~Hal Carlson 1892–1930 (Cubs 1927-1930) Hal Carlson was a veteran starting pitcher acquired by the Cubs in 1927 from the Pittsburgh Pirates. He pitched for them for several seasons, and didn’t make much of an impact. Hal was never one of their be...

~Rick Reuschel 1949– (Cubs 1972-1981, 1983-1984) His real name was Rick Reuschel, but to his teammates he was Big Daddy. The nickname obviously had nothing to do with the Adam Sandler movie (because it didn’t come out until many years after he re...

May 18, 1920 Future Pope (and Saint) John Paul II is born in Poland. Grover Cleveland Alexander is on the mound at Cubs Park in Chicago, and he beats the Giants 4-2. He also knocks in the game winning run. Cleveland could have never guessed that this b...

~Bill North 1948– (Cubs 1971-1972) It isn’t that difficult to understand what the Cubs were thinking on November 21, 1972. They were coming off four consecutive seasons where the pitching faltered at the end of the year. Cubs management believed ...

~Dick Tidrow 1947– (Cubs 1979-1982) His teammates called him “Dirt”. His odd nickname reflected his basic, simple approach to the game. His real name was Richard William Tidrow, and he was the setup man for the Cubs (for Bruce Sutter) in the late...

May 15, 1960 In his first start since being acquired from the Phillies, Cubs pitcher Don Cardwell has the most miraculous debut in Cubs history. He is facing the St. Louis Cardinals in the second game of a double header at Wrigley Field. Stan Musial wa...

~Jimmy Archer 1883–1958 (Cubs 1909-1917) He was the regular Cubs catcher from 1911 to 1917, but Jimmy Archer was much more than that. He was an early version of television’s Steve Austin; the bionic Cub. During the winter of 1902, at the age of 1...

How Long Ago was 1908? The vast majority of games are umpired by only one man. This leads to what we would consider to be widespread cheating. Cubs third baseman Harry Steinfeldt is notorious for “accidentally tripping” players approaching ...

~Hank Borowy 1916–2004 (Cubs 1945-1948) He had won 17, 14, and 15 games in his three previous seasons with Yankees, and had already won 10 games in 1945 when the Cubs acquired Hank. Borowy was 29 years old and in the prime of his career. People t...

~Milt Pappas 1939–2016 (Cubs 1970-1973) Milt had some of his best seasons as a big league pitcher with the Cubs at the tail end of his career. In 1971 he became one of only ten pitchers in big league history to strike out the side on nine pitches...