9/9/09

It's a numerologist's wet dream...9/9/09. Seems like a good day to take a look at some of the Cubs that have worn the number 9. As it turns out, there have been quite a few big names...

For the first few months of 1932, future Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby wore the #9. He was fired amidst a player revolt and an investigation into his gambling.

After Hornsby left the team that year, Mark Koenig took the #9. The way his Cubs teammates treated Koenig may have provided the bad karma that lost the 1932 World Series.




In 1933 another Hall of Famer, Gabby Hartnett,took over the #9. He wore that number for the next four seasons, including the 1935 World Series.








In the early 50s (1950-1955) Hank Sauer wore #9. All he did with that number was win the MVP award in 1952. He also once hit 3 home runs in one game.








In the late 50s (58-59), the number 9 was worn by the man who hit the most famous home run in history (the shot heard round the world) a few years earlier for the New York Giants. His nickname was "The Flying Scot."







In the late 1960s the heart and soul of the Hey Hey Holy Mackeral Cubs, Randy Hundley, wore #9. In 1968, Hundley caught a ridiculous 160 games. (His son Todd later wore the same number in 2001-2002, but we don't talk about that.)




Those guys are obviously the best players to wear number 9, but there have been many others, including Frank Demaree (1937-38), Hank Leiber (1939-41), Chico Hernandez (1942), Clyde McCullough (1945-48), Mickey Owen (1949), Rube Novotney (1949), Bob Lennon (1957), Gordon Massa (1957), Del Rice (1960), Jim Hegan (1960), Cuno Barragan (1961-63), Steve Swisher (1974-77), Joe Wallis (1978), Tim Blackwell (1978-81), Butch Benton (1982), Larry Cox (1982), Fred Koenig (1983), Johnny Oates (1984-87), Damon Berryhill (1988-91), Matt Walbeck (1993), Scott Servais (1995-98), Benito Santiago (1999), Damon Buford (2000-01), Paul Bako (2003-04), Henry Blanco (2005), Jody Gerut (2005), Scott McClain (2005), Juan Pierre (2006), Jake Fox (2007), Reed Johnson (2008-09)

Ernie Harwell

From this morning's Tom Taylor column at Radio-info.com...

"Ernie Harwell just got lousy news – really lousy news. Doctors in Detroit told the 91-year old that he has cancer of the bile duct, and that it's advanced to "incurable." Harwell was enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame after a 55-year career calling baseball games on radio and TV, 42 of them for the Detroit Tigers. He plans to remain very active, including writing his newspaper column and working on a new book."

Harwell is one of all-time greats. Sad news.

(AUDIO: Ernie Harwell says goodbye to Tigers Stadium 1999)

Milt Pappas

On this date in 1972, Milt Pappas threw a no-hitter for the Cubs against the San Diego Padres.

Milt is famously still upset that it wasn't a perfect game. He walked the 27th batter he faced (San Diego journeyman outfielder Larry Stahl) on a borderline 3-2 pitch.

Crying Cub

The t-shirt that says so much without uttering a word.

Available here.

Nice Guys Finish Last

University of Chicago Press just re-released "Nice Guys Finish Last" in paperback, and I was asked to review the book for The Beachwood Reporter. My full review is here.

Here's a short excerpt:

Durocher was a bench warmer on those great Babe Ruth-Lou Gehrig Yankee teams in the late 1920s, a spark plug for the legendary "Gas House Gang" in St. Louis in the 1930s, the manager of the Dodgers when the color line was broken in the 1940s, and the manager of the Giants in the 1950s when Willie Mays came to the majors and Bobby Thomson hit the shot heard 'round the world.

His stories about his run-ins with the baseball executives of the day, including Yankees owner Ed Barrow (Leo told him to "Go f*** yourself"), Cardinals owner Branch Rickey (the tightwad Bible-thumping baseball genius), Dodgers owner Lee McPhail (the manic-depressive lunatic), and Giants owner Horace Stoneham (the distant drunk), are almost inspiring in their iconoclastic furor.

But I'm a Cubs fan first and foremost, and for me the most interesting parts of the book were the little tidbits about some of the all-time Cub greats like Pat Malone, Charlie Grimm, Billy Herman, Bill "Swish" Nicholson, Rabbit Maranville, and of course, the Cubs that Leo managed in the late 60s and early 70s.

Those Cubs years were still fresh news when Nice Guys Finish Last first came out, and while I love the inside look at my childhood heroes, this entire section does make Leo sound like he's attempting to settle some scores. He calls out Ernie Banks as a phony, and implies Ron Santo was an overrated dimwitted baby. He calls Milt Pappas an agitator, and implies Joe Pepitone was God's punishment for Leo's own behavior as a player.

Perhaps the most shocking part of the book for me, though, was Leo's portrayal of Cubs owner P.K. Wrigley. Durocher, who has almost nothing nice to say about anyone (except Willie Mays and Eddie Stanky), calls Wrigley "The finest man to work for in the world" and "The most decent man I've met."

I did not see that one coming.

Farewell to Brooklyn & NY Giants

This week in 1957, the Cubs made their final stop at the Polo Grounds in New York (August 24), and Ebbet's Field in Brooklyn (August 28). The Dodgers and Giants both moved to the West Coast after the 1957 season. The Dodgers finished in 3rd place that season, the Giants finished in 6th, and the Cubs...they were in 7th place, 33 games behind the pennant winning Milwaukee Braves.

By the way, the Cubs did beat the Giants that last game in the Polo Grounds, but they lost a heartbreaker to the Dodgers in their last game at Ebbets Field (4-3 in 14 innings).

In case you missed it...

The sale of the Cubs is finally, finally, a done deal.

The Ricketts family now owns 25% of Comcast, Wrigley Field, and two corner outfielders that nobody in baseball will take off their hands.