Cubs by the Numbers

ALL-TIME #36 ROSTER:
Player	Years
Bill Fleming	1943
John Burrows	1943–44
Jorge Comellas	1945
Lon Warneke	1945
Eddie Waitkus	1946–48
Jim Kirby	1949
Johnny Klippstein	1950–54
Don Elston	1953, 1957–64
Bob Humphreys	1965
Robin Roberts	1966
Bill Stoneman	1967–68
Joe Decker	1969–71
Tom Phoebus	1972
Bob Locker	1973, 1975
Horacio Pina	1974
Ramon Hernandez	1976–77
Bill Caudill	1979–81
Mike Proly	1982–83
Gary Matthews Sr. (player and coach)	1984–87, 2003–06
Mike Bielecki	1988–91
Mike Morgan	1992–95
Dave Swartzbaugh	1995–96
Kevin Tapani	1997–2001
Rick Kranitz (coach)	2002
Koyie Hill	2007
Sean Gallagher	2007–08
Randy Wells	2008–12
Edwin Jackson	2013–15

Gary “Sarge” Matthews (1984–87) was among the most popular Cubs of his time, despite arriving on the scene late in his career, presumably washed-up, and initially viewed warily by Cubs fans who thought he was just another faded former Phillie brought in by Dallas Green for old times’ sake.

Matthews, a speedster with mid-range power as a Giant and Brave in the 1970s, had declined to a .258 average with only 10 home runs for the 1983 NL champion Phillies. Though he earned NLCS MVP honors that autumn with three homers against LA, he hit only .250 as the Phillies dropped the World Series to the Orioles. So when Green came calling at the end of spring training in 1984, after the Cubs had lost thirteen straight exhibition games and were desperately seeking help, the Phillies were more than willing to send Matthews and Bob Dernier to Chicago for another faded former star, reliever Bill Campbell, and a minor leaguer, Mike Diaz, who never played in a game for Philadelphia.

The “Sarge” got his nickname from the salutes he gave to the left-field bleacherites who applauded him every time he came to his position; he arranged one day for painters’ caps with sergeant stripes to be distributed in the bleachers. While that will certainly make a player popular at Wrigley, Matthews earned his stripes with his bat—he started fast with a .339 April average—and fans loved his aggressive play in the outfield and on the basepaths. He drew 103 walks—tops in the NL and the most for a Cub since Richie Ashburn walked 116 times in 1960—and Matthews also led the league in on-base percentage (.410) despite a league-high 10 sacrifice flies that diminish OBP. His 101 runs ranked fifth in the NL and he also finished fifth in MVP voting behind Ryne Sandberg, as the Cubs took the NL East title.

It was a final hurrah. Injured much of the next two years, his performance tailed off and, some say, with it the Cubs’ fortunes. Matthews was eventually shipped to Seattle for a minor leaguer, but we will never forget Sarge’s wonderful 1984 season. Hold that salute until Sarge returns it.

Other than Matthews and Koyie Hill, who wore both #36 and #55 during his brief tenure with the club in 2007 (and who stuck with #55 when recalled in September 2008), #36 has been worn exclusively by pitchers since 1950, when Johnny Klippstein first donned it. Klippstein had some promise, putting up decent years for pretty bad teams from 1950 to 1953. But when he had a bad year in 1954, he was shipped to Cincinnati for three players who had little impact. Eventually Klippstein became a good middle reliever for several teams in the 1960s, pitching in two World Series (for the 1959 Dodgers and 1965 Twins). Don Elston wore Klippstein’s #36 briefly at the end of the 1953 season under the “If the Shirt Fits, He Wears It” theory then in place for the Cubs. Klippstein didn’t pitch after August 17 and Elston threw in two late-season games, but Elston got #36 back when he returned to the Cubs to stay in 1957. Elston had several seasons as a workhorse reliever and “closer” (before the current definition of the term), putting up 63 saves and having one All-Star appearance in eight Cubs seasons through 1964.

Bob Humphreys pitched most of his nine-year career for the Washington Senators, but his one year as a Cub (1965) was effective; his odd “side-saddle” pitching motion produced a 3.15 ERA in 41 appearances. Humphreys had been scheduled to wear #39 for the North Siders, but when the Cubs acquired Ted Abernathy the day before Opening Day in 1965, Abernathy claimed the number he had worn in Cleveland and Humphreys was reassigned #36.

Bill Stoneman (1967–68) threw two no-hitters as an Expo and later built a world championship team as Angels GM, but he had two forgettable years in Chicago before Montreal took him with the nineteenth pick in the 1969 expansion draft. Joe Decker (1969–71) was another prospect who never made it; he and Bill Hands were shipped to the Twins for Dave LaRoche after the 1972 season. Others who wore #36 with little distinction in the 1970s and 1980s were Tom Phoebus (1972); Bob Locker (1973, 1975)—yet another reliever who had his better years for other teams; Horacio Pina (1974); Ramon Hernandez (1976–77); Bill Caudill (1979–81), one of several relievers for the 1979 team who had success as a closer elsewhere (the Cubs did have this guy named Sutter); and Mike Proly (1982–83), who was cut in March 1984 to make room for relievers who could protect leads.

Starting pitchers had more success wearing #36. After “The Sarge” departed, #36 returned to being a pitcher’s number, and three starting pitchers wore it with some distinction. Mike Bielecki (1988–91), a former first-round draft pick of the Pirates who had never made it with them, was acquired by the Cubs for a minor leaguer before the 1988 season. After rusting in the bullpen that year, manager Don Zimmer put him in the rotation in 1989 and he responded with an 18-win season, helping lead the Cubs to the NL East title. Bielecki, a terrible hitter (.043, with 35 strikeouts in 70 at-bats during the 1989 regular season), had a two-run single in the Cubs’ six-run first inning in Game 2 of the 1989 NLCS vs. the Giants, but he couldn’t last on the mound long enough to get the victory in that game, the only one the Cubs won in the series. He lost a heartbreaker in San Francisco in Game 5. Bielecki finished ninth in the Cy Young voting, but injuries and ineffectiveness made that his one year in the sun; he was dealt to Atlanta in 1991.

Among the many surprises in 1989, were the 18 wins by Mike Bielecki, who came into the season with 12 victories in five years.

Mike Morgan set the major league record for most teams played for with twelve, later broken by Octavio Dotel, who, defying mathematic probability, played on thirteen teams but never the Cubs. Morgan had two stints with the Cubs; in his first, wearing #36 from 1992–95, he posted a 16–8, 2.55 season in ’92. During that season he gave a nod to baseball history; on June 21 he was the Cubs starter in Philadelphia on a day when the Phillies were hosting a “Turn Back The Clock” day. Wearing a Cubs uniform from the 1940s, Morgan threw his first pitch with an old-fashioned 1940s style windmill windup. Morgan’s baseball odyssey brought him back to the Cubs in 1998; he had to wear #38 because Kevin Tapani (1997–2001) had claimed #36 the year before, when he was signed as a free agent. Injuries limited Tapani to just thirteen starts in 1997, but he went 9–3, 3.39, portending a better year in ’98, and he delivered, although his 4.85 ERA was a bit unsightly. He won 19 games, the most for a Cub since Greg Maddux won 20 in 1992, and he threw nine outstanding innings in Game 2 of the NLDS against the Braves. Unfortunately, the Cubs scored only once that night, and with one out in the ninth, Javy Lopez homered off Tapani to tie the game, which the Braves won in ten innings.

Randy Wells (2008–12) spent five years as a Cub, much of it in the rotation. He wore #36, but #38 might have been more appropriate since that was the round the Southwestern Illinois College pitcher was taken in during 2002. The Blue Jays grabbed him as a Rule 5 pick in 2008, but sent him back to Chicago after just one appearance. His first full season was his best: 12–10 with a 3.05 ERA, placing sixth in the 2009 Rookie of the Year voting. His ERA went up and his win total down from there, but the kid from Belleville won 28 times as a Cub, and who wouldn’t sign up for that? Well, the Cubs thought they’d signed up pricey free agent Edwin Jackson (2013–15) to do more than fill a spot in the rotation. He logged an NL-worst 18 losses in his first year with the team in 2013. He went 6–15 the next year. Dumped in the bullpen, Jackson ironically had a winning record (2–1) and a solid sounding ERA (3.07) when the Cubs cut him in July 2015. Eating $15 million showed that the team had an appetite for winning and was willing to toss the fat off the plate.

Of the old-time Cubs who wore #36, perhaps the best known is Eddie Waitkus (1946–48), who had three solid seasons as the Cubs’ first baseman. Naturally, he was traded away to have his best years elsewhere. Looking at his career statistics, you might wonder why he played in only 54 games in his first season with the Phillies in 1949. He wasn’t injured playing baseball—he was shot by a young Chicago woman, Ruth Ann Steinhagen, who had become obsessed with him when he played for the Cubs. She checked in to the Edgewater Beach Hotel, where visiting teams then stayed, when the Phillies first came to town in June 1949, and summoned Waitkus to her room on a ruse. She then shot him. Waitkus nearly died, but he eventually recovered and played several more seasons. The story—eerily similar to what happened to Cub Billy Jurges in 1932—served as the basis for Bernard Malamud’s novel The Natural; the names, teams and details were changed.

MOST OBSCURE CUB TO WEAR #36: Jim Kirby (1949). You’re saying, “Who?” and so are we. Kirby appeared in three games, recording two at-bats and one hit, a single. He never played in the field. He wore #36 from May 1–13, 1949. He was sent to a minor league club in Nashville on May 18 and was later optioned to Dallas; he was sold outright to that club on September 16 and never returned to the major leagues. And now you know everything there is to know about the obscure major league life of James Herschel Kirby.

GUY YOU NEVER THOUGHT OF AS A CUB WHO WORE #36: Robin Roberts (1966). Here’s one you could win a bar bet with: The 1966 Cubs lost 103 games. How many Hall of Famers played for that team? The answer is “five”—on a tenth-place team! They were Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins, and Roberts. As recently as 1964, at age thirty-seven, Roberts had put together a fine 13–7, 2.91 year with the Orioles. But when the Cubs acquired him on July 13, 1966, following his release by Houston, he was thirty-nine and done. He appeared eleven times in Cub jersey #36, including nine starts, went 2–3, and became the only pitcher in major league history to allow 500 home runs in a career (as the saying goes, “You have to be good to do that.”) Ten years later he was enshrined in Cooperstown—NOT wearing a Cubs cap.

For Appearances’ Sake

As we said in Chapter #31, if you had a game to win and you were to call a Cubs number out to win it for you, it would be #31. It makes sense because #31 has the most wins by a landslide. And if #31’s already in the game and getting fatigued, the odds are you’d wave in #36. In might trot Kevin Tapani, Mike Bielecki, Mike Morgan, or maybe Don Elston, who appeared in 449 games as a Cub, fourth most on the all-time club list and all while wearing #36. Or if #31 is Fergie Jenkins or Greg Maddux, you might want to stick with them for another batter.

Uniform #	Games Pitched
36	1,794
31	1,698
49	1,591
32	1,580
46	1,570
45	1,453
38	1,435
33	1,423
34	1,400
37	1,387
40	1,351
30	1,335
48	1,145
41	1,120
43	1,111
47	1,048
39	1,010
44	980
35	914
17	900