As I posted here last week, the Cubs will be having celebrations this weekend honoring their 150th anniversary in the National League.
Monday on Marquee Sports Network, the team announced the 40 players that had been chosen as their 15oth anniversary team. The 40 players were chosen in a fan vote and around 20 of them will be in attendance for a ceremony pre-game on Saturday.
Here’s the roster by position, and my thoughts on the fan choices.
This really can’t be argued with. Two managers who brought
the Cubs World Series titles, and another who came close. Honorable mention should be given to Joe McCarthy, who was the manager of the 1929 NL champion Cubs and came close to winning again in 1930. It was that failure that led team owner William Wrigley to fire McCarthy, one of the biggest mistakes in franchise history. McCarthy went on to win eight pennants and seven World Series with the Yankees. Would that have happened with the Cubs? Obviously we’ll never know, but I think some of those pennant-winning teams in the 1930s might have squeaked one or two titles out with McCarthy at the helm.
Another honorable mention here for Johnny Kling, who caught over 1,000 games with the team from 1900-11 — except for 1909, when he held out for a higher salary after the two World Series titles. Not getting paid what he thought he was worth, he told the Cubs he thought he could do better running a pool hall in his native Kansas City, so he took a year off. His replacements were awful and the Cubs finished six games out of first place. Could they have won the 1909 pennant with Kling?
Phil Cavarretta, the 1945 MVP and Chicago native who played on three Cubs NL title teams and managed the club for parts of three seasons, should have been given consideration.
Johnny Evers, a Hall of Famer who posted 39.7 bWAR in 12 Cubs seasons, should be here.
Hornsby’s a Hall of Famer too, but he played only four years for the Cubs, his best seasons (apart from 1929) were elsewhere, and his managerial tenure was turbulent.
No arguments at all with these choices. Stan Hack should be in the Hall of Fame.
Again, no arguments. Don Kessinger’s probably the best player not on this list, with six All-Star appearances and two Gold Gloves, but his offensive numbers were pedestrian.
I would have put Hall of Famer Kiki Cuyler on this list instead of José Cardenal. Cardenal was a fun player who stole 129 bases for the Cubs, but Cuyler was just a better player. Cuyler stole 161 bases as a Cub and his 43 steals in 1930 were the last 40-steal season for any Cub until Ivan De Jesus stole 44 in 1978. His .325 BA in over 3,600 at-bats for the Cubs ranks fourth in the Modern Era.
Speaking of which, Riggs Stephenson deserves consideration, too. His .336 BA as a Cub is tied for the franchise record with Bill Madlock. Stephenson was a key part of the 1929 and 1932 NL pennant winners and finished fifth in MVP voting in ‘32.
There is a major omission here: Charlie Root, who holds the Cubs franchise record for wins with 201, and got MVP votes in five different seasons, back when there was no Cy Young Award. He’d likely have won it in 1927, when he won 26 games and led the NL in innings.
Don Elston, who was a reliable Cubs reliever for some really bad teams in 1953 and again from 1957-64, deserves some consideration here.
As you can see, the fan vote tended to give more credit to recent players, and even some active players. There were some great Cubs before 1945, and they should have been given more recognition. Nevertheless, this is a pretty good representation of franchise history, and the entire team will be honored on Saturday.
Here’s the entire team reveal as broadcast Monday on Marquee.
