Cubs by the Numbers

ALL-TIME #30 ROSTER
Player	Years
Jim Asbell	1938
Bill Fleming	1942
Jesse Flores	1942
Paul Derringer	1943–45
Bob Rush	1948–49
Frank Hiller	1950–51
Vern Fear	1952
Willie Ramsdell	1952
Duke Simpson	1953
Vern Morgan	1954
Jim Bolger	1955
Pete Whisenant	1956
Cal Neeman	1957
John Briggs	1958
Dick Drott	1959–61
George Gerberman	1962
Dick LeMay	1963
Wayne Schurr	1964
Kenny Holtzman	1965–71, 1978–79
Dan McGinn	1972
Steve Stone	1974–76
Mike Adams	1977
Carlos Lezcano	1980–81
Hector Cruz	1982
Chuck Rainey	1983–84
Chico Walker	1985
Darrin Jackson	1985, 1987–89
Dave Clark	1990
Bob Scanlan	1991–93
Ozzie Timmons	1995–96
Jeremi Gonzalez	1998
Mark Guthrie	1999–2000
Raul Gonzalez	2000
Matt Stairs	2001
Matt Clement	2002–04
Buck Coats	2006
Ted Lilly	2007–10
Travis Wood	2012
Dioner Navarro	2013
Mike Olt	2014
Jason Motte	2015

Of the forty-one Cubs who have worn #30 through 2015, more than half—twenty-three—have been moundsmen. There were exceptions, of course, and once the players began to make more money and flex their muscles with management in the 1980s, this pattern shifted somewhat. But once Dick Drott (1959–61, also wore #18 in 1957–58) was issued No. 30 in 1959, a parade of pitchers donned this number, some well-known, others not.

Perhaps the best-known was Kenny Holtzman (1965–71, 1978–79), who was the greatest Cubs left-hander since Hippo Vaughn, more than fifty years earlier. Holtzman was the only Cubs pitcher since the 1880s to toss two no-hitters until Jake Arrieta threw his second no-hitter in 2016. He also holds the team marks since 1900 for starts and strikeouts in a season by a lefty. Taken in the fourth round of the first-ever amateur draft in 1965, the University of Illinois product made the major leagues at age nineteen before that season even ended, and was likened to Sandy Koufax—an unfair comparison for any pitcher in the 1960s—because Holtzman fit the profile: he was left-handed, Jewish, and as a rookie he beat Koufax, 2–1, in the only meeting between the two pitchers. In that memorable game at Wrigley Field, Holtzman took a no-hitter into the ninth inning, a portent of things to come, before giving up a hit and a run. The next year Holtzman went 9–0 in 12 starts while fulfilling his military obligation. He pitched—and won—when he could get a pass.

When Kenny Holtzman (left) arrived in the 1960s, he was the best Cubs left-hander since they put numbers on the uniforms.

Holtzman thrived under heavy use in 1969. He won seventeen times, including six shutouts, and tossed his first no-hitter on August 19. The no-hitter was famously saved by Billy Williams, who caught a long drive off the bat of Hank Aaron which, seemingly destined to land on Waveland Avenue, was blown back by a stiff wind and snagged at the wall. It was the first no-no since 1923 without a strikeout, which was strange for a power pitcher. Holtzman fanned 176 in ’69 and 202 the next year. In ’71 he pitched his second no-hitter on June 3 in Cincinnati, but his 9–15 record and 4.38 ERA soured him on the Cubs and the Cubs front office on him, and he was dealt to Oakland for Rick Monday.

As in Chicago, where he was overshadowed by future Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins, Holtzman pitched in the wake of the A’s Catfish Hunter. Vida Blue, the reigning AL MVP, cast a big shadow, too. No matter, Holtzman completed a dominating staff. The mustachioed A’s won three straight world championships. Holtzman won 77 games in four years, and posted a 4–1 mark and a .333 batting average in World Series play. He also won the decisive Game 7 of the ’73 Series against the Mets.

Holtzman pitched for the Orioles and Yankees before returning to the Cubs in 1978. Rick Reuschel was the Cubs’ top gun then, but Holtzman no longer had No. 2—or No. 3—stuff; in those energy-conscious days, some fans used to call his fastball the “Ecology Pitch,” since it seemingly couldn’t go faster than 55 MPH. While his uniform still said 30, he was thirty-two. He had no wins in 23 appearances in ’78, mostly in relief. He came back in ’79 as a starter and went 6–9, giving him an 80–82 mark and 988 strikeouts in nine years of service as a Cub. Before he left he gave us one final reminder of what might have been—a three-hit shutout of the Astros on July 7, 1979, his final major league victory.

In keeping with the Jewish theme, the principal occupant of uniform #30 in between Holtzman’s two Cubs stints was Steve Stone (1974–76). Stone, one of three players acquired from the White Sox for Ron Santo after the 1973 season, had by far the best Cubs career of that trio. As a full-time starter for three Cubs teams that went a combined 216–270, Stone posted a 23–20 mark with a respectable 4.04 ERA. He missed much of the 1976 season with injuries and after that year left to sign as a free agent with the crosstown White Sox, and later won a Cy Young Award with the Orioles. Upon his retirement he went into broadcasting and was for more than twenty years the color analyst on Cubs TV broadcasts, and currently serves that role for the White Sox. Another White Sox broadcast analyst who wore #30 for the Cubs is Darrin Jackson (1985, 1987–89). After a brief callup at age twenty-two due to an injury to Bob Dernier, in which Jackson looked totally overmatched, he became a backup outfielder two years later, but as was the case for many Cubs, had his best years elsewhere (in San Diego and on the South Side of Chicago, where he hit .312 in 1994).

Prewar, #30 wasn’t issued until 1938, and worn by no one of significance: Jim “I Got The Nickname ‘Big Train’ For Hitting .182” Asbell (1938); Bill “Not The Sports Announcer” Fleming (1942), and Jesse “The First Cub Born In Mexico” Flores (1942). After Flores was sold to the Athletics following the ’42 season, #30 was taken over by Paul Derringer (1943–45), better known as a Cardinal and Red; Derringer had helped lead Cincinnati to two pennants in 1939 and 1940. He had enough left in the tank at age thirty-eight to post a fine 16–11, 3.45 record in 1945, helping lead the Cubs to the pennant. Unfortunately, his 6.75 ERA in the ’45 World Series wasn’t so good and he retired after the season.

In the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, #30 was worn by a number of outfielders, none of whom had any meaningful impact: Carlos “Not as Good as My Cousin Sixto” Lezcano (1980–81); Hector “Not as Good as My Brother Jose” Cruz (1982); Chico “I Don’t Have Any Baseball-Playing Relatives” Walker (1985); Dave “Shouldn’t I Have Worn #5?” Clark (1990); Ozzie “I Don’t Have a Clever Nickname” Timmons (1995–96); Raul “0-for-2 As a Cub” Gonzalez (2000); and Buck “Great Baseball Name, No Baseball Talent” Coats (2006)…and a number of no-impact pitchers: Chuck “I Took a No-Hitter to Two Outs in The Ninth” Rainey (1983–84); Bob “I Was Acquired for Mitch Williams” Scanlan (1991–93); Jeremi “Someone Anglicized My Name From Geremis” Gonzalez (1998); and Mark “I’m Left-handed” Guthrie (1999–2000).

No coaches need apply: #30 is one of only six numbers up through 64 (after which there are numbers with no wearers) that has never been worn by a Cubs coach or manager;13, 21, 23, 24, and 32 are the others. But there have been numerous sightings of coaches and managers on the mound to talk with high-maintenance pitchers wearing #30, such as Matt Clement (2002–04) and Ted Lilly (2007–10). During Dioner Navarro’s lone season in Chicago in 2013, he offered a different perspective, the catcher wearing #30 on the mound trying to come up with new and polite ways to say, “This guy’s done.” Dioner did all right with the stick, especially as a backup catcher. He hit three home runs—against the White Sox, no less—on May 29, homering from each side of the plate (twice left-handed). For the year he hit .300, Cubs pitchers had a wining percentage barely above .400, and the batteries were changed by the time 2014 came around. It’s since been worn by Mike Olt (2014), who hit .160 in a far too generous allotment of 258 plate appearances, and bearded reliever Jason Motte (2015), who went 8–1 with a 3.91 ERA but was hurt when the postseason came around.

MOST OBSCURE CUB TO WEAR #30: George Gerberman (1962), who at age twenty was called up from the minors to start one of the 1960s’ most meaningless games, a September 23 tilt between the 99-loss Cubs and the 116-loss Mets. Gerberman pitched 5.1 innings, allowed three hits and five walks, but only one run. He popped up and walked in his only plate appearances, and then left the game, never to pitch in the majors again. The Mets won the game, 2–1, dealing the Cubs their 100th loss of the year, the first of only three times the Cubs have ever hit the century mark in that dubious category (1966 and 2012 are the others).

GUY YOU NEVER THOUGHT OF AS A CUB WHO WORE #30: Matt Stairs (2001). You probably think of Stairs mostly as a DH-type, although that’s a misconception—he played more outfield in his career than DH. Mostly an AL player, he was traded to the Cubs for minor leaguer Eric Ireland in the 2000–01 offseason and quickly became a clubhouse leader who was also known for knocking down a few beers after games with fans at bars near Wrigley Field. (His hometown in New Brunswick is where Canadian lager Moosehead is brewed.) He wasn’t particular about his number, either; originally issued #24, when Michael Tucker was acquired on July 20, 2001 and expressed interest in wearing that number, Stairs readily gave it up and switched to #30 for the rest of the season, before leaving the Cubs that offseason via free agency. The vagabond Stairs finally made (and won) the World Series in 2008 with his eleventh team, the Phillies.

The Chain

When Kenny Holtzman—he of the two no-hitters (plus two near misses) and 80 wins as a Cub—demanded and received a trade after irreconcilable differences with manager Leo Durocher, it marked the beginning of the breakup of the 1969 Cubs. The November 29, 1971 transaction also begat a sequence of trades that would bring the Cubs top-notch players stretching more than thirty years and culminating with a Hall of Famer whose number was retired on the North Side.

Holtzman, a Cub from 1965 to 1971, was sent to Oakland in return for slugging center fielder Rick Monday, who in 1965 had become the first player ever chosen in the amateur player draft. Monday had five good seasons in Chicago (1972–76) before he was dealt to the Dodgers for Bill Buckner and Ivan DeJesus, both of whom were solid regulars and Wrigley favorites. Buckner (1977–84) was then traded for Dennis Eckersley (1984–86), who helped lead the Cubs to the ’84 NL East title. Let’s just say that the trade of uber-closer-to-be Eck to Oakland in 1987 for three players who never played in the majors was the one weak link in the chain. (Mark Leonette, one of three returned from Oakland, put on a Cubs uniform without appearing in a game, but that is a story for Chapter #32.)

But the chain had already proved that it would hold. DeJesus (1977–81) went to the Phillies for Larry Bowa (1982–85)…and a skinny kid shortstop named Ryne Sandberg, who moved to second base and filled out a Cubs uniform from 1982 to 1997 (with a brief retirement that coincided with the strike years). The chain ended with Ryno flying his #23 over Wrigley.