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Who will be the next Cubs honored with statues?

There are going to be at least two more.

By Al Yellon
Al Yellon

Friday, the Cubs unveiled a statue of Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins, which was well covered here by Sara Sanchez. At the same time, they also showed off the existing statues of Hall of Famers Ernie Banks, Ron Santo and Billy Williams, who were placed near Fergie in Gallagher Way in what the team is calling “Statue Row.”

One thing you’ll notice in the photo above is that there are two blank plinths, one at each end of the Statue Row. So in the future, (at least) two more statues will be added.

The revelation of the two blank plinths created, as you can imagine, much speculation as to whose statues will go on them. The consensus of discussions over the weekend was that the next one likely goes to Ryne Sandberg.

But who’s after that? There are a few other recent Hall of Famers who spent many good years with the Cubs — Andre Dawson, Lee Smith, Greg Maddux among them. But those players spent more years with other teams than they did with the Cubs, and somehow don’t necessarily seem statue-worthy, though Maddux had his number, shared with Jenkins, retired.

Would Joe Maddon rate a statue when he’s done managing? After all, he did what no other Cubs manager did in 108 years. Is that enough?

Or, would the Cubs honor someone from before 1945? There aren’t any retired numbers for pre-1945 players, many of whom are Hall of Famers and who won many pennants for the Cubs, if not World Series. Gabby Hartnett and Billy Herman come to mind.

So let’s assume one of the blank plinths will have a Sandberg statue atop it someday soon. Who else would you honor?

Here are some other views of the statues in Gallagher Way.

  • Al Yellon
  • Al Yellon
  • Al Yellon
  • Al Yellon

Poll

Assuming there will be a Ryne Sandberg statue on one of the blank plinths, who should be on the other one?

This poll is closed

  • 20%
    Andre Dawson
    (106 votes)
  • 29%
    Gabby Hartnett
    (151 votes)
  • 0%
    Billy Herman
    (2 votes)
  • 11%
    Joe Maddon
    (59 votes)
  • 16%
    Greg Maddux
    (86 votes)
  • 3%
    Lee Smith
    (16 votes)
  • 18%
    Someone else (leave in comments)
    (94 votes)
514 votes total Vote Now

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