By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Aug 17th, 2024
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3450 Views
~John Buzhardt 1936–2008 (Cubs 1958-1959) Buzhardt burst onto the scene in September of 1958 and immediately made his presence known. In his first two big league starts he beat Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. The following year he tossed a one-hitter for the Cubs before developing elbow problems...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Aug 16th, 2024
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3528 Views
~Justin Grimm 1988– (Cubs 2013-2017) Grimm was acquired in the trade that sent Matt Garza to the Texas Rangers. Grimm was a fairly solid (if inconsistent) reliever for the Cubs during his five seasons in Chicago after having a rougher go of it as a starter for Texas. He also helped out the Cubs...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Aug 15th, 2024
1 Comment
4362 Views
~Barney Schultz 1926–2015 (Cubs 1961-1963) Barney had the misfortune of pitching for the Cubs during the College of Coaches era. He was not a young pup either. The journeyman who had never spent a full season in the majors was 34 years old in 1961. His teammates called him “Mr. Old Folks.” The ...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Aug 14th, 2024
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3122 Views
~Juan Pierre 1977– (Cubs 2006) He was named after Hall of Famer Juan Marichal, but this Juan also had a great career. Chicago fans knew him well before he played for them thanks to his impressive series against the Cubs in the 2003 NLCS. He hit .300, got ten hits, and scored five runs as [&hell...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Aug 13th, 2024
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3482 Views
~Andre Thornton 1949– (Cubs 1973-1976) Andre was acquired from the Braves in the trade that sent Joe Pepitone out of Chicago. That turned out to be a good deal for the Cubs, because Andre turned into one of the top young sluggers in the National League. His nickname was “Thunder” and he hit 18 ...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Aug 12th, 2024
1 Comment
5031 Views
~Don Hurst 1905–1952 (Cubs 1934) Hurst was a feared slugger in his day, leading the league in RBI, and slugging more than 100 homers. Unfortunately, his day was before he came to Chicago. Those gaudy stats were accumulated in Philadelphia, in a ballpark that was a bandbox for left-handed hitter...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Aug 11th, 2024
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3231 Views
~Bob Scheffing 1913–1985 (Cubs player 1941-1950, Cubs manager 1957-1959) Scheffing was a Cubs catcher in 1941 and 1942, but was drafted into the military before the 1943 season. Unfortunately for him, he had to listen to his teammates make the 1945 World Series from afar, because he didn’t get ...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Aug 10th, 2024
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3482 Views
~Larry Corcoran 1859–1891 (White Stockings 1880-1885) In 1880 and 1881, Larry Corcoran was clearly the best pitcher in all of baseball. He was ambidextrous — he once pitched both left-handed and right-handed in a game. But the diminutive Corcoran (only 5’3″, 127 pounds) dominated the rest of th...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Aug 9th, 2024
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3863 Views
~Steve Swisher 1951– (Cubs 1974-1977) Swisher was acquired by the Cubs from the White Sox in the trade that sent Ron Santo over to the south side of the city. For most of his time with the Cubs, Swisher shared the catcher job with George Mitterwald. But in 1976, he had his best season in [&hell...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Aug 8th, 2024
0 Comments
3722 Views
~Anthony Rizzo 1989– (Cubs 2012-present) Rizzo was one of the first young studs acquired by new Cubs president Theo Epstein after taking over the Cubs, and they built their whole club around him. The very highly regarded prospect had been drafted by Epstein and company in Boston, and was acquir...
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