Tag / MLB

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150 Years Of Cubs Baseball – Outfielders Part 1

Originally founded in 1869, the Chicago Cubs became a charter member of the National League in 1876.  Over the next 150 seasons, the Cubs have played more than 22,000 games, scored over 103,000 runs and recorded more than 200,000 hits, more than any other team in baseball history.  Nearly 2,300 players have worn a Cubs uniform, earning eight division titles, 17 NL pennants, and three World Series championships.

Fans have witnessed generations of unforgettable players, from historical heroes like Joe Tinker, Gabby Hartnett, Ernie Banks, and Billy Williams to more recent stars like Ryne Sandberg, Derrek Lee, Kerry Wood, and Anthony Rizzo.  The team has called Wrigley Field home for 110 of those 150 seasons.

To celebrate this milestone, the Cubs are holding a fan vote to select the franchise’s anniversary team.  Each week, we will go through the provided options for each position and declare who should, and, if different, who will, win the fan vote.  We continue today with the first eight selections for outfielder.

George Altman spent seven seasons with the Cubs across two stints.  Debuting with the club in 1959, he quickly emerged as one of the team’s most productive hitters, earning All-Star selections in both 1961 and 1962.  He accumulated 7.9 WAR across those two seasons while establishing himself as a dangerous power hitter.  He returned to the Cubs in 1965 but was unable to reclaim his former status and struggled to produce.  He finished his major league career in 1967, hitting just .111 in 15 games.

José Cardenal joined the Cubs for the 1972 season and stayed through 1977.  He was one of the most popular and productive players during his tenure, bridging the gap between the superstars of the 60s and the success coming in the 1980s.  He was named Cubs player of the year by local media in 1973.  His best season came in 1975, earning 3.1 WAR while hitting .317.  He was inducted into the Cubs Hall of Fame in 2022.

Kiki Cuyler joined the Cubs following the 1927 season and spent parts of eight years with the team.  During his tenure, Cuyler was one of the most dynamic offensive players in the league, helping the Cubs win two NL pennants.  He was named to his lone All-Star team in 1934 in its second year of existence.  He led the NL in three times, from 1928 through 1930.  In 1968, he was enshrined in Cooperstown as a member of the Hall of Fame.

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NBC Upfronts

Sports continues to be a big driver for NBC For the first time in 23 years, with the NFL, MLB, the NBA, and college football taking up a good part of the fall schedule, which was released on Monday.  The week gets off to a familiar start in September with two hours of The Voice returning for another round on Mondays, followed by Line of Fire, a new drama starring Peter Krause.  Come November, St. Denis Medical and The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins take over the first hour as The Voice goes to a single hour.  Tuesday will belong to the NBA when its season begins in October.

Wednesday and Thursday continue to be dominated by Dick Wolf franchises, with his three Chicago series running back-to-back-to-back on Wednesday and the two original entries in his Law & Order franchise the following night.  Thursday starts with a civilian version of the Peacock hit reality show The Traitors, hosted by Alan Cumming.  Happy’s Place and Newlyweds, a new comedy starring Téa Leoni and Tim Daly, kick off Friday, followed by a two-hour block of Dateline.  The weekend is dominated by football, with the Big Ten or Notre Dame on Saturday and the NFL on Sunday.

On the bench, NBC has one drama, one comedy, and a game show waiting for midseason.  The Rockford Files stars David Boreanaz in the role originally made famous by James Garner in the 1970s.  Sunset P.I. takes a comedic approach at the private investigator space, starring Jake Johnson and Jane Levy.  Finally, Today co-host Savannah Guthrie will host a live version of Wordle.

Shows gone from our television sets include Brilliant Minds and Stumble.

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Setting Records

Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami has been on a tear, tying league and team records with home runs in each of his last five games heading into yesterday’s tilt against the Diamondbacks.  That streak ties the White Sox franchise record, following A.J. Pierzynski, Paul Konerko, Carlos Lee, Frank Thomas (twice!), Ron Kittle, and Greg Luzinski.  He also pulled even with Shohei Ohtani for the longest streak by a Japanese-born player and became just the thirteenth rookie in MLB history to score a five-game homer streak.

Wednesday’s game was also the fourth straight game that both Murakami and Colson Montgomery have homered, making them the first set of teammates in MLB history to pull off that achievement.

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150 Years Of Cubs Baseball – First Basemen

Originally founded in 1869, the Chicago Cubs became a charter member of the National League in 1876.  Over the next 150 seasons, the Cubs have played more than 22,000 games, scored over 103,000 runs and recorded more than 200,000 hits, more than any other team in baseball history.  Nearly 2,300 players have worn a Cubs uniform, earning eight division titles, 17 NL pennants, and three World Series championships.

Fans have witnessed generations of unforgettable players, from historical heroes like Joe Tinker, Gabby Hartnett, Ernie Banks, and Billy Williams to more recent stars like Ryne Sandberg, Derrek Lee, Kerry Wood, and Anthony Rizzo.  The team has called Wrigley Field home for 110 of those 150 seasons.

To celebrate this milestone, the Cubs are holding a fan vote to select the franchise’s anniversary team.  Each week, we will go through the provided options for each position and declare who should, and, if different, who will, win the fan vote.  We continue today with the eight selections for first baseman.

Cap Anson was one of the first superstars of professional baseball.  He joined the Cubs franchise, then known as the White Stockings, in 1876, the first year of the new National League.  In addition to managing the team from 1879-1897, he was the NL batting champion in both 1881 and 1888 and led the league in RBI eight times between 1880 and 1891.  He helped the team to five pennants between 1880 and 1886.  He was posthumously elected to the Hall of Fame in 1939.

Bill Buckner joined the Cubs in 1977, moving to first base due to a staph infection in his ankle the previous year.  He would win the NL batting title in 1980 and be named to his lone All-Star team in 1981.  In 1982, he set the major league record for assists at first base with 159.  Following some late acquisitions in 1984, Buckner found himself the off man out and was traded at the end of May.  He is a member of the Cubs Hall of Fame.

Phil Cavarretta spent 20 seasons with the Cubs, making his debut in September of 1934, just two months past his 18thn birthday.  He was a four-time All Star and, in 1945, he won the NL batting title and the MVP award while leading the Cubs to the pennant, their last one for over 70 years.  In his final season with the Cubs, he set the modern franchise record by playing in his 1938th game.  All told, he would hit .317 in three World Series appearances for the Cubs.

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Historic Games Part Two

Last summer, the White Sox fell victim to Clayton Kershaw’s 3000th career strikeout and I decided to take a look back at the historic games I’ve attended over the years.  Here is part two, featuring another six games where an individual hit a career plateau or a team clinched a division title or playoff series.

July 20, 2008 – Royals 8, White Sox 7

Entering the Sunday afternoon skirmish with the Royals, Jim Thome sat two hits away from the 2000-hit plateau.  A first inning RBI single brought him one step closer and, in the seventh inning, he reached the milestone, hitting a double down the left field line.

September 14, 2008 – White Sox 4, Tigers 2

In the first game of a double header, Javier Vazquez took the mound for the White Sox, needing just five strikeouts to reach 2000 for his career.  In the fifth inning, he retired Edgar Renteria swinging to reach the milestone.  He finished the day with eight strikeouts, giving him 2003 for his career total.

October 6, 2008 – Rays 6, White Sox 2

On a seasonably warm Monday afternoon, the White Sox looked to stay alive in the ALDS, trailing the Rays two games to one.  Unfortunately, Gavin Floyd gave up four runs in his three innings of work, giving the Rays more than enough to close out the series, the first postseason series win in franchise history.

May 17, 2009 – Astros 6, Cubs 5

With the score tied at two in the top of the fourth inning at Wrigley Field, Astros catcher Ivan Rodriguez hit a shot off of Rich Harden, barely reaching the basket in left-center field for his 300th career home run.  The blast gave the Astros a two-run lead, which they would not relinquish for the remainder of the afternoon.

August 2, 2009 – Yankees 8, White Sox 5

On a gorgeous Sunday afternoon at US Cellular Field set up to be a pitcher’s duel between aces CC Sabathia and Mark Buehrle, Yankees outfielder Melky Cabrera stole the show, going 4-5 while hitting for the cycle.  In the second inning, Cabrera went deep against Buehrle for a three-run shot, giving the Yankees an early lead.  Leading off the fourth, he doubled to right field.  The following inning, he hit single, driving in two more and ending Buehrle’s afternoon.  Following a groundout in the sixth, Cabrera came up for the final time in the ninth against Scott Linebrink, hitting a triple into the right field corner and cementing his achievement.

July 11, 2010 – White Sox 15, Royals 5

In the final game before the All-Star Break, with the White Sox leading 4-1, Andruw Jones came to the plate with two out to face Anthony Lerew while sitting on 399 home runs.  With a 1-2 count, he deposited the next pitch into the White Sox bullpen for a three-run homer, the 400th of his career.  He was just the 46th player in MLB history to reach this milestone.

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A Signing!

Munetaka Murakami, a 25-year-old left-handed slugger from Japan, is coming to the south side, signing a two-year, $34 million contract with the White Sox.  Murakami set the single-season home run record in the NPB in 2022 en route to the Triple Crown, swatting 56 in 141 games for the Yakult Swallows.  With the posting fee, the White Sox are on the hook for a total of $40.575 million.

Murakami does come with some question marks, which is why he fell from the expected nine-figure deal he was hoping to get when he posted in November, mainly contact issues and injury concerns.  His strikeout rate has approached 30% in recent seasons in a league that does not look for strikeouts like MLB pitchers do.  He’s also missed significant time the past two seasons, thanks to an oblique strain, a broken toe, and elbow surgery.  He’s expected to play first base for the White Sox, so his defensive limitations will likely be minimized.

Murakami becomes the first Japanese player to suit up for the White Sox since Kosuke Fukudome in 2012 and the first one signed directly from Japan since Tadahito Iguchi in 2005.  Can he help boost the White Sox offense enough to help them avoid a fourth-straight 100-loss season?  That is certainly the hope.

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A Changing Landscape

The national and streaming television landscape for Major League Baseball will be changing for 2026 as the league prepares to overhaul its approach starting in 2029.  This past February, ESPN opted out of the final three years of its deal with the league that would have paid MLB $550 million per year.  Those rights will be split up three ways for the next three seasons, with chunks going to ESPN, Netflix, and NBC/Peacock.  Between the three, MLB is expected to get $750 million per year in total over the next three seasons.

ESPN will receive a national 30-game package throughout the season available exclusively on ESPN’s television networks and streaming app.  They will also continue to carry the Little League Classic and will stream over 150 out-of-market games, one per day, via the ESPN app.  In addition, they will take over control of the out-of-market streaming capabilities available today through MLB.tv.  Details on how that will work were not made available at this time.

Netflix will get exclusive rights to the standalone Opening Day game in prime time, the Home Run Derby and the Field of Dreams game.  No word yet on if they will produce these events in house and, if so, who the broadcasters may be.

NBC and its streaming app Peacock will become the new home of Sunday Night Baseball and the Wild Card round of the postseason.  The network will also take over the Sunday Leadoff game, a package that premiered on Peacock but has aired on Roku for the past two seasons.

The rest of the national agreements, with FOX, TBS, and Apple TV, will continue as is through 2028.  At that point, all of MLB’s television rights will be coming up together at the same time.  Commissioner Rob Manfred would like the league to control the local rights for all teams by that point, hoping a singular package will generate the most revenue.  Teams that have ownership stakes in their own local RSNs, like the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, and Cubs, may not be aligned with this approach.

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The Robots Are Coming

Major League Baseball announced a huge shift for 2026 with the arrival of a challenge system for balls and strikes as determined by a high-tech camera system.  The so-called robot umpires, officially known as the automated ball-strike (ABS) system, has been used in Triple A since 2022 and was tried out in spring training 2025.  The challenge system will give each team two challenges of the home plate umpire’s strike zone, and they will retain their challenge if the call is overturned.  When a challenge is issued, the umpire will review how the camera system called the pitch and that determination will be final.

Challenges can only be issued by the pitcher, the catcher, or the batter and must be made immediately following the pitch in question.  Players are barred from receiving any help or direction from others in issuing the challenge.

The competition committee, which, per the collective bargaining agreement, is made up of six appointees from MLB, four players, and one umpire, did not have a unanimous vote, with at least one player opposing the rule change.

It will be interesting to see how this impacts the game moving forward.  With limited challenges, will teams implement strategies about when to allow players to challenge?  Will certain players be stopped from challenging altogether?  Time will tell.

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Lonely At The Top

It took a while, but the Rockies finally won their 42nd game of the season last night, ensuring that the 2024 White Sox will continue to own the record for the most losses in a single season in the modern era of Major League Baseball.  Moving forward, I propose that MLB officially declare this day, the day the final team wins their 42nd game of the season, Jerry Reinsdorf day in honor of his not-so-glorious achievement.

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Still The Worst

With their 4-2 victory over the Padres last night, the Rockies won their 41st game of the season, ensuring that, at worst, they will tie the 2024 White Sox for the most losses in the modern era of Major League Baseball.  With two weeks to go in the season, it seems likely that they will win at least one additional game, leaving the 2024 White Sox to stand alone in disgrace.