My Favorite 75 Cubs Whom I've Seen Playby Vvvergeer - 75 cards (Last updated on Aug 14, 2021) |
September 21, 2020. Yu moves in. Hamels never made it. Kimbrel doesn't look like he has much of a chance.
I've been a Cubs fan all my life. The conscious-of-baseball part of my life starts in about 1970. I've watched some pretty bad teams, but there were always players -- some great, some just fun -- whom I loved to watch. This is my attempt to compile my favorite 75, roughly in order of preference. (It started as 50, expanded to 91, then I cut it back to 75 -- so many players I remember). As you can see, it's not just about stats. There are some odd choices in here. Some, I just liked their grit. Some just had great nicknames. The deeper you get into the list, the more they blend together in order of preference. And I'm probably forgetting quite a few....
The representative cards are the the oldest card I have of each player as a Cub. (Had to pick SOME criteria).
Hope you enjoy it. Feel free to remind me of players I probably loved but left off the list.
51. 2002 Topps #385 Fred McGriff
Best nick name ever. And an under appreciated player. Not Hall of Famer, in my opinion, though. |
52. 1987 Topps #227 Jamie Moyer
Started poorly with the Cubs. Staggered along his career, and then just kept getting better and kept playing. All the way to the Hall of Very Good. He's picked up an awful lot of wins. That's a statistic that used to matter for pitchers back in the day. |
53. 2013 Topps #391 Travis Wood
I just liked that he adjusted his role, came in and started, relieved, played right field, whatever, and did it all pretty well. |
54. 1978 Topps #152 Ivan DeJesus
I just liked his name, but he was a decent shortstop in a poor Cubs era. |
55. 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen #215 Trevor Cahill
My now 14 year old daughter and I will miss him. Never had a Topps base set Cubs card! Sad. He just seems like a big, goofy country boy. But he actually got the job done. |
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58. 2011 Topps #655 Starlin Castro
Whenever I look at his stats, I remember just how good he is. Glad he did well with the Yankees. |
59. 2016 Topps Gypsy Queen #67 Addison Russell
Been fun to watch. Hope to see him hitting in the .270s some time.
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60. 1980 Topps #594 Dick Tidrow
A vet on the way down, who did a nice job for the Cubs as a set-up man. |
Comments
As usual, your commentary is the star of the list. | ||
Awww, thanks, Billy. | ||
Fun list to look at. As a Cardinals fan who detests the Cubs but loves baseball, I grew up watching the Cubs just about every day in the 80s. And yes, I emphasize the word "day"! We lived too far east in Illinois to get the Cardinals channel. So I especially enjoyed your cards from that era. Also, I was hoping to see Warren Brusstar. | ||
As a Cubs fan growing up deep in Cardinal territory, where they had their AA affiliate in Little Rock, Arkansas, I enjoyed catching all the gmes on WGN in the 80's and 90's listening and watching Harry and Steve's broadcasts. Yes, I did go see the minor league team play quite a bit. The team is no longer affiliated with the Cardinals which made a ton of Cardinals fans there VERY unhappy. I have to say my favorite Cubs player is Mark Grace. Though he was not a prolific home run hitter he was a very consistent contact hitter with some pop who saved Shawon Dunston a ton of errors in the field over the years. I was happy to see him win the World Series with the Diamondbacks in 2001. Ryno is a close second.
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What, no Dennis Lamp?! Among the starters, he was the Cubs' ERA leader in '78 and '79, but pitched in hard luck. I've seen about 20 MLB games in person and Lamp started the first Cubs game I attended, Aug. 11, 1978 at Olympic Stadium. Ross Grimsley tossed a two-hit shutout, 1-0. The player I really wanted to see was Dave Kingman, but his only appearance was pinch-hitting for Lamp in the 9th inning, where he drew a walk. The Big O had foul lines painted on its inner rim, which were put there after Kingman hit a monster shot off that part of the stadium in an earlier game. |
