Results tagged ‘ Lou Brock ’
Eight is Enough………Or History Looms
The Cubs lost their eighth straight game last night to Houston. A loss tonight to the Astros would match their longest losing streak since they dropped 9 in a row back in 2002. That season the Cubs went 67-95, surprisingly that didn’t put them last in the NL Central; Milwaukee actually lost 106 games that season.
Unfortunately, the Cubs are last in the Central this year and their current winning percentage (.349) puts them on pace to go 57-105 for the season.
Let’s put that number in perspective. In the 137 year history of the franchise, Chicago has only had two 100+ lose seasons (1962 & 1966). Yes the Cubs are the “Lovable Losers”, but they don’t lose this much! In fact, as hard as it might be for some people to believe, the Cubs have an overall franchise winning record (10,326 – 9807). Even when you just use their record as the “Chicago Cubs” since 1903, they are still 167 games over .500.
I was at the fifth game of their current losing streak. It was the Saturday night game of the White Sox series. It always fun to go to the game with friends, it’s not quite as fun when those friends are Sox fans and the Sox are in the middle of a 3 game sweep over the Cubs.
Leaving team allegiance aside though, we were joined by my sister and brother-in-law and we all had a good time at the game.
One other thing that I wanted to mention. I’m a baseball card collector; one of the friends that went to the game is also a collector, far more prolific than me. And this season the Cubs have done something that I think is cool with the printed season tickets. They have reprinted a Topps® baseball card on each ticket. Sometimes it just a random card (although it probably isn’t, I just haven’t figured out the connection yet), but most times it is a card of a Cubs player that is connected to the team that the Cubs are playing that day.
This past Saturday it was a 1974 Ron Santo. Santo played with the White Sox the final year of his career.
Here is another example from April against the Cardinals. It’s a 1962 Lou Brock card.
Great idea for the tickets and fun for collectors of particular players.
Baseball’s Mt. Rushmore
I used to buy every fantasy/preview baseball magazine that came out each spring. Over the years however I’ve slowly but steadily cut back. This year I’ve only purchased one magazine, Athlon Sports Baseball Preview, and that was last night.
I actually haven’t read it yet other than to flip through a few pages, but I did do what I always do with any magazine. I held it by the binder and shook out all the subscription cards. Usually I just scoop them up and throw them out, but one caught my eye.
It’s not really a subscription card, it’s a “4 page pullout” sponsored by Geico. The subject of the pullout is “Who’s On Your Team’s Mt. Rushmore?”
For all 30 Major League teams it lists the four players that would represent that team on a Mt Rushmore-like monument.
The four Cubs listed are…
Ernie Banks……Cap Anson…..Ron Santo…..Billy Williams
I don’t think anyone could argue with Banks, Anson, and Williams. And I don’t have a problem with Santo, but I think an argument could be made for Ryne Sandberg or Fergie Jenkins or Phil Cavarretta.
Looking through all the other teams really had me scratching my head on some picks.
For the Mets they had Davey Johnson, Manager, 1984-90; to go along with Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden, and David Wright. Sure Johnson was a good manager and led them to a WS title, but come on. No Keith Hernandez, no Darryl Strawberry, no Ed Kranepool, or even David Cone……….
St Louis Cardinals: They were represented by Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, and Ozzie Smith. All four are definitely worthy and it really tells you something about the quality of the franchise when Albert Pujols and Rogers Hornsby and Red Schoendienst can’t make the list.
LA Angels: No Bobby Grich??? They do have Nolan Ryan, Mike Scioscia, Gene Autry, and Jim Fregosi.
Speaking of Ryan, he’s on the list for the Angels and the Texas Rangers, but the team he actually pitched more games for than any other, Houston, well…..he wasn’t good enough to make that list. Instead they went will Larry Dierker. Hey Dierker was a decent pitcher, but he wasn’t a Nolan Ryan, or even a Mike Scott or Roy Oswalt or JR Richard.
There are others that I question, but I’ll let you look for yourself.
Here is a picture……you can find your favorite team and see if you agree with the list.
WrigleyRegular
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