Who's The Worst Cub Of All Time?
We cannot say this with any definitive proof, but we now have a tool by which we can make a pretty good guess, courtesy of David Pinto's wonderful Baseball Musings' Day By Day Database.
What this does is sort each team's players by team games won and lost while that player was in the game. The dataset used comes from Retrosheet, which means it goes back to the beginning of the 1957 season (that's as far back as Retrosheet has every single game so far), fifty years' worth.
I ran the data. Save yourself time, it takes a long time to load (and would take forever if you're on a dialup connection). All the results are here if you want to look, but here are some of the highlights:
- The "best" player over the last 50 seasons was Raul Gonzalez, who played in three games in 2000. The Cubs won all of them, no mean feat for that 97-loss club. I confess I have little memory of Raul.
- Only five other players over the last 50 seasons never played in a losing game in a Cub uniform, and there are a couple of interesting names here: Jim Woods (2 games), Jason Smith (2 games), Dave Dowling (one game, a two-run CG win as a pitcher), Tony LaRussa (yes, THAT LaRussa, one game, Opening Day 1973 -- he scored the winning run as a pinch runner, and it was the last ML game he ever played), and Adam Greenberg (you probably remember that one!).
- The player with the best winning percentage in Cub appearances after the six "undefeateds" is Randy Myers; the Cubs were 136-33 (.805) in his 169 games in a Cub uniform. Not surprisingly, many closers -- Lee Smith, Joe Borowski, Bruce Sutter, even Ryan Dempster (112-48, .700) appear near the top of the list.
- Great Cubs of the recent past: Don Kessinger, .488, Glenn Beckert, .488, Andre Dawson, .488, Ryne Sandberg, .483, Sammy Sosa, .480, Mark Grace, .479, Ron Santo, .478, Billy Williams, .471, Ernie Banks, .452. The only Cub of note who played in a significant number of games and finished over .500 (and that, just barely) was Randy Hundley (472-471, .501).
- 63 unfortunate ballplayers wore a Cub uniform over the last fifty seasons without ever appearing in a Cub victory. It'd be too time-consuming (and might freak you out too much) to name them all, but here are the bottom two: Wayne Schurr, a right-handed relief pitcher who threw in 26 games, all losses, in 1964; and Jack Warner, another righty reliever who pitched in parts of four seasons (1962, 1963, 1964 and 1965), appearing in 32 games without ever participating in a victory.
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45 comments
Comments
Ryan Dempster
by Neifi Puppy on Jan 30, 2007 9:23 AM CST reply actions 0 recs
the worst cub of all time.....?
by southerncubbie on Jan 30, 2007 9:34 AM CST reply actions 0 recs
There is no doubt in my mind
Hundley was awful....simply terrible. I never knew a baseball player could be as awful as he was.
by Chadnudj on Jan 30, 2007 10:37 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs
There have been...
But Hundley was a jerk about it, too. That's what made him intolerable.
by Al on Jan 30, 2007 10:41 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs
Hundley
by jjo31420 on Jan 30, 2007 2:41 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
worst cub
This is my first-ever blog.
by rynofan23 on Jan 30, 2007 3:36 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
I'd heard..
by wicubfan on Jan 31, 2007 7:19 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
I have had that confirmed....
A shame, because he did have baseball talent, which he squandered.
Not before getting $24 million for it, though.
by Al on Jan 31, 2007 9:05 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
Thank God
by gravedigger on Jan 30, 2007 12:00 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
Jim Woods
by KedzieKid on Jan 30, 2007 9:37 AM CST reply actions 0 recs
Now that you mention it...
If I can find an online link to that article, I'll post it.
by Al on Jan 30, 2007 9:48 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs
Worst cub
by danimal15 on Jan 30, 2007 10:04 AM CST reply actions 0 recs
Raul Gonzalez
by HolyMackeral on Jan 30, 2007 10:19 AM CST reply actions 0 recs
Six Degrees to Raul Gonzalez
Once again, that it is..
* My wife's ---> best friend from college ----> husband's ----> sister's----> husband. By all accounts, he is a very good husband and a nice guy.
Last I heard, he was in Puerto Rico looking for a gig.
by Ross on Jan 30, 2007 12:36 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
Relievers
DmL
by dmlichte on Jan 30, 2007 11:50 AM CST reply actions 0 recs
I'm going to nominate
by cubbie08 on Jan 30, 2007 9:05 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
My Vote
by wccubfan on Jan 30, 2007 11:50 AM CST reply actions 0 recs
Not all closers near the top
by rlpete on Jan 30, 2007 12:39 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
Darold Knowles.
We used to call him "the Torch" for the way he lit up opponents' rallies when he'd come in from the bullpen as a Cub. How he managed 15 saves in a year (1975) when he had a 5.81 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP is beyond me.
by Al on Jan 30, 2007 12:43 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
The Torch
A Hall of Famer? No way. A Hall of the Very Good. No, not really, but certainly not a candidate for the worst player in franchise history. And on one of the teams that he played on (the Second Washington Senator Team), looking only on their time in DC, he might well be one of the top 10 players in their franchise history, perhaps top 5. (Frank Howard's an easy number one)
by frustratedfan on Jan 30, 2007 1:43 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
That was the point, though...
by Al on Jan 30, 2007 1:53 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
LaRoche was worse than Knowles and Rojas
105, 130, 114, 68, 80, 173, 156, 112, 129
Can you guess which 2 years he was a Cub? I can't think of anyone else that stunk this bad just as a Cub.
For a closer to have an ERA+ of 68 is really an achievement since that doesn't even include the numerous inherited runners he also allowed to score. For as much as everyone hated Dempster last season, his ERA+ was 96. The awful Mel Rojas was 97 in his only season.
LaRoche's ratio was 1.54 (1973) and 1.64 (1974). Rojas' was 1.424 in 1997. Granted Darold Knowles 1975 season with an ERA+ of 66 and a 1.619 ratio was just as bad as LaRoche. I actually didn't realize how bad it was but he redeemed himself somewhat in 1976. LaRoche was just plain awful in his only 2 seasons.
by rlpete on Jan 30, 2007 4:48 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
one thing I found interesting...
by DTJchris on Jan 30, 2007 1:10 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
My personal favs are
by talkingcubs on Jan 30, 2007 1:14 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
A similiar concept
by dat cubfan daver on Jan 30, 2007 1:27 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
This is kind of random...
by sparkles721 on Jan 30, 2007 3:35 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
Also...
by sparkles721 on Jan 30, 2007 3:36 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
another candidate
Same for Jose Guzman - who never did anything for the Cubs after the near no-hitter he threw in his first start. Another pitcher for whom the hype didn't get matched with performance.
by danimal15 on Jan 30, 2007 3:06 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
Kevin Orie, Ty Griffin
by nextyearcub on Jan 30, 2007 5:36 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
I have to mention
Only to open it and discover I was the proud owner of a vintage K.J. Choi card.
Classic.
by Lost In Cubs Nation on Jan 30, 2007 6:14 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
Over 164 games...
by Troop EY on Jan 30, 2007 7:00 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
I have to mention
by deadcatbounce on Jan 30, 2007 7:20 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
Actually, that would make a good thread.
manager(s)? My vote, and this was a few years before my time, goes to Preston Gomez, who managed most of a last-place, 98-loss season in 1980 (he was canned at the end of July of his first and only season as Cubs manager). Actually, you could make a case for Gomez as the worst manager in Major League history. In seven seasons of managing San Diego, Houston, and the Cubs, Gomez had only one team that did not finish in last place. Now that is consistency!
The worst manager in my time as a Cubs fan (since 1984)? I would have to say Gene "Stick" Michael (1986-87).
by ctcoff99 on Jan 31, 2007 10:08 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs
As I said in your manager thread...
by Al on Jan 31, 2007 10:33 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs
Wasn't he in the Cubs Front Office for a while?
by ctcoff99 on Jan 31, 2007 6:08 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
Great piece...
by AZ Snakepit on Jan 30, 2007 8:19 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
Thanks for that!
by Al on Jan 30, 2007 8:40 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
The 10-10 Wrigley Field opener in '65
by TR on Jan 30, 2007 11:55 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
What do you mean by...
There are far fewer tie games in the major leagues today, due to suspended game rules, etc. But they still exist, and yes, they count. It's the reason Ron Santo and Billy Williams co-hold the club record for games played, 164 in 1965. There was another tie, the second game of a doubleheader on May 31 against the Mets. Ernie Banks had 163 games played that year.
Only one man -- Maury Wills in 1962 -- has played more than 164 games in a season, and it took the three-game playoff (considered regular season games) against the Giants to do it.
Tie games are absolutely considered "games". They simply don't have a winner or loser.
by Al on Jan 31, 2007 4:13 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs
I should have said they do not
by TR on Jan 31, 2007 8:28 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs
I have always felt...
by Al on Jan 31, 2007 9:31 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

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