Forget Me Soon

your list of ten is pathetic. I remember all of them as Cubs. They all played a whole season with the team or more. Dick Ruthven played four seasons.

Actually, Doug Jones was a good one.

How about Davey Johnson? Woody Fryman? Ellie Hendricks? Bobby Bonds? Rawly Eastwick? More recently, Ben Grieve? Jose Molina? If you really want to go back, Jim Hegan? Jimmie Foxx? (OK, I bet more of you knew that one.) Or even better, the managerial trio of Terry Francona, Jim Tracy and Tony LaRussa? (OK, Tracy and LaRussa didn't have long careers.)

As far as your first question goes, answering it is just a way of insulting a player (I realize that wasn't your intent) so I'll just let it slide by.

Heck, if you go back far enough, I'd bet there are some people here who don't know that Grover Cleveland Alexander pitched for the Cubs, and he's #24 on Al's all time greatest Cubs.

Geez where to start...

Okay, to the first question, which is supposedly a veiled insult...

Cliff Floyd was tremendous once, except he had to play in Montreal and Florida during (what should have been, darn balky knees) his best years and he's underappreciated for having spent that time in MLB's truly obscure markets. Last summer, he was here, flailing around in right field, his speed and power gone, although he was still a decent player because of that given talent. He's a Chicago guy and I rooted hard for him, especially because he signed with the Cubs partially due to very personal reasons. But in ten years, I'll remember him in his Marlins jersey before I recall him as a Cub.

Same with Burnitz. I don't immediately think of him as an '05 Cub and, eventually, I'll think of him as a Brewer and then a Met, hustling, trying, and dying in right field. He had a few wretched slumps with the Mets but, very oddly, the Met fans never turned on him. Because he hustled. As a Cub, I think of him chasing an obvious double, getting over into that obscured right-field corner and firing the ball back in as quickly as he could. He was a Major Free Agent Aquisition a couple years ago but, when I think of Jeromy Burnitz in my mind's eye, he's wearing a different uniform.

Basically, you missed the point of the list. Those guys were or were supposed to be play a significant role on Cubs teams. Hoyt Wilhelm pitched a few games for the Cubs at the end of a season in the early 70s. He's a great player, but he didn't do much for the Cubs. Tony LaRussa got into a game as a pinch-runner or something silly like that. Ruthven was was supposed to be the "ace" of the '84 Cubs but, JoshInLA, when you think about that staff, it's Sutcliffe, Trout, Eckersley, Sanderson...

...Ruthven was was a Cub for four years but we think about the other guys before him. Perhaps the ten names that I threw out weren't balanced enough, between younger and older players, to ask questions about this year's team...but there's a guy hiding on the 25 man roster that they'll dump, trade, or somehow ditch and in ten years...he'll still be on somebody else's roster.

I've been a Cubs (and baseball) fan since 1971 and trivia like this is one of my fav things about the sport.
So, without giving it a huge amount of thought, right off the top of my head I'd have to include;
-Bill Campbell; a top relief pitcher for the Twins a few years earlier-by the time he arrived in Chicago as part of the Dallas Green makeover of the early eighties, he was basically a journeyman middle reliever. I honestly can't remember a single on-the-field moment with him.
-Dave Giusti-a first rate closer on those very good Pirates' teams of the early seventies, he arrived in Chicago after the all-star break in 1977 (while the Cubs were still in contention!) as an emergency stopgap until Bruce Sutter came off the dl. Unfortunately, he was falling fast and his brief tenure as the Cubs' closer could kindly be called "brutal".
-Nomar Garciaparra-since he's only been gone for two seasons, it might be too early to make this call but I think he definitely qualifies. Was there ever a more hyped acquisition that was more of a letdown? Nomar spent a bi chunk of his Cubs' career on the dl and, when he was playing, showed the he was just a shadow of his former self.
-Todd Zeile; another exciting theoretically exciting acquisition who's brief tenure on the north side could kindly be called disappointing.
-Kal Daniel-he looked to be the guy to supply badly needed power when he came during the '92 season. All he really supplied though was a good addition to this thread.

Anyway, those are the first ones that popped into my head-I'm sure i'll think of a lot more though.

... Ted Lilly won as many games last year (15) as Greg Hibbard did.

I like a lot of the selections above, especially Dave Giusti, who was a Cub nemesis when he was a Pirate, but pretty much done when he wore the blue pinstripes.

Traded to the Cubs by the Braves in late Sept 1970...Traded back to the Braves after the season. Everyone thinks of him as a White Sox or an Oriole...never a Cub

Kasey

Jeff Blauser

it's an insult to say "who is someone you won't remember was a Cub?" I mean Neifi Perez' name still lives in infamy on this board. It's not the "bad" guys you forget. It's the guys who slide into the organization and slide back out without being great or greatly bad. At least that's how I took it.

Relievers or short-careered startes are the easiest class here - who will remember John Koronka was a Cub? Then there are utility guys - from the same trade - Freddy Bynum. It's much more challenging to be a regular whose not really bad but also forgettable.

I won't forget Cliff Floyd, because of his year with his dad.

But looking back to Cubs with positive VORP who I forgot were Cubs over this last decade - I forgot Matt Stairs was a Cub. I forgot Phil Nevin was a Cub. I think I will forget Randall Simon. I guess there's a 1B theme in what I forget.

He played like he didn't care about what happened to him during the off season, he knew he was not going to be here long....but could you at least not play like that!?!

Jason Kendall will be remembered as a cub

So my memory doesn't go back that far. These guys all didn't have long careers like the question asked, but here are some of the more obscure Cubs I could think of.

Michael Tucker
Phil Norton
Rondell White
Matt Lawton
Brendan Harris
Jody Gerut

Then there are these who were/are pretty decent that I don't immediately think of as a Cub:

Gary Matthews Jr.
Ross Gload
Matt Stairs

Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes, had that great opening day and then I think he entered the witness protection program

Does he actually have to have played a game?

Of the current 25-man (flipping Marshall or Piggy doesn't matter) none of them seem to be totally forgetable. Guys who've been a bit disliked (Cedeno) would even be remembered, if he's dealt tomorrow.

I can't think of too many names of past team member because they are forgetable as Cubs but look at the list above already, it's pretty impressive.

As for the team, 1997. After the 14 loss start and then my Father's death in early May, that season and in fact that entire year is nothing but a blur for me.

but is best known as a St. Louis Cardinal. To this day, the Brock for Broglio trade is considered by Cubs' fans to be the worst in franchise history.

Signed by the Chicago Cubs as an amateur free agent. August 22, 1960.

Traded on June 15, 1964 by the Chicago Cubs with Jack Spring and Paul Toth to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ernie Broglio, Bobby Shantz, and Doug Clemens.

Brock, now a HOFer, is a prime example of management giving up on a player too quickly.

Brock was blessed with great speed and baserunning instincts, but the young right fielder failed to impress the Cubs management. In 1964 after losing patience with his development, the Cubs gave up on Brock and made him part of a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals.

but i have to get some work done. I was thinking about lance Johnson too-I'll always think of him as a White Sox.
Has anybody mentioned Bobby Bonds? He had a very brief cup of coffee with the Cubs in the early 80's but I bet very few people noticed.

Joe Carter, Dontrelle Willis?
Anybody name them?

... is a good one. Here's his Cub story: somehow, he made the 1973 Opening Day roster. He was sent in to pinch-run for Ron Santo in the bottom of the 9th in a game the Cubs were trailing 2-1, after Santo reached on an error and Joe Pepitone had singled.

Two walks forced in the tying run. With LaRussa on third representing the winning run, Don Kessinger popped up and Jim Hickman was called out on strikes.

Rick Monday then walked, forcing in LaRussa with the winning run.

It was the only game he played as a Cub and the last major league game he appeared in. Soon after, he was sent to Iowa, where he played the rest of the 1973 season.

Trivia: his Cub uniform number is now retired. (He wore #42.)

Boxscore

He was in the minors when they traded him.

Brought back memories of reading about him as a Cub in the '73 edition of "Who's Who in Baseball" but having no memory of him actually being with the team.

and likewise, Matt Karchner.

How bout Enrique Wilson? Jason Dubois? N ot sure anyone will rmember he was a major league player to be honest.

all come to mind when thinking of forgettable Cubs. I guess that means they're not forgettable..?

It brings back fond memories.

A friend and I throw trivia questions at each other about baseball from the 60s and 70s. Since we do it via email, we are on the honor system NOT to use Internet resources.

He once asked me who was the starting shortstop after Ernie Banks? I knew it wasn't Kessinger, who didn't arrive until mid 60s. I was stumped. I guess Andre Rodgers was "forgettable" to me.

After Benito got me started thinking about this, one of the first guys that I thought of was Chuck Klein but I ruled him out because he was a HOFer. He had a bunch of amazing seasons with the Phillies when they were atrocious in the 20s and early 30s. There's a year in there where the team went something like 45-105 but Klein won the Triple Crown. The Cubs traded for him to be a center piece of the mid 30s teams. He was okay for a year or two, not great not awful.

Andre Rodgers is a perfect choice.

Bobby Thomson was another one I thought of this morning.

Billy Mueller. I love the heck outta the guy, but his most memorbale days were with the Red Sox IMO.

Also there's Anthony Young, the guy famous for the most consecutive losses by a pitcher who did so as a Met. Of course the Cubs like what they saw in his 1 and 16 record and acquired him.

Traded by the Baltimore Orioles to the Chicago Cubs for Tommy Davis on August 18, 1972.
Traded back to the Orioles for Frank Estrada on October 27, 1972.

From Wikipedia...

Hendricks is best remembered for a bizarre defensive play in Game 1 of the 1970 World Series. In a tied game with one out in the sixth inning, the Reds had runners on the corners. Cincinnati pinch hitter Ty Cline hit a high chopper in front of the plate, which Hendricks grabbed with his bare hand. Bernie Carbo, who was on third base, was running home on the play. Hendricks lunged toward Carbo, attempting to tag him out as umpire Ken Burkhart moved toward the field to call the ball fair. Burkhart collided with Hendricks, spinning to the ground as Hendricks tagged Carbo with an empty glove (the ball was still in his other hand). The distracted umpire called Carbo out on the basis of the glove tag. Reds manager Sparky Anderson argued the play to no avail. Ironically, replays showed Carbo had missed the plate entirely while trying to avoid Hendricks' tag.

After getting out of the inning, Hendricks broke the tie with a home run in the top of the seventh, clinching the Orioles' first win of the Series, 4-3.

n/t

Candy Maldonado 1993

Also rans...
Lloyd McClendon in 89 & 90
Jose Vizcaino 91-93

BTW: This is really depressing to see how disposable these guys were in the late '80s and early '90s when I became infected with our incurable disease.

i find myself thinking about this guy once in awhile. one of our many third basemen we had over the years.

how about Hector Cruz, Len Randle, Gary Scott, Kevin Orie, Luis Salazar...okay, you warned me...I'm starting to feel queasy....