#20: NOW DISAPPOINTING IN CENTER FIELD…
| ALL-TIME #20 ROSTER: | |
| Player | Years |
| Roy Johnson (coach) | 1937–39 |
| George Uhle (coach) | 1940 |
| Emil Kush | 1941 |
| Hank Gornicki | 1941 |
| Stan Hack | 1943 |
| Don Johnson | 1943–48 |
| Dewey Williams | 1946 |
| Dummy Lynch | 1948 |
| Dwain Sloat | 1949 |
| Dutch Leonard | 1949–53 |
| (coach) | 1954–56 |
| Elmer Singleton | 1957 |
| Ed Mayer | 1958 |
| Marcelino Solis | 1958 |
| Charlie “Chick” King | 1958–59 |
| Irv Noren | 1959–60 |
| Danny Murphy | 1960, 1962 |
| Grady Hatton (player-coach) | 1960 |
| Jim McAnany | 1961 |
| Billy Cowan | 1963–64 |
| Don Landrum | 1965 |
| Ty Cline | 1966 |
| Adolfo Phillips | 1966–69 |
| Rick Bladt | 1969 |
| Oscar Gamble | 1969 |
| Boots Day | 1970 |
| Al Spangler | 1970 |
| Jose Ortiz | 1971 |
| Chris Ward | 1972, 1974 |
| Mick Kelleher | 1976–80 |
| Scott Fletcher | 1981–82 |
| Wayne Nordhagen | 1983 |
| Thad Bosley | 1983 |
| Bobby Dernier | 1984–87 |
| Dave Meier | 1988 |
| Jerome Walton | 1989–92 |
| Eric Yelding | 1993 |
| Todd Haney | 1994 |
| Howard Johnson | 1995 |
| Bret Barberie | 1996 |
| Miguel Cairo | 1997 |
| Matt Mieske | 1998 |
| Chad Meyers | 1999–2000 |
| Corey Patterson | 2001–05 |
| Jae-Kuk Ryu | 2006 |
| Felix Pie | 2007–08 |
| Thomas Diamond | 2010 |
| Anthony Recker | 2012 |
| Brent Lillibridge | 2013 |
| Julio Borbon | 2013 |
| Justin Ruggiano | 2014 |
| Mike Olt | 2015 |
Seemingly for decades, the Cubs have trotted out young, “toolsy” center fielders and assigned them #20, perhaps in the hope that one of them would make that number worthy of a flag atop the Wrigley Field foul poles, just as Lou Brock’s #20 was retired in St. Louis after his Hall of Fame induction. It was as if management was attempting to recapture what they lost when Brock was traded. They never got it back.
Though Brock had actually worn #24 in his all too brief Cubs tenure, nonetheless #20 was doled out to speedsters starting with Adolfo Phillips (1966–69), who was the third player acquired in the Fergie Jenkins trade with the Phillies on April 21, 1966. Installed as the center fielder for the 103-loss ’66 Cubs at age twenty-four, he hit a respectable .262/.348/.452 with 16 homers and 32 stolen bases, which was the most for a Cub since Kiki Cuyler stole 37 in 1930 (the Cubs were late arrivers to the 1960s’ stolen-base party). The following year, Phillips broke out and had a stellar season, with 70 RBI, 24 steals, and 80 walks, which ranked third in the National League. On June 11, 1967, in a doubleheader sweep of the Mets, Phillips hit four homers and drove in eight runs, earning him instant popularity among Cubs fans, who would yell “Olé, Adolfo! Olé!” when he came out to center field.
But it started to sour for Phillips in 1968. He hit .241—an average that in the Year of The Pitcher was not terrible—but his RBI count dropped to 33 and he stole only nine bases. And when he got off to a slow start in 1969, Leo Durocher benched him. Durocher, an old-school guy, couldn’t communicate with the young Panamanian and the Cubs shipped him off to the expansion Expos, where his career fizzled.
Before that year was over, they again put a speedy youngster in uniform #20. Oscar Gamble (1969) wore it as a teenage callup for the 1969 Cubs. As the team tried desperately to hold off the Mets, Gamble got into 24 games in the final month. He showed enough power potential and on-base skill for other teams to crave him. Before his twentieth birthday, the Cubs traded Gamble and Dick Selma to the Phillies for Johnny Callison. Gamble accrued teams almost as easily as he added inches to his Afro in the 1970s but still wound up with 200 career homers. Those would have looked pretty good at Wrigley Field, or at least better than the 27 homers and .243 average the Cubs got in 250 games from Callison.
Thad Bosley had a memorable name, but was just another #20 passing through Wrigley.
For more than a decade after Gamble’s departure there was a succession of mediocre infielders and outfielders who were each issued #20: Boots Day (1970), Jose Ortiz (1971), Chris Ward (1972, 1974), Mick Kelleher (1976–80), Scott Fletcher (1981–82), Wayne Nordhagen (1983), and Thad Bosley (1983); none of them had any impact except for Kelleher. You may wonder why we say that, given that Kelleher’s lifetime batting average was .213 and he never hit higher than .254 in his five seasons at Wrigley. We say “impact” because on August 7, 1977, in the second game of a doubleheader against the Padres, Kelleher took exception to Dave Kingman (then in his brief San Diego sojourn), sliding hard into him to break up a double play. He came up fighting. This sort of thing does happen occasionally on a baseball field when passions flare, but keep in mind that the 5-foot-9, 176-pound Kelleher gave away seven inches and nearly 35 pounds to the 6-foot-6, 210-pound slugger known as Kong. Nevertheless, Little Mick held his own in the brawl, earning the eternal admiration of Cubs fans. Both players were ejected from the game, which the Cubs won, 9–4. Kelleher and Kong wound up being teammates a year later and somehow managed to coexist.
The Cubs tried #20 again, as they did in 1966, with a fast-running center fielder they acquired from Philadelphia just before the 1984 season began. Bob Dernier (1984–87) helped lead the Cubs to the 1984 NL East title with stellar defense, a .278 average, 94 runs scored, and 45 stolen bases, the most for a Cub since Johnny Evers swiped 46 in 1907. But he would never again come close to those numbers and was allowed to leave via free agency three years later. Cubs fans had hope for yet another #20 in center field, Jerome Walton (1989–92). Again, a speedy guy helped lead the Cubs to the playoffs; Walton won the NL Rookie of the Year award, batting .293, hitting safely in 30 straight games, and stealing 24 bases as the Cubs won the NL East. He declined even more swiftly than Dernier; by mid-1991 he was benched, and eventually let go after 1992.
More forgettable bodies inhabited #20 for the rest of the 1990s: Eric Yelding (1993), Todd Haney (1994), Bret Barberie (1996), Miguel Cairo (1997), Matt Mieske (1998), and Chad Meyers (1999–2000). The name “Barberie” may ring a bell; Bret’s ex-wife Jillian Barberie (now known as Jillian Reynolds) is a television personality perhaps best known for her “weather” segments on Fox NFL Sunday. Bret Barberie’s career with the Cubs was as brief as a summer thunderstorm. Signed as a free agent before the 1996 season, he started the year in the minors before being recalled on May 19. In his first Cubs appearance, he was sent up to pinch-hit for Rey Sanchez with a runner on first and the Cubs trailing the Marlins, 7–5. Barberie hit a two-run homer, tying the game. The Cubs eventually lost that game in 11 innings…and Barberie never had another hit as a Cub (or in the majors, for that matter). He went 1-for-29 (.034) before they sent him back to Triple-A.
And then there’s the #20 with perhaps the greatest promise of all: Corey Patterson (2001–05). Patterson, the third overall pick in the 1998 draft, was rushed through the system because, well, the Cubs had had so many failed prospects just like him and, ballyhooed as a “five-tool” player, management felt they finally had “the guy.” But like Lou Brock many years before, no one quite knew what to do with him. Was he a speedster? Was he a power hitter? Various managers tried to squeeze him into various roles. Finally, in 2003 he was installed as the regular center fielder and on Opening Day at Shea Stadium, Patterson hit two homers and drove in seven runs in a 15–2 rout of the Mets. At age twenty-three he seemed to have arrived. He had a solid first half, hitting .298/.329/.511 with 13 HR and 55 RBIs in 83 games, but then on July 6, in a 4–1 loss to the Cardinals, Patterson suffered a torn ACL and torn meniscus in his left knee trying to beat out an infield grounder. He missed the rest of the season and the playoffs; GM Jim Hendry picked up veteran Kenny Lofton two weeks later to play center field the rest of the year. Many felt the Cubs should have kept Lofton, but he was allowed to leave via free agency and Patterson regained the job. He had a good year in 2004, hitting 24 homers, driving in 72 runs, scoring 91 times, and stealing 32 bases. Yet he also struck out an alarming 168 times, often flailing at pitches far over his head.
In 2005, Patterson regressed. He had the worst offensive season for anyone who had more than 400 at-bats since the pitchers’ year of 1968. (Remember Adolfo Phillips?) Patterson hit .215/.254/.348 with 118 strikeouts in 451 AB and was frequently booed for the K’s and for inattentive play in the field. After the season he was unceremoniously dumped to the Orioles for two minor leaguers.
Felix Pie (2007–08) was yet another in the long line of “we hope” center-fielders. but quickly lost his job to the effective platoon of Jim Edmonds and Reed Johnson. Pie was traded to the Orioles after the 2008 season for no one you’ve ever heard of, and the same can be said of the forgettable list of players who have worn #20 since; of the six men sporting that number since 2010, only Julio Borbon (2013) and Justin Ruggiano (2014) played more than 16 games as a Cub in the number.
Before the center fielders and before expansion and before World War II, #20 was also worn by players who are remembered today only by their families. Included in this roll call of mediocrity are Emil Kush (1941); Hank Gornicki (1941); Dewey Williams (1946); Dummy Lynch (1948); Dwain Sloat (1949); Elmer Singleton (1957), a right-handed pitcher who won over 140 games in the Pacific Coast League in the 1950s, but only three as a Cub; Ed Mayer (1958); Marcelino Solis (1958); Charlie “Chick” King (1958–59); and Irv Noren (1959–60). King was traded for Noren on May 19, 1959, and Noren took over King’s jersey and number. He’s the only one of the players in this group who played more than 30 games as a Cub, hitting a solid .321/.384/.462 in 65 games as a part-time outfielder. Naturally, when he got off to a slow start in 1960, he was released. Noren, a reserve outfielder for three pennant-winning Yankees teams in the 1950s, was picked up by Chicago far past his prime, at age 34. Hoping to catch lightning in a bottle, the Cubs usually found that bottle empty.
The only noteworthy Cub of the pre-expansion era to wear #20 (besides Stan Hack, better known for wearing #6) was Don Johnson (1943–48). Johnson, a typical World War II era major leaguer, toiled in the minors for years and reached the majors at the fairly advanced age of thirty-one after the big leagues had been thinned by the military draft in 1943. The Chicago native became the regular second baseman and was an All-Star in 1944 and 1945, scoring 94 runs as the Cubs won the pennant. After the veterans returned from the war, Johnson was relegated to platoon and part-time status. Just another #20.
MOST OBSCURE CUB TO WEAR #20: Rick Bladt (1969) was called up briefly on June 15, 1969 at age twenty-two when Billy Williams, then in the middle of his consecutive-game playing streak, suffered a minor injury. Williams couldn’t do anything but pinch-hit for a few days, which he did to keep his streak alive, so Bladt was used as a defensive replacement and actually got to start four games in center field, all of which the Cubs won. But after he went 0-for-3 in a win over the Pirates on June 26, he was returned to the minors, never again to wear a Cubs uniform. Six years later he resurfaced and played 52 games for the Yankees.
GUY YOU NEVER THOUGHT OF AS A CUB WHO WORE #20: Howard Johnson (1995). Neither a motel nor a restaurant, Johnson had been an All-Star with the Mets in the late 1980s and early 1990s, joining the 30-30 club three times and finishing as high as fifth in MVP voting twice. Naturally, by the time the Cubs signed him just before the strike-shortened 1995 season began, he was 34 years old and four years removed from his last good year. He hit .195 with seven homers in 87 games and never played again. Despite what he showed in Chicago, HoJo always knew how to hit and became hitting coach.
Stolen
The Cubs aren’t generally known for stealing bases, but put a #20 on a Cub and he’ll steal you blind, at least relatively. Bob Dernier (119) and Corey Patterson (86) lead the way, with Felix Pie’s first career stolen base in 2007 pushing #20 into the top spot.
The 417 steals by #20 barely surpasses the total of the all-time Cubs leader, the Peerless Leader—and numberless first baseman—Frank Chance, who had 400. Lou Brock never wore #20 as a Cub, but he sure wore it following the disastrous trade to the Cardinals in 1964. He stole 50 bases (28 percent) of #24’s total for the Cubs, but it’s the 888 he had for St. Louis that kept plenty of North Siders awake at night during the 1960s and 1970s.
Ryne Sandberg put #23 in position to win this competition among numbers, but he was so good he insured that #23 would forever be stuck at 397 as it was retired in his honor. Sandberg had 344 steals, the most by any Cub whose career began after the 19th century.
| Uniform # | Stolen Bases |
| 20 | 417 |
| 23 | 397 |
| 21 | 371 |
| 11 | 333 |
| 1 | 329 |
| 12 | 326 |
| 7 | 291 |
| 6 | 188 |
| 2 | 187 |
| 18 | 187 |
| 10 | 184 |
| 24 | 176 |
| 17 | 155 |
| 25 | 148 |
| 9 | 133 |
| 15 | 133 |
| 5 | 128 |
| 4 | 120 |
| 8 | 116 |
| 19 | 111 |