FanPost

Cubs and ethnicity

Much has been written in the past week or so about the racist tweets of Joe Ricketts, the patriarch of the family that owns the Cubs.

While Ricketts has no role in daily operations of the team, he and his wife sold millions of shares of stock in TD Ameritrade, the company he founded, to bankroll the purchase of the Cubs by his children.

The revelation of Ricketts' hateful e-mail, in turn, renewed discussion of Cap Anson, the Cubs' first great star, who led the campaign that resulted in African-American players being barred from Major League Baseball from the early 1890s until after World War II.

While the Brooklyn Dodgers promoted Jackie Robinson from their Montreal farm club to start the 1947 season, the Cubs did not integrate their roster until more than 6 years later, when Ernie Banks made his debut at shortstop on Sept. 17, 1953.

Banks played 10 games that season. Second baseman Gene Baker, another African-American, played 7.

The Cubs were right in the middle of the pack among the 16 existing MLB teams in having their first African-American player. They were either the eighth or ninth team to do so; MLB recognizes Curt Roberts as the trail blazer for the Pirates in April 1954, but a year earlier the Pirates' roster included Carlos Bernier, born in Puerto Rico, who identified as black.

Banks' first game for the Cubs came 4 days after the Philadelphia Athletics broke their color line. The A's and Cubs were the first teams to integrate since Minnie Minoso's debut with the White Sox in 1951.

Here is when the remaining teams integrated:

Cardinals, Reds and Pirates: April 1954

Senators: September 1954

Yankees: April 1955

Phillies: April 1957

Tigers: June 1958

Red Sox: July 1959

At this writing, only 5 non-Caucasians rank among the Cubs' top 24 players in career WAR, according to Baseball-Reference.com.

Banks is fourth; Billy Williams, fifth; Sammy Sosa, sixth; Ferguson Jenkins, seventh; and Carlos Zambrano, 17th.

The top 3 are Anson, Ron Santo and Ryne Sandberg.

Banks, Williams and Jenkins, 3 of the Cubs' 5 top non-Caucasian, are in the Hall of Fame.

Here is how many non-Caucasian players the Cubs had each season from 1954, Banks' and Baker's first full seasons, through 1970; where they ranked in WAR if among the top 12 that season; and notes about lesser-known players.

It is interesting to note how the Cubs had more African-American and Hispanic players in the late 1960s, when the team became competitive again, than they had in previous years.

1954:

Banks 7

Baker 9

1955:

Banks 1

Baker 4

1956:

Banks 1

Monte Irvin 4

Baker 5

1957:

Banks 1

1958:

Banks 1

Tony Taylor (Taylor born in Cuban, is considered the Cubs' first "modern" Hispanic player. He spent 2 full seasons, 1958 and 1959 with the Cubs, then was traded early in 1960. His WAR in 1958 was -0.2 and did not rank among the team leaders.)

1959:

Banks 1

Tony Taylor 4

George Altman 6

1960:

Banks 1

Altman 5

1961:

Banks 2

Altman 3

Williams 11

1962:

Altman 1

Williams 2

Banks 4

Andre Rodgers 5 (Rodgers, born in the Bahamas, was the Cubs' second prominent Hispanic player)

Lou Brock 11

1963:

Williams 3

Brock 5

1964:

Williams 3

Banks 4

Rodgers 7

1965:

Williams 2

Banks 8


1966:

Williams 2

Adolfo Phillips 3 (Phillips was born in Panama)

Jenkins 4

Banks 11

1967:

Phillips 2

Jenkins 3

Williams 4

Banks 8

1968:

Jenkins 1

Williams 4

Banks 5

Phillips 8

Willie Smith 12 (Smith, an outfielder and pinch hitter, played in only 55 games, with 142 AB, 5 HR, 25 RBI, .275 BA)

Lou Johnson (Johnson, an outfielder, played in 62 games with just 20 AB, 1 HR, 14 RBI, .244 BA)

Jose Acia (Acia, a utility infielder, played in 59 games with 84 AB, 1 HR, 8 RBI, .190 BA)

1969:

Jenkins 2

Williams 7

Banks

Smith

Phillips (traded to the Expos in June)

Oscar Gamble (Gamble, an outfielder, played in 24 games, all but 1 Aug. 27 or later: 71 AB, 1 HR, 5 RBI, .225 BA)

Gene Oliver (Oliver, an infielder, played in 44 games, with 44 AB, 1 HR, 4 RBI, .159 BA)

Manny Jiminez (played in 6 games between April 27 and May 27, with 6 AB, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .167 BA)

1970:

Jenkins 1

Williams 3

Banks

Smith

Tommy Davis (Davis, a 2-time former batting champion, spent the last 15 days of the season with the Cubs)

Cleo James (James, an outfielder, played in 100 games, with 176 AB, 3 HR, 14 RBI, .210 BA)

Roberto Rodriguez (Rodriguez, a pitcher, played in 26 games, with a 3-2 record and 5.82 ERA)

Juan Pizzaro (Pizzaro, whose best years were with the White Sox, played in 12 games, with no decisions and a 4.60 ERA)

In researching the history of all Jewish players in MLB history, I found that the Cubs were last of the 16 pre-expansion teams to have their Jewish player.

His name was Cy Block and he joined the Cubs in 1942. That was 7 years after the Red Sox, the next-to-last team to have its first Jewish player, and 19 years after the Dodgers, the next-to-last National League to do so.

Here are the years each of the 16 MLB teams had its first Jewish player. Teams that had their first player before 1900 also show the first year they did so after 1900:

Reds: 1878/1921

Giants: 1899/1922

Indians: 1901

Browns/Orioles: 1905

Phillies: 1905

Yankees: 1911

Senators: 1912

Braves: 1913

Cardinals: 1916

Pirates: 1917

White Sox: 1919

Athletics: 1923

Dodgers: 1923

Tigers: 1930

Red Sox: 1935

Cubs: 1942

In all, the Cubs have had 15 Jewish players, who were on the team a total of 38 seasons.

Those 38 seasons rank the Cubs 11th among the 30 MLB teams.

The top 10 are:

1. Dodgers 85

2. Indians 67

3. Tigers and White Sox 57

5. Orioles (including seasons as Browns) 54

6. Giants 51

7. Phillies and Red Sox 50

9. Astros 4

10. Athletics 44

The Rangers, including their years as the second iteration of the Washington Senators, are immediately behind the Cubs, with 35.

The Cardinals, 21st with 16, and the Braves, tied for 22nd with 14, have had the fewest Jewish players among the pre-expansion teams.

Six teams have had fewer than 10 Jewish players. The bottom 3 are the Mariners, 5; Rockies, 4; and Nationals (including years as the Montreal Expos), 3.

Pitcher Ken Holtzman, another member of the beloved Cubs teams of the late 1960s and early 1970s, was a Cub for 2 stints totaling 9 years.

Moe Drabowsky, another pitcher, spent 6 seasons with the Cubs.

None of the 13 other Jewish players who have played for the Cubs did so for more than 3 years.

Here is each season the Cubs have had a Jewish player, with notes about the lesser-known players:

1942: Cy Block (career: 17 games, 16 for 53, 1 D, 1 T, 0 HR, .302)

1945: Cy Block

1946: Cy Block

1955: Hy Cohen (7 games, 1 start, 17 IP, 15 R, 28 H, 10 W, 4 SO, 7.94 ERA)

1955: Moe Drabowsky

1956: Moe Drabowsky

1957: Moe Drabowsky

1957-58: Ed Mayer

1958: Moe Drabowsky

1959: Moe Drabowsky

1960: Moe Drabowsky

1965-71: Ken Holtzman

1972: Art Shamsky (an outfielder and first baseman, played just 15 of his 665 career games with the Cubs)

1974-76: Steve Stone

1977-78: Dave Roberts (a pitcher, with a 103-125 career record and 3.78 ERA; not the current manager of the Dodgers)

1978-79: Ken Holtzman

1993-94: Jose Bautista (a pitcher, with a 32-42 career record and a 4.62 ERA; not the former Blue Jays slugger)

1999-2000: Cubs: Andrew Lorraine (a pitcher, was 3-7 with the Cubs and 6-11 for his career, with a 6.53 ERA)

2005: Adam Greenberg (famously hit in the head by a pitch in his 1 and only at-bat with the Cubs)

2007: Sam Fuld (an outfielder, played 98 of his 598 career games with the Cubs)

2009-10: Sam Fuld

2009-11: John Grabow (a pitcher, 4-4 with a 5.02 ERA as he finished his career with the Cubs)

2013: Scott Feldman (a pitcher, 7-6 with a 3.46 in 15 games in his only season with the Cubs)

2014 and 1916: Ryan Kalish (an outfielder, played in 64 ganes with the Cubs; 0 HR, 7 RBI, .250 BA)

If you are interested in a complete history of Jewish players in MLB, and/or of Jewish players in the World Series, please visit my website, https://johnwsports.weebly.com


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