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All-Century Roster: Cubs
By Gary Brooks
SportsLine Baseball Editor
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Gabby Hartnett and Hack Wilson couldn't end the drought. Neither could
Ernie Banks and Ron Santo or Ryne Sandberg and Sammy Sosa or Fergie Jenkins
and Greg Maddux.
 | | | Greg Maddux won his first Cy Young award as a Cub in 1992.(Allsport) | |
The Cubs have had a whole throng of Hall of Fame players grace the
friendly confines of Wrigley Field, but not since 1908 have any of them
been able to carry the team to a World Series title.
It's been since Tinker and Evers were going around the horn to Chance
and the immortal Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown was baffling batters since
the Cubs have been able to fly the 'W' banner at Wrigley on the last day of
the season.
Ten times since they have reached the playoffs, losing seven World
Series by 1945 then two NLCS and a Division Series.
Connie Mack's Athletics stopped the Cubs twice, as did the Yankees and
the Tigers and in 1918, the Red Sox and ace lefty Babe Ruth beat the Cubs.
Little did Sox fans know it would be the highest moment in their
franchise's similar history of close calls.
Even with the agony of failed Octobers, the Cubs have had a storied past
filled with 44 members of the Hall of Fame and 10 MVPs.
Lineup
| Gabby Hartnett, C, 1922-40 |
| Hartnett was a pennant-winning player/manager who won the NL MVP in 1935
and was generally considered the best catcher in the National League before
Johnny Bench. He's one of five Cubs with more than 200 homers and 1,000
RBI. Hartnett had an aberration of a season in 1930 when he hit 37 homers
and drove in 122 runs. In no other season, though he was a consistent
producer, did he have more than 91 RBI or 24 home runs. |
| Mark Grace, 1B, 1988-99 |
| Grace has spent a dozen consistent-but-not-overwhelming seasons in Chicago.
He became the eighth Cub to reach 2,000 hits in 1999 when he wrapped up the
decade with more hits than anyone else in the majors. His .310 career
average is 10th in team history. He's also among the team leaders in RBI
and total bases and has won four Gold Gloves. |
| Ryne Sandberg, 2B, 1982-94, 96-97 |
| Sandberg was a little-known prospect acquired from the Philadelphia
Phillies who turned into one of the greatest second basemen ever. He won a
record nine Gold Gloves and his .990 career fielding percentage is the best
among second basemen. The All-American high school quarterback was the NL
MVP in 1984 when he hit .314 with a league-best 114 runs, 74 extra-base
hits and 84 RBI. His power continued to blossom and in 1990 he led the NL
with 40 home runs. His 282 homers are the most ever by a second baseman and
he's among the Cubs leaders in every category. |
| Ernie Banks, SS, 1953-71 |
| Mr. Cub actually played more games in his career at first base than
shortstop. In his 1,125 games in the middle infield, he became one of the best
hitters in baseball, earning MVP honors in 1958 and '59. In 1958, Banks led
the league in RBI (129), slugging percentage (.614) and home runs (47). The
47 homers remain a record for shortstops. In '59 Banks led the league again
with 143 RBI and hit 45 home runs. He moved over to first base in 1961 and
remained among the elite sluggers in the game, finishing his 19-year career
with 512 homers and 1,636 RBI, both the most by a Cub in the 20th century. |
| Ron Santo, 3B, 1960-73 |
| Santo was an outstanding fielder at the hot corner and the best defensive
third baseman in the National League during his career. Santo was also a
patient hitter who led the NL in on-base percentage twice and also had good
power, hitting 342 home runs and driving in 1,331. Though the MVP voting
didn't indicate it, Total Baseball ranked Santo as the best
all-around player in the NL in 1964, '66 and '67. He was a nine-time
All-Star but is still waiting for induction to the Hall of Fame. Only 11
third baseman have been inducted and Santo's numbers are comparable or
better than some. He will have to wait for the Veteran's Committee to
induct him though as his eligibility with the Baseball Writers Association
of America has passed. |
| Billy Williams, OF, 1959-74 |
| Playing in the shadow of Ernie Banks and never reaching the World Series
kept Williams from receiving the recognition he truly deserved as one of
the greats of his time. He hit over .300 five times, including an NL-best
.333 in 1972, drove in 90 or more runs 10 times and hit 392 homers as a
Cub. From September 1963 through September 1970, Williams played in 1,117
consecutive games setting a league record that was broken by Steve Garvey.
Williams hit for the cycle three times and in 1968 had a stretch of five
consecutive home runs over two games. He was inducted in the Hall of Fame
in 1987. |
| Sammy Sosa, OF, 1992-99 |
| From 1993 through 1997, Sammy Sosa was an outstanding player who averaged
34 home runs, 100 RBI and 26 steals. Then, in 1998, he blossomed into one
of the greatest power hitters of all-time and along with Mark McGwire,
shook up baseball with a home run display that drew the attention of the
entire baseball world and beyond. Sosa was named NL MVP in '98 when he hit
66 home runs and drove in 158 leading the Cubs into the playoffs. In '99 he
hit 63 homers and drove in 141 runs but he was the only Cub who had any
success and the team struggled badly. Sosa had hit 305 home runs in just
more than seven seasons with the Cubs. Santo, Banks and Williams are the
only players ahead of him on the Cubs' career long ball list. |
| Hack Wilson, OF, 1926-31 |
| At 5-feet-6, 190 pounds, Wilson had the build of a football center, not
a strong major-league hitter. His absent-mindedness in the outfield drew
laughs but he took his hitting seriously. He led the NL in homers four times
and drove in 100 runs five times for the Cubs. His 1930 season -- with 56
homers and 191 RBI -- is among the best in history. In 1929, he drove in
159 runs and batted .345 helping the Cubs win their first pennant since
1918. His .590 career slugging percentage is the best in team history.
Wilson was added to the Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee in 1979. |
Pitchers
| Mordecai Brown, SP, 1904-12, '16 |
| Having had his hand mangled in a childhood accident, "Three Finger"
possessed a wicked curveball that Ty Cobb called the most devastating pitch
he ever saw. Brown emerged as a star winning 26 games for the 1906 Cubs. It
was the first of six consecutive 20-win seasons. Brown went 188-86 in his
Cubs career, the second-most wins in team history. In 10 years in Chicago,
he had a 1.80 ERA and 48 shutouts, each team records. |
| Ferguson Jenkins, SP, 1966-73, '82-83 |
| Jenkins was the primary reason for the Cubs' drastic improvement from the
mid-to-late 1960s. Acquired from the Phillies for veteran pitchers Bob Buhl
and Larry Jackson, Jenkins was given a starting spot in 1967 and proceeded
to win 20 or more games for six consecutive seasons. Jenkins led the NL
with 24 wins in 1971, leading the league and becoming the first Cub to win
the Cy Young Award. Jenkins, who was a fine hitter and even played some
basketball with the Harlem Globetrotters, spent time with the Rangers and
Red Sox before finishing his career with the Cubs pushing his win total in
Chicago to 167, fifth best in team history. |
| Hippo Vaughn, SP, 1913-21 |
| In the pennant-winning season of 1918, Vaughn won the pitcher's triple
crown with 22 wins a 1.74 ERA and 148 strikeouts. He also led the league
with eight shutouts and 290 1/3 innings. It was one of six 20-win seasons.
He's the best left-hander in team history, with 151 wins, and his 35
shutouts are second to Brown. |
| Greg Maddux, SP, 1986-92 |
| Maddux led the Cubs in wins from 1988-92 and in ERA in four of those
seasons. His 20 wins in 1992 tied for the NL lead and easily won him his
first of four consecutive Cy Young Awards. Cubs fans just wish the final
three hadn't come while pitching for the Atlanta Braves. In '92, Maddux won
his third consecutive Gold Glove and perhaps most impressively considering
the often homer-friendly confines of Wrigley Field, allowed just seven home
runs -- one to a right-handed batter -- in 268 innings. He won 15 games by
the All-Star break for his first Mid-Summer Classic appearance in 1988 and
finished third in Cy Young voting in 1989. |
| Grover Cleveland Alexander, SP, 1918-26 |
| "Pete" slightly edges Ed Reulbach, Charlie Root and Orval Overall who all
had stellar Cubs careers but none was ever considered the top pitcher in
the league like Alexander was in 1919 and '20 when he won 43 games and
back-to-back ERA titles. He pitched nine shutouts in 1919 after returning
from service in World War II, and in 1924 recorded his 300th win as a Cub. |
| Bruce Sutter, RP, 1976-80 |
| Sutter turned the split-finger into a phenomenon and became the second
reliever ever to win the Cy Young in 1979 when he edged Joe Niekro after a
37-save season with a 2.22 earned-run average. Sutter also received Cy
votes in 1977 when he had a 1.34 ERA and 31 saves. He led the league in
saves in 1979 and '80, was an All-Star selection from 1977-80 and when he
retired after stints with St. Louis and Atlanta, he held the NL record with
300 saves. |
| Bench |
| Bill Nicholson, Phil Cavarretta, Rogers Hornsby, Woody English,
Andre Dawson, Frank Chance, Stan Hack, Bill Buckner, Bill Madlock, Billy
Herman, Frank Baumholtz, Andy Pafko, Heinie Zimmerman, Cy Williams, Ray
Grimes, Riggs Stephenson, Hank Sauer, Ron Cey, Keith Moreland, Kiki Cuyler,
Don Kessinger, Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, Dave Kingman, George Altman |
| Best season |
| Since it's hard to give the edge to a team that didn't win the
World Series, the greatest regular-season team in history, the 116-36 1906
club, gets passed up by the 107-win 1907 club which beat the Detroit Tigers
to win the Series. Essentially, the team's were pretty similar anyway. The
1907 team had a now unfathomable 1.73 team ERA after a 1.75 mark in 1906.
The '06 team did score 131 more runs, with Frank Chance and Harry
Steinfeldt leading the offense. But after being beaten by the "Hitless
Wonder" cross-town White Sox in the 1906 Series, the Cubs took care of the
Tigers easily. After Game 1 ended due to darkness tied at 3 after 12
innings, the Cubs' pitching staff of Jack Pfiester, Ed Reulbach, Orval
Overall and Three Finger Brown held the Tigers to three runs over the next
four games. |
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| Worst season |
| There have been 100-loss seasons and all sorts of trouble
since the Cubs last World Series title in 1908 but no season went from good
to bad as fast as 1999. After winning 90 games and a wild-card playoff
berth behind the slugging of Sammy Sosa in 1998, the '99 Cubs were ready to
duplicate the feat, if not better. But in spring training, young pitching
phenom Kerry Wood injured his arm and missed the season and instead of
chasing another 90-win season, Chicago lost 95 games. |
| Best individual season, player |
| Hack Wilson's 1930 performance was the best
at the plate in National League history. He hit .356 with a then-league
record of 56 homers and a still standing and possibly never to be broken
major-league record of 191 RBI. He also set NL records for extra-base hits
(97) and total bases (423). He set Cubs records with a .723 slugging
percentage and RBI in a month (53). |
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| Best individual season, pitcher |
| Three Finger Brown finished his career
with the third-lowest ERA in history (2.06). His finest season was 1906
when he had a league-best 1.04 ERA to go along with a 26-6 record and nine
shutouts. The 1.04 mark is the second-best single season in history. |
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