By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
May 10th, 2024
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4162 Views
~Jim Hickman 1937–2016 (Cubs 1969-1973) After eight forgettable seasons with three different teams, Jim Hickman was magically transformed from a perennial struggler to a powerful slugger. In 1970 at the age of 33, “Gentleman Jim” somehow batted .315, with 32 home runs, 115 runs batted in, and 1...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
May 5th, 2024
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4055 Views
~Lennie Merullo 1917–2015 (Cubs 1941-1947) Lennie was the starting shortstop for the Cubs in the 1940s, including the pennant winning season of 1945. He wasn’t known as a great fielder or hitter. In fact, Merullo averaged an error every three and half games or so (172 errors in 602 games, inclu...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Dec 16th, 2023
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3768 Views
~Adolfo Phillips 1941 (Cubs 1966-1969) His nickname was the Panamanian Flash. The Cubs thought they were acquiring their next superstar when they got Panamanian outfielder Adolpho Phillips from the Phillies in 1966. That turned out to be true…but it was the pitcher that was thrown in on the dea...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Nov 3rd, 2023
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3913 Views
~Ken Holtzman 1945– (Cubs 1966-1971) He would become one of the rarest animals on the North American continent…a quality homegrown Chicago Cubs starting pitcher. But Holtzman was the real deal. He went 9-0 for the Cubs while serving in the National Guard in 1967, and when his military service w...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Nov 2nd, 2023
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3749 Views
~Dutch Zwilling 1888–1978 (Cubs 1916) Until 2015, if you went to the Baseball Encyclopedia and looked at the last name listed there, you would have found Dutch Zwilling. (Now it is non-Cub Tony Zych). Dutch was born in St. Louis, and only lasted four big league seasons, but the center fielder m...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Oct 30th, 2023
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3196 Views
~Roe Skidmore 1945– (Cubs 1970) He played in exactly one game for the Cubs in 1970, and his lifetime batting average is 1.000. Skidmore hit a Jerry Reuss pitch over third baseman Joe Torre’s head for a clean single against the Cardinals. The New York Times wrote a piece in 1999 about him and ot...
By Rick Kaempfer
In This Week In Wrigley History
Oct 22nd, 2023
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October 22: In 1933, Red Grange and Bronko Nagurski lead the Bears to a 13-7 victory over the Packers. In 1961, the Bears beat the vaunted 49ers shotgun offense 31-0. In 2016, Kyle Hendricks pitches 8 1⁄3 innings in the clinching game of the NLCS to send the Cubs to their first World Series since [&...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Oct 12th, 2023
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3606 Views
~Lou Novikoff 1915–1970 (Cubs 1941-1944) Lou was known as “The Mad Russian”. He was born to Russian immigrant parents in Arizona, so the second half of his nickname is obvious. The “mad” part came from his eccentric proclivities. He had a colorful past before joining the Cubs, working as a harm...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Sep 14th, 2023
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3288 Views
~Dave Hillman 1927– (Cubs 1955-1959) Hillman appeared in over a hundred games for the Cubs in the 1950s. The right-hander worked both as a starter and reliever, and had a respectable ERA, but he had the propensity to give up the long ball. After the 1959 season Hillman was traded to the Red Sox...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Sep 3rd, 2023
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3552 Views
~Luis Gonzalez 1967– (Cubs 1995-1996) Luis Gonzalez obviously got his nickname from his last name, because he already had it when he was on the Cubs, and he obviously didn’t hit like a Gonzo in Chicago (22 home runs in his 1 ½ years with the team). It’s not as if Gonzo’s Cubs career was [&helli...
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