very good closer.
I would argue he is an awful closer and possibly the biggest example of how the save can be an overrated statistic.
So what is he doing here?
A very simple reason... unlike Ryan Dempster, or Rick Aguilera, or Mitch Williams, or Antonio Alfonseca, or Hal Jeffcoat... or any other pitcher you are going to suggest... Joe Borowski did something that only Three Finger Brown and Orval Overall have done:
He closed out a post season series as a Chicago Cub.
The 2003 Division Series is the only post season series the Cubs have won in a century. And Borowski saved it. And admit it, it was fun seeing a Cubs team celebrate a post season series.
It might be a strange reason to include him... but wasn't that little bit of joy in 2003 worth a little pat on the back for Borowski?
Steinfeldt was a terrific hitter for the Cubs during their four pennant winning seasons at the turn of the century. He led the NL in hits and RBI in 1906 and nearly won the batting title that year.
And in the 1907 World Series, he batted .471 with an OPS of 1.197, driving in a run in the clinching
Game 5.
He's also the lone infielder who was not mentioned in the Tinker to Evers to Chance poem.
I guess Steinfeldt kind of threw off the rhyming scheme.
Bill Madlock is never going to make it to the Hall of Fame, but he was a terrific hitter over a prolonged period of time.
He always seemed to be among the batting leaders. He won two of his four batting titles with the Cubs and established himself as an All Star caliber player from his rookie year on.
He of course wasn't a model citizen in Chicago. He got his "Mad Dog" nickname for reasons other than his name starting with Mad.
But you can't argue with batting titles, All Star Game MVPs and decent speed and power to boot.
Has there ever been a faster fall from love than Sammy Sosa?
It's almost surreal to think about it. In 1998 he was possibly the most popular Cub since Ernie Banks.
He was everything fun about Wrigley Field. He was a super slugger with a cannon. He ran out to right field, playing it up to the right field fans.
And he got Mark McGwire to loosen up and have fun.
He was the most loved figure in baseball. He saved the game of baseball.
Then came the corked bat. And the strange injuries. And then leaving Wrigley Field when a game was going on. And then forgetting how to speak English in the steroid hearings.
10 years after saving the game and being the greatest slugger in Cubs history he is persona non grata in Wrigley Field. If you told me that in 1998, I would have thought you were from an insane asylum.
And then I would ask you how you achieved time travel.
All Kong did was homer and strike out. He did both better than anyone in the game.
In 1979, he broke his stereotype of being a low average slugger by hitting .288. He led the league in homers (48), RBI (115) and slugging (.613.) and although he didn't know it, he led the league in OPS with .956.
But it was the year before, on my birthday,
May 14, 1978, that he gave the world his biggest contribution.
Against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kingman homered off of Doug Rau in the 6th inning to make the game 3-2 Cubs.
Then in the top of the 9th with 2 outs, he hit a game tying homer off of Mike Garman.
Then in the 15th, he hit another 2 out homer to give the Cubs a 10-7 lead that they would hold on to. He drove in 8 runs in all.
And while I am sure you have heard it already, it is worth listening to Tommy Lasorda's post game interview
here.
You are welcome.
Randy Hundley came over in a steal of a trade.
The Cubs got Bill Hands, who would 20 games in 1969 and Hundley who would become a Gold Glove All Star catcher.
Hundley was a durable every day catcher with pop over four straight seasons in Chicago.
And they got this terrific battery in exchange two veterans who flopped.
Guess which team they made the trade with?
Actually it was the Giants, but wouldn't it be awesome if it were the Phillies.
There are a lot of great Cubs I could honor here... but when else am I going to get a chance to tip my cap to King Kelly?
He was one of the first superstars in baseball... one of the first idols who revolutionized the game with the hook slide and the hit and run and wearing a glove and chest protector as a catcher.
And he had songs written about him, and was a media darling during the 1880s.
And then he died of pneumonia at age 36. He was the biggest star in all of baseball during the 19th century. By the age of Ty Cobb, he was a distant memory.
By Babe Ruth he was totally forgotten.
But the staff at Sully Baseball all agrees... he is worth one last "Slide Kelly Slide" here.
WHO WOULD WIN A HEAD TO HEAD SERIES?Any team that has home run kings and batting titles on the Bench like the Acquired Team is going to be tough!
The Acquired Team has Ryno, Fergie and The Hawk!
But with Maddux leading the staff and Ernie Banks at its heart... who is going to pick against the Home Grown Squad?
VERDICT: THE HOME GROWN TEAM WINS... AND THEN THEY GO OUT AND HAVE BARBECUED BILLY GOAT AFTERWARDS!
