A previous post reported that 853 players have hit at least 1 home run as a Cub since 1876, first season of the National League
Just under half, 422, hit their first big league homer as a Cub: 352 position players and 70 pitchers.
Would you guess that more or fewer hit their LAST big league homer as a Cub, no matter the team for which they hit their first?
To find out, I examined the season-by-season batting records at baseball-reference.com for all 853 players.
And the answer is . . . fewer.
I found 395 whose final homer came with the Cubs.
That number includes 28 who are active, 6 of them on the team's current roster.
318 were position players; 77, pitchers.
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NO CONTEST
Ernie Banks' last home run was his 512th.
The next-highest final homer by a Cub was No. 360, by Gary Gaetti.
Here are the top 10 by career home run number, with the number hit as a Cub in parentheses after the player's name:
512: Ernie Banks (512)
360: Gary Gaetti (17)
332: Bobby Bonds (6)
282: Ryne Sandberg (282)
234: Carlos Gonzalez (1)
228: Howard Johnson (7)
219; Joe Pepitone (39)
203: Richie Hebner (5)
167: Ben Zobrist (40)
159: Jason Heyward (62)
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Collectively, they hit 2,696 home runs but only 971 as a Cub -- and 794 of them, 82 percent, were by Banks and Sandberg.
If Heyward homers for another team, the 10th spot on the list will belong to Ed Bailey, with 155, the last 5 as a Cub.
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OTHERS IN TRIPLE DIGITS
Here are all others with at least 100 career homers, the last as a Cub:
Steve Buchele (137), Monte Irvin (137), Davey Johnson (136), Ripper Collins (135), Troy O'Leary (127), Jason Kipnis (126), Yan Gomes (125), Jeff Blauser (122), Ken Henderson (122), Zeke Bonura (119), Ben Grieve (118)
Willson Contreras (117), Don Hurst (115), Jonathan Lucroy (108), David Ross (106), Franmil Reyes (106), Kal Daniels (104), Ian Happ (104), Randy Jackson (103), Freddie Lindstrom (103), Jay Johnstone (102) and George Altman (101).
That makes a total of 33 players who homered at least 100 times, the last as a Cub.
They combined for 5,424 homers, of which 1,526 -- 28 percent -- came with the Cubs.
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MOST HOMERS AS CUB, INCLUDING LAST
Here are the top 10 in home runs hit as a Cub, including their last homer:
512: Ernie Banks
282: Ryne Sandberg
117: Willson Contreras
104: Ian Happ
97: Cap Anson
88: Randy Jackson
83: George Altman
78: Fred Pfeffer
62: Jason Heyward
61: Charlie Grimm
That adds up to 1,482 homers, 794 -- 54 percent -- by Banks and Sandberg.
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Contreras will be off the list, of course, if he homers for the Cardinals, his new team.
The 10th spot then will belong to Addison Russell, with 60.
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OTHERS OF NOTE
Only 2 others hit at least 50: Stan Hack (57) and Patrick Wisdom (53).
Riggs Stephenson (49) and Bill Serena (48) are next, followed by Ben Zobrist (40) and 3 players with 39: Tom Burns, Bill Lange and Joe Pepitone.
Hack Miller (38) rounds out the top 20, just ahead of David Bote (36).
4 more had at least 30 homers, the last as a Cub: Clyde McCullough (33), Luis Salazar (32), Manny Trillo (32) and Steve Buechele (31).
A total of 83 hit at least 10, including their last.
That leaves 312 with fewer than 10.
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1 AND DONE
136 players hit just 1 homer as a Cub, then never homered again.
The most recent were Andrew Romine and Eric Sogard, both in 2021.
76 of the 136 hit only 1 homer in their career.
33 of the 76 were pitchers. The most recent was Cole Hamels, in 2018
The most recent position player was Taylor Davis, in 2019.
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ALL AS CUB
Willson Contreras ranks 22nd in career homers as a Cub, with 117.
Ian ranks 25th, with 104.
But they are third and fourth, respectively, among players who hit ALL their homers as a Cub.
Here is the top 10:
511: Ernie Banks
282: Ryne Sandberg
117: Willson Contreras
104: Ian Happ
97: Cap Anson
60: Addison Russell
57: Stan Hack
53: Patrick Wisdom
48: Bill Serena
39: Tom Burns and Bill Lange
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Anson, Burns and Lange played their entire careers before 1901.
The next 3 in the Modern Era are Hack Miller (38), David Bote (36) and Ray Grimes.
Exactly 200 players have hit all of their homers as a Cub, less than one quarter of the 853 who have homered for the team.
Those 200 combined to hit 2,277 homers, which is 15 percent of all 14,818 home runs hit by all Cubs since 1876.
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HOMERS FOR OTHER TEAMS
The 853 different players hit 45,723 homers in their careers: 32 percent as Cubs and 68 percent (30,905) for other teams.
Rafael Palmeiro hit 544 homers for other teams, after hitting 25 for the Cubs.
Jimmie Foxx hit 531 for other teams, 3 as a Cub.
Fred McGriff hit 451, 42 as a Cub.
Jim Edmonds hit 374, 19 as a Cub, and Dave Kingman hit 348, 94 as a Cub.
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A total of 16 players homered for the Cubs and hit at least 250 homers for other teams.
Of those 16, Andre Dawson hit by far the most homers as a Cub, 174. He hit 264 for other teams.
Kingman's 94 are the next most by a Cub, followed by Moises Alou (76 and 256), Ralph Kiner (50 and 319) and Chuck Klein (46 and 254).
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ALL BUT LAST AS CUB
55 players hit all but 1 of their career homers as a Cub.
34 hit all but their last homer for the Cubs.
Frank Schulte leads that group, with 91 as a Cub.
Woody English hit 32; Matt Murton 28; and Carlos Zambrano, 23.
No one else hit more than 16.
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Randy Hundley hit 80 of his 82 as a Cub, but not his last.
Phil Cavarretta hit 92 of 95.
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HIGHEST PERCENTAGE, NOT LAST
Schulte hit the highest percentage of homers as a Cub among those whose last homer was for another team.
The top 10:
98.9: Frank Schulte (91 of 92)
98.5: Ron Santo (337 of 342)
97.9: Gabby Hartnett (231 of 236)
97.6: Randy Hundley (80 of 82)
96.9: Woody English (31 of 32)
96.8: Phil Cavarretta (92 of 95)
96.6: Matt Murton (28 of 29)
96.4: Vic Saier (53 of 55)
96.1: Jody Davis (122 of 127)
95.8: Carlos Zambrano (23 of 24)
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Dee Fondy, at 95.3 (66 of 69), is the only other player with at least 95 percent.
Gene Baker hit 94.9 (37 of 39).
Percentages for other sluggers of note:
93.0: Kris Bryant (160 of 172)
92.0: Billy Williams (392 of 426)
89.5: Sammy Sosa (545 of 609)
87.2: Bill Nicholson (205 of 235)
85.5: Anthony Rizzo (242 of 283)
77.9: Hack Wilson (190 of 244)
61.9: Aramis Ramirez (239 of 386)
