By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
Jun 11th, 2024
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~Charlie Hollocher 1896–1940 (Cubs 1918-1924) Charlie’s life was a series of very high highs and very low lows. He was one of the greatest hitters on the Cubs in his seven seasons in the big leagues. He led the 1918 team to the pennant, and led the league in hits. In 1922, he only struck [&hell...
By Rick Kaempfer
In This Week in 1945
Jun 7th, 2024
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This week (June 7-13) during the last year the Cubs went to the World Series (before 2016)… World War II *The Franck Committee recommends against a surprise nuclear bombing of Japan. The committee was led by Manhattan Project scientist, Nobel Prize winning physicist James Franck (photo). His co...
By Rick Kaempfer
In This Week in 1945
May 24th, 2024
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5492 Views
This week (May 24–May 30) during the last year the Cubs went to the World Series (before 2016)… World War II *Americans pause reverently to pay homage on Memorial Day… *William Joyce (“Lord Haw-Haw”) is captured. He is later charged with high treason in London for his En...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
May 11th, 2024
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4955 Views
~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. In 1972 he came just one out […]...
By Rick Kaempfer
In Today's Cub Birthday
May 10th, 2024
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4222 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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4108 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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3796 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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3966 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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3789 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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3240 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...
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