Thank you sir, may I have another?
Between the years of 1961--1974, the Cubs had three bonafide superstar position players; Ernie Banks, Billy Williams and Ron Santo.
We remember them all as great hitters, but they were also pretty good fielders. Why then did the Cubs attempt to play each of them out of position? Because they were the Cubs.
In 1961, after Ernie Banks had leg problems and could no longer handle the rigors of playing shortstop, instead of playing him at first base (manned by no-power, no-speed, 16 errors Ed Bouchee), the Cubs tried him out in left field. Not surprisingly, the life-long infielder had a hard time making the transition to the outfield. He played in left for twenty three games before the experiment was ended. Ernie moved to first base, where he remained for the final ten seasons of his career. The kid they put in left field in place of Banks, Billy Williams, went on to win Rookie of the Year.
Billy Williams manned left field for the Cubs for the next twelve years (other than a few years in the mid-60s when they switched him over to right). Near the end of the 1973 season, however, manager Whitey Lockman had the brilliant idea of moving the life-long outfielder to first base. After setting a NL record for most consecutive games played (1117), and establishing a reputation as an iron man outfielder, it only took a few games at first base for Billy to get spiked. He missed twice as many games in 1974 as he missed the previous twelve seasons combined.
In 1971 the Cubs tried to move another firmly entrenched player out of position. Ron Santo was a five-time Gold Glove third baseman when he was sent out to left field by manager Leo Durocher. Their best infielder became their worst outfielder. After only six games, he was moved back where he belonged.
You would have thought that Durocher would have realized the folly in this approach after the previous season's attempt to make Glenn Beckert into a center fielder. Beckert played exactly one game in center and made four errors. He was never put out there again.
