Tag / Don Kessinger

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150 Years Of Cubs Baseball – Shortstops

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 shortstop.

Javier Baez was drafted by the Cubs in the first round in 2011 and debuted with the big-league club in 2014.  He became a starter in 2016, helping the Cubs end their 108-year championship drought by winning the World Series.  His best season came in 2018, when he led the league in RBI and finished second in MVP voting.  His tenure with the Cubs ended in 2021, traded to the Mets for a young prospect named Pete Crow-Armstrong.  During his time on the north side, he was a two-time All-Star, the 2016 NLCS MVP, and won both a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger.

Ernie Banks played his entire 19-year career with the Cubs, earning back-to-back MVP honors in 1958 and 1959.  At the time of his retirement following the 1971 season, he ranked ninth all-time in career home runs with 512.  He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1977 and became a team ambassador, never seen without a smile on his face.  Known as Mr. Cub, his #14 was retired by the team in 1982, making him the first Cub to receive that honor.

Bill Dahlen spent eight seasons with the Colts and Orphans through most of the 1890s.  Playing in a dead ball era, he had a good amount of power, finishing among the NL’s top ten players in home runs four times and in slugging percentage three times.  He set a new record with a 42-game hitting streak in 1894.  He was traded away following the 1898 season.  He is considered to have the most career WAR of any eligible player, except those tainted by scandal, to not be in the Hall of Fame.

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By The Numbers – 6

In 1929, uniform numbers appeared on the back of baseball jerseys for the first time, thanks to the Indians and the Yankees.  By 1937, numbers finally appeared across all uniforms, both home and away, across both major leagues.  Since that time, 81 distinct numbers have been worn by members of the White Sox, while the Cubs boast 76.

Today, we continue our look at those players, picking our favorite, if not the best, player to wear each uniform number for both Chicago teams with #6.  67 different players have donned #6 while playing in Chicago, 27 for the White Sox, who haven’t retired it but have not issued it since 1995, and 42 for the Cubs.

In his second go-around with the Cubs after being selected off waivers from the Mariners on July 6, 1998, Glenallen Hill, wearing #6. hit .351 with 8 homers and 23 RBIs in 48 games.  He appeared in one game during the NLDS against the Braves, where he was one for three with a run batted in and a stolen base.  Returning in 1999, Hill hit .300 with 20 home runs and 55 runs batted in.  On May 11, 2000, Hill became the first, and thus far only player to hit a home run on the three-story residential building across Waveland Ave. from Wrigley Field in the second inning of the Cubs’ 14–8 loss to the Brewers.  With the Cubs far out of contention, he was traded to the Yankees on July 23.

On the south side of town, Jorge Orta signed with the White Sox out of the Mexican Baseball League in 1972 and made the team out of spring training.  Playing shortstop, Orta batted just .211 through the middle of May before losing his job.  He returned to Chicago when rosters expanded that September.  Orta was shifted to second base for the 1973 season after batting over .500 in spring training.  Playing through injuries for much of the year, he batted .266 and tied for second in the league with eighteen errors among second basemen.

Orta began the 1974 season batting at the bottom of the White Sox line-up but was moved up to the two spot Chuck Tanner’s batting order, hitting .411 with 23 runs scored in the month of June.  For the season, his .316 batting average was second only to Rod Carew.  In 1975, Orta batted .296 with four home runs and 46 RBIs in the first half, good enough to be named to the All-Star team.  He topped that by hitting .314 with seven home runs and 37 RBIs in the second half.

New manager Paul Richards opted to move Orta to third base for the 1976 season, which proved to be a poor decision.  Orta was eventually moved into the outfield and the Sox narrowly avoided a hundred losses while Orta hit .274 with hitting a career-high fourteen home runs and scoring a career high 74 runs.  Orta returned to second base when Bob Lemon took the reins as manager in 1977.  The surprising White Sox, dubbed the South Side Hitmen, won 90 games and Orta, now batting third, finished second on the team with a career high 84 RBIs.  He remained at second in 1978, but new player-manager Don Kessinger deployed Orta as the designated hitter in 1979, a role Orta struggled with, putting up a .212 batting average, three home runs and 21 RBIs through June 27.  Orta returned to second base in the middle of July, and batted .313 with seven home runs and 22 RBIs the rest of the way on his way to free agency.