Cubs by the Numbers

When Rick Sutcliffe (1984–91) was acquired by the Cubs from the Indians just before the then-trading deadline of June 15, 1984, most Cubs fans scratched their heads. Sutcliffe? The guy who had overturned Tommy Lasorda’s desk at Dodger Stadium when removed from the rotation for pitching badly? The guy who had started the ’84 season 4–5, 5.15 for the then-moribund franchise in Cleveland?

Sutcliffe immediately proved Cubs fans (and Indians management, though they got many productive years out of Joe Carter) wrong. The auburn-haired “Red Baron” threw eight innings against the Pirates and won 4–3 in his first Cubs start, and then, five days later—the day after the famous “Sandberg Game”—on June 24, he threw a five-hit shutout against the Cardinals, striking out 14, and had Cubs fans standing and cheering, thinking perhaps it was to be something special.

It was. Sutcliffe kept winning…and winning…and winning. The only game he lost in a Cubs uniform in ’84 was the start following that 14-K gem; it was against Lasorda and the Dodgers, and Rick admitted that he was overthrowing, trying far too hard to beat his old team. He threw six more complete games and two more shutouts and on September 3, he struck out 15 Phillies, tying the then-club record set by Dick Drott in 1957 and tied by Burt Hooton in 1971. He became only the second pitcher at that time to win 20 games combined (16–1 in the NL, 4–5 in the AL) between both leagues—and the other, Hank Borowy in 1945, had led the Cubs to a pennant. Hopes were high entering the NLCS against the Padres, and Rick didn’t disappoint, throwing seven shutout innings in Game 1 and also hitting a home run.

And then the wheels fell off. Cubs fans debate to this day whether Jim Frey should have brought Sutcliffe back on short rest to start Game 4. Instead, Rick was held to Game 5, and despite a valiant effort…well, you don’t need us to remind you what happened.

Hopes were high again in 1985, but one by one, the starting rotation went down to injury until all five of them were, at one time, on the DL. Sutcliffe, who’d won the ’84 Cy Young Award, was first, tweaking a hamstring on April 28 while trying to beat out an infield hit in Philadelphia. He kept pitching, but finally succumbed to this and other related injuries in late July. He wound up 8–8, and the Cubs wound up with a losing record.

Sutcliffe came back to win 18 games in 1987—many thought he should have won a second Cy, rather than the eventual winner, Steve Bedrosian—and was a 16-game winner for the 1989 NL East champions. But the next year he went down again to injury and finished his career with the Orioles and Cardinals. Since retirement Sutcliffe has been a broadcaster, mainly with ESPN.

Cubs fans, though, will never forget 16–1. And Sutcliffe would not have had #40 to wear had Dennis Eckersley not desired the #43 he had worn with Cleveland and Boston. Eckersley was assigned #40 when he was acquired on May 25, 1984, but wore it for only one start—a 4–3 loss to the Reds on May 27—before switching back to #43, leaving #40 available for Sutcliffe, who joined the Cubs only three weeks later. Perhaps it was the bench-clearing brawl triggered by a reversed home run call on an apparent three-run dinger hit by Ron Cey that prompted Eck to switch shirts. One wonders what he must have been thinking, seeing opposing pitcher Mario Soto charge and bump an umpire, Cubs manager Jim Frey ejected, and Cubs coach (and Eck’s former Red Sox skipper) Don Zimmer’s turning beet-red, during a 30-minute rhubarb-come-brawl over a ball that was clearly foul (the fan who caught the ball confirmed that). Harry Caray called the fracas, “One of the prize baseball fights of all time.” And unlike the game in question, it’s hard to argue with that.

Another Sutcliffe, or another Kerry Wood, might have been Glen Hobbie (1959–64). Hobbie, who wore #28 during a couple of briefer stints with the Cubs in 1957 and 1958, made his mark in the rotation full-time in ’59, going 16–13 with a respectable 3.69 ERA and finishing tenth in the NL in strikeouts with 138. At age twenty-three he seemed to have a bright future, and despite losing 20 games the next year, he also won 16—for a horrid club that lost 90 games—and it was hoped he’d be a mainstay for a decade. Alas, he got hurt in 1961, and his workload decreased. After a poor start in 1964, he was sent to the Cardinals —who wasn’t, in those days?—for Lew Burdette. Burdette wasn’t very good for the Cubs, and Hobbie’s career ended after ’64.

Dee Fondy (1951–57), whose given name actually was “Dee,” was originally signed by the Dodgers, but was shipped to the Cubs along with Chuck Connors (more about Connors later in this chapter) after the 1950 season. Fondy was a first baseman with speed, a commodity lacking in Chicago. In 1954, he became the first Cub to steal 20 bases since 1940. He also twice led the team in hits and his .309 average in ’53 was the highest by a Cubs first baseman until ’78. A solid fielder, he made his major league debut as Opening Day first baseman for the Cubs in 1951. In one of the few 1950s deals that actually worked out better for the Cubs than their trading partner, the Cubs sent him to Pittsburgh on May 1, 1957 along with Gene Baker for Lee Walls and Fondy’s replacement, Dale Long.

Long tenured Cubs have donned the number, from manager Charlie “Jolly Cholly” Grimm (1944–49), who won the ’45 pennant in #40, to the most recent extended-stay resident: James Russell (2010–15). Seattle drafted Russell twice, but the son of Rangers reliever Jeff Russell turned the M’s down both times and went to the Cubs in the fourteenth round out of the University of Texas in 2007. Being left-handed, he reached Chicago pretty quickly and was in the majors to stay in 2010. Pitching frequently—averaging 67 appearances per year—Russell’s records ran the gamut: a 7–1 season in 2012 was bookended by a pair of 1–6 marks, though he had a steady 3.65 ERA over those three years. He was traded to the Braves in July 2014, but Chicago needed another bullpen lefty in the spring of ’15, so they snagged him back after Atlanta cut him. The Cubs must finally learn to make do without Russell, who signed with the Phillies before the 2016 season.

The rest of the #40s are the typical collection of hopefuls, never-wases, and ne’er-do-wells, going all the way back to the first #40, Tot Pressnell (1941–42). had a couple of decent years for the Dodgers, but Tot had little impact in a Cubs uniform, going 6–4, 3.95 in two seasons. Even manager Jimmie Wilson (1943–44) wasn’t a difference-maker; he had managed four poor years in Philadelphia before coming to Chicago, and he had a season and a half of bad managing for the Cubs before being replaced midseason and midwar.

More ho-hum hurlers wearing #40 included Ed Mayer (1957) and Jack Warner (1964–65), 0–2, 5.10 in four different stints with the Cubs over four seasons, during which he also tried on #33, #34, and #38. In the “let’s try to resurrect his career” category came Bill Hoeft (1965–66); Don Larsen (1967); Pete Mikkelsen (1967–68); Jack Lamabe (1968); Eddie “Buddy” Solomon (1975), whose last name caused many to ask—before people met the African American Solomon—if he was Jewish; Pete Broberg (1977), a former first overall pick of the Washington Senators—out of an Ivy League school, Dartmouth, no less—who went 1–2, 4.75 in 22 Cubs relief appearances; and Lynn McGlothen (1978–81), who did win 31 games over his four seasons as a Cub, but who carried a high ERA for the day, 4.25, and whose name was often misspelled “McGlothlin,” because there was a better known pitcher in the ’70s with that last name (Jim McGlothlin of the Reds).

The procession of pedestrian-level pitching was briefly interrupted for the 3-for-25 performance of Fernando Ramsey (1992), the only position player to wear #40 between Dee Fondy in 1957 and Henry Rodriguez (1998).

Rodriguez (1998–2000), one of only four Cubs born in Panama (the others are Adolfo Phillips, Julio Zuleta, and Jose Macias), posted a fine 31-homer season and had many “O! Henry!” candy bars thrown onto the left-field turf at Wrigley Field to help the Cubs to the 1998 Wild Card. One of many Montreal exports during that period—the same offseason the hand-to-mouth Expos also dispatched Pedro Martinez to Boston—Rodriguez hit 26 homers in 1999, though the Cubs got worse. Even though Henry hit 18 homers in half a season in 2000, he was traded to Florida as the Cubs (like the Expos) were prepared to retool. Perhaps brokenhearted at leaving the left field bleacher fans who showered him with affection (and candy), O! Henry! hit only two homers for the Marlins and none after, finishing his career with a weak 1-for-20 for his original team, the Expos, in 2002.

After enduring the likes of Dave Stevens (1997), a Cubs draftee later dealt to the Twins, returned via waivers and posted a 5.70 ERA in 41 games before being released, Manny Aybar (2001, who also wore #38 and #40 that year without distinction), and Todd Wellemeyer (2003–05, whose career resurrection was yet to come as a Cardinal and not as a Cub), also threw poorly in Cubs uniforms (and Aybar threw poorly in both #38 and #40 in 2001), we can be forgiven for being over the moon in the first edition of Cubs by the Numbers about #40 Rich Harden (2008–09). And why not? After coming over from Oakland in a July 2008 deal at age twenty-six and posting a 5–1 mark with a 1.77 ERA after the trade, he looked to be a stud for years to come. But after a so-so ’09, he left for Texas as a free agent. It was a good thing the Cubs let him go. The oft-injured Harden pitched his last game in the majors at age twenty-nine. A Cubs prospect traded to Oakland for Harden, future MVP Josh Donaldson, turned out to be the studly one in that deal.

MOST OBSCURE CUB TO WEAR #40: Oswaldo Mairena (2000). Even the name sounds obscure. One of fourteen major leaguers in history born in Nicaragua, Mairena was one of two minor leaguers acquired from the Yankees on July 21, 2000, for Glenallen Hill. Less than two months later, Mairena was in the majors, even though he had a 4.80 ERA in 11 relief appearances at Triple-A Iowa. He was the mop-up man in two blowouts (the Cubs lost them by a combined score of 24–6) and the following March was traded to the Marlins.

GUY YOU NEVER THOUGHT OF AS A CUB WHO WORE #40: Chuck Connors (1951). Maybe this one should be titled “Guy You Never Thought Of As A Baseball Player.” Connors was a tough guy. For kids who watched too much TV as children, black-and-white reruns of The Rifleman were pretty cool when your options for quality viewing/time wasting were limited. When it was discovered that the show’s star played major league baseball—and was a Boston Celtic, too—that transformed The Rifleman into a low-grade sporting event. He fought for justice away from the tube. As an aging prospect on a Brooklyn Dodgers team loaded with talent, Connors complained bitterly about management’s parsimony. So it was no surprise when Branch Rickey traded Connors and Dee Fondy to the Cubs for Hank Edwards and, of course, cash. Connors hit and fielded poorly as the Cubs’ semi-regular first baseman in 1951. He returned to the Pacific Coast League, which he actually preferred to the big leagues because of the money, weather, and proximity to his next career. Connors earned his first bit part in a movie while he was with the PCL’s Hollywood Stars. He then went into television when the Western was king. He may have used his memories of baseball executives as inspiration for his last major role: as a vindictive slave owner in the 1977 miniseries Roots.

The “System” by Yosh

When teams began numbering players in the 1920s and 1930s, most started simply: they gave the lowest numbers, the single digits, to the players who regularly had that spot in the batting order: the leadoff man got #1, the second-place hitter #2, and so on. That’s why Yankees legends Babe Ruth wore #3 and Lou Gehrig #4, for example.

The Cubs began that way, too, but eventually, Yosh Kawano, who had become clubhouse manager in 1953, designed a system for numbering players and coaches. This system was first put into full practice in the first College of Coaches year, 1961. That year, the eleven coaches were all issued numbers 50 or higher. Pitchers got numbers in the thirties and forties; outfielders numbers in the twenties; infielders numbers in the tens, and catchers single digits, primarily numbers 6 through 9. There were only two exceptions: outfielder Richie Ashburn wore his old Phillies #1 in 1960 and 1961, and Jimmie Schaffer, a backup catcher, wore #5 in 1963 and 1964. Apart from those two, numbers 1 through 5 were not issued at all from 1961–65.

When Leo Durocher became manager in 1966, coaches shifted from the highest numbers to the lowest: Durocher had worn #2 as manager of the Giants and Dodgers and took that number with the Cubs. Coaches followed suit. Only three coaches in the Durocher era did not wear a number between 3 and 7. They were Ernie Banks, who coached in Leo’s last two years and wore his familiar #14; Mel Wright, pitching coach in 1971, who wore #1, and Al Spangler, who wore #20 after returning to the team from the minors in 1970 as a player-coach; the #21 he had worn from 1967–69 had been taken by Jack Hiatt. Following Leo’s departure, the coach/manager numbering system broke down and managers and coaches were allowed to choose numbers as they pleased.

Yosh’s system began to crumble. He had granted a few exceptions and had to give a few out-of-system numbers in the ’60s when certain categories filled up. In 1970, when Johnny Callison arrived in an offseason deal from the Phillies, he requested #6, which he had worn in Philly; no non-catcher had worn #6 since Jim McKnight in 1960 (and McKnight, an infielder, was switched to #15 in 1962). Yosh granted Callison’s request and also that of Jack Hiatt, a catcher acquired from the Giants on May 12. Hiatt thus became only the second Cubs catcher to wear #21, after Clyde McCullough, and the first backstop to wear more than a single digit since Sammy Taylor (#15) and Moe Thacker (#20) did so in 1960. Blow-drying rebel Joe Pepitone continued the breakthrough when he asked for—and got—#8 when he arrived by trade on July 29, 1970. Ken Rudolph, a catcher who had worn #8, switched to #15—the lowest available number, because Yosh was averse to assigning #1 (no player wore it between 1961–72). All the other single digits were taken. #13 was shunned by most players in that era, and #12 had been taken by yet another “crack in the system,” J.C. Martin, who had gotten his old White Sox number after being acquired from the Mets just before Opening Day in 1970 (J.C.’s Mets number, 9, was already taken by Randy Hundley).

Yosh continued to grant similar requests and make exceptions until he officially “retired” as Cubs clubhouse manager in 2000 (Yosh continued as a visiting clubhouse assistant until his full retirement from the team at age eighty-six in 2008, after having worked for the Cubs in various capacities for sixty-five years).

In the spirit of this system, a kid infielder was told, on first reporting to the Cubs for spring training in 1982, that he should choose a number in the teens. Ryne Sandberg, knowing nothing of Cubs history, asked for #14—the number he’d worn as a high school quarterback in Spokane, Washington. Yosh explained to Ryno who Ernie Banks was and issued Sandberg a number that wasn’t part of his infielder system: #23. Perhaps he sensed Sandberg’s greatness to come and wanted him to stand out.

And Mark Grace, who had worn #56 in 1988 spring training, was issued #28 when first called up, during a series at San Diego. When the Cubs came home, Grace was given #17 and told by Yosh, “That’s a first baseman’s number.” Grace, who idolized Keith Hernandez, was happy to be issued his hero’s number. Now #17 seems to fit a third baseman just fine.

ALL-TIME #40 ROSTER:
Player	Years
Tot Pressnell	1941–42
Jimmie Wilson (manager)	1943–44
Charlie Grimm (manager)	1944–49
Chuck Connors	1951
Dee Fondy	1951–57
Ed Mayer	1957
Glen Hobbie	1959–64
Jack Warner	1964–65
Bill Hoeft	1965–66
Don Larsen	1967
Pete Mikkelsen	1967–68
Jack Lamabe	1968
Larry Gura	1970–73
Herb Hutson	1974
Eddie Solomon	1975
Mike Krukow	1976
Pete Broberg	1977
Lynn McGlothen	1978–81
Dave Geisel	1981
Dennis Eckersley	1984
Rick Sutcliffe	1984–91
Fernando Ramsey	1992
Tony Muser (coach)	1993–97
Dave Stevens	1997
Henry Rodriguez	1998–2000
Oswaldo Mairena	2000
Chad Meyers	2001
Manny Aybar	2001
Miguel Cairo	2001
Todd Wellemeyer	2003–05
Phil Nevin	2006
Larry Rothschild (coach)	2007–08
Rich Harden	2008–09
James Russell	2010–15