K is for Keith

Cubs Home run hitters from Aramis to Zimmerman

K is for Keith 

Keith Moreland


PhilliesCubs, Padres, Tigers Orioles

Keith Moreland played baseball from 1978 to 1989.  He started with the Phillies and came to the Cubs  in 1982.  He played 6 seasons with the Cubs and left for San Diego after the '87 season came to a close.  While about 69 % (902) of his 1306 games were with the Cubs 100 (87%) of his 115 homers were hit for the Northsiders.  

The former Cubs raidio announcer's 100 dingers was good enough for 20th all time for the Cubs until  Anthony Rizzo over took him last year.  

For More A to Z Blogging click here.  

J is for Jody

Cubs Home run hitters from Aramis to Zimmerman

J is for Jody

Jody Davis


Cubs, Braves 

Jody Davis caught for the Cubs from 1981 to 1988 and played parts of 3 seasosn with the Atlanta Braves retiring in 1990 from Major League Baseball.  Davis hit 122 of his 127 major league homers for the Cubs  which places him 17th on the Cubs all time list.

Davis a 2 time all star with 1 gold glove to his credit was a fan favorite and is still well revered on the north side.  

For More A to Z Blogging click here.  

I is for Irvin

Cubs Home run hitters from Aramis to Zimmerman

I is for Irvin

Monte Irvin (HOF)

1919 -2016

Giants, Cubs

The first paragraph of Monte Irvin's page at the baseball hall of fame website reads as follows

Monte Irvin was not the first African-American player in the modern major leagues, but of all the talented players who made the perilous trip from the Negro leagues to the big leagues in the late 1940s, Irvin may have been the best.

Irvin played with the Newark Eagles of the Negro League and came to the major leagues with the New York Giants in 1949 and played seven season there.  In 1956 he finished his career with the Cubs and hit 15  of his 99 major league homers in his farewell season.  Irving was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1973.

Irvin passed a way in January of this year 6 week prior to his 97th birthday.

For More A to Z Blogging click here.  

H is for Hank Sauer

Cubs Home run hitters from Aramis to Zimmerman

H is for Hank

Hank Sauer

1917 - 2001

Hank Sauer , a 2 time all star and NL MVP of 1952 was a Cubs outfielder from 1950 to 1955.   He hit 288 homers in his 15 major league seasons.  His 7 seasons with the Cubbies yielded 198 of those round trippers which puts him 9th all time for the club.

For More A to Z Blogging click here.  

G is for Gabby

Cubs Home run hitters from Aramis to Zimmerman

G is for Gabby

Charles  Leo "Gabby" Hartnett(HOF)
1900-1972

Cubs, (NY)Giants

Gabby Hartnett hit 231 homers for the Cubs from 1922 to 1940 which puts him 7th all time with the club.  The 6 time all star and 1935 NL MVP is best remember for 1 specific homer,  The homer in the gloaming which took place 9/26 1938.  Before I get to the significance of the homer , let me explain how baseball in 1938 from the baseball we understand.

1. Until the late 60's there were no playoff series prior to the World Series.   Each year the best team in the National League would play the best team in the American League in the World Series.  The entire season was played to determine which team would win the pennant and play in the World Series.

2.  While the first MLB night game was played in 1934, night games were still not common in 1938 and not played at Wrigley Field until 1988.

The Pittsburgh Pirates led the NL for most of the 1938 season but started to unravel in September. When they came into Chicago for a 3 game series , the Cubs were only 1 1/2 games behind the Bucs.  Dizzy Dean who was traded from the Cards to the Cubs in 1938 beat the Pirates in the first game.  In the 2nd game the score was tied 5-5  as the Cubs came to bat in the 9th.  Because Wrigley had no lights the umpires decided that the 9th inning would be the last which would cause the entire game to be replayed the next day.



The Cubs were down to their last out and Hartnett was 0-2 in the account.  As twilight descended Hartnett homered into the left center bleachers and the crowd erupted.  The Cubs essentially won the pennant on that home run.

Hartnett hit all but 5 of homers for the Cubs but his walk off in 1938 put the immortal touch on an already HOF career,

For More A to Z Blogging click here.  

F is for Frank

Cubs Home run hitters from Aramis to Zimmerman

F is for Frank

Frank "Wildfire" Schulte
1882-1949

Cubs, Pirates, Phillies and Senators

When composing a list such as this, it is fairly common to come across a player you are only vaguely familiar with.  But that is not the case with Frank Schulte, I had never heard of him.  Schulte was a contemporary of Tinker, Evers and Chance and played for the Cubs from 1904 to 1916. He was the 1911 NL MVP and (get ready for this) played in 4 World Series with the Cubs losing to the White Sox in 1906, beating the Tigers in 1907 and 1908 and lost to the Philadelphia Athleticss in 1910.  He hit .321 in those 4 World Series.  Schulte hit 91 home runs for the Cubs and only hit 1 more after he left the team in 1916.  

For More A to Z Blogging click here.  

E is for Ernie

Cubs Home run hitters from Aramis to Zimmerman

E is for Ernie

Ernie Banks "Mr. Cub" HOF

Cubs, 

Ernie Banks broke the Cubs color barrier in 1953 and played his entire Hall of Fame career with the Cubs retiring in 1971 and being a good will ambassador for the club until his death last year.  

Banks was an 11 time all star and 2 time NL MVP.  His  512 homers was a Cubs record until Sammy Sosa broke it in 2004.  

For More A to Z Blogging click here.  

D is for Dawson

Cubs Home run hitters from Aramis to Zimmerman

D is for Dawson

Andre Nolan "Hawk" Dawson

Expos, Cubs, Red Sox, Marlins

Like, Billy Williams, Andre Dawson  made his MLB  debut at the age of 21.  And like Williams He was Rookie of the  year.  But unlike Williams who debuted with the Cubs, Dawson played his first eleven seasons with the Montreal Expos (Currently: The Washington Nationals).    He came to the Cubs in 1987 in spectacular fashion hitting 49 Homers (He never hit more than 32 in a season before or since) and winning the NL MVP for a Cubs team that went 76-85.  It' hard to imagine how much worse they would have been w/o him.  Dawson played the Outfield for the Cubs from '87 to'92 and had 174 of his 438 MLB homers with the Cubs which puts him 13th all time for  the Cubbies.

For More A to Z Blogging click here.  

C is for Cap

Cubs Home run hitters from Aramis to Zimmerman

C is for Cap

Adrian Consrantine "Cap" Anson (HOF)
1852- 1922

Rockford, Philadephia, Chicago

Cap Anson was a first base  for the Cubs from 1876 to 1897 and manages the team 17 of those years.   Back then the Cubs were known as the "White Stockings" and  the stockings weren't the only thing white about those teams.   Anson was one of the first stars of the sport and one of it's leading racists.  As a manager he signed contracts for games against player that had african americans on them that said they could not play against Anson's club.  This of course was typical of post civil war life, but still very unsettling.

Anson hit all of his 97 Homers as a member of the White Stockings. This ties him for 23 on the Cubs all time HR list.

For More A to Z Blogging click here.  

B is for Billy

Cubs Home run hitters from Aramis to Zimmerman

B is for Billy

Billy  Leo Williams (HOF)

Cubs, A's

Billy Williams made his d ebut with the Chicago Cubs on August 6, 1959 at the age of 21.  He was Rookie of the  year in 1961  and  a six time all star.  He played for the Cubs through the 1974 season He hit 392 of his 426  homers for the Cubs which is 3rd  all time.    He was inducted into the baseball hall of fame in 1986.

For More A to Z Blogging click here.  

Playoff Beard Day 7

Crazy Uncle Dave "Pretend" voics of the Black Hawks dispenses his Hawks Nuggets

Hawks Nugget1 :  On this day in 1972 Bobby Hull scored his 604th goal as a blackhawk

Hawks Nugget 2 :  Thanks to NHL tie breaking procedures the Hawks only need 1 point to stay out of the 1st wild card spot now held by the Nashville Predators.  The only way the Preds can overtake the Hawks for the 3rd spot in the central is if they win their remaining 3 games in regulation and the Hawks drop their last 4 in regulation.  The Hawks cannot overtake Dallas  (the best they could do is lose the tie breaker) for 1st in the Central but can still catch St. Louis for 2nd in the Central.

A is for Aramis

Cubs Home run hitters from Aramis to Zimmerman

It is time once again for the A to Z challenge.  Last year, I went from A to Z with White Sox Home run hitters.  This year, I turn my attention to my 2nd favorite ball club, The Chicago Cubs.

Everyday in April with the exception of Sundays, I will be featuring a different Cubs player.  
All homerun info is through the 2015 season.

A is for Aramis

Aramis Ramirez

Cubs, Pirates, Brewers

Aramis Ramirez came to the Cubs from the Pirates during the 2003 season and played for the Cubs through the 2011 season.  Ramirez has hit 239 of his so far 386 homers for the Cubs.  This is 6th all time for the Cubs.  

For More A to Z Blogging click here. 

Playoff Beard Day 6 

For those of you stopping in from a to z blogging you may not know that I am posting daily pics of my playoff  beard as well as a staus on the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Blackhawks beat  the WInnipeg Jets 5-4 in OT this evening.  The Hawks have 4 games remaining.  The St.  Louis Blues remain their probable 1st round playoff match up.

Crazy Uncle Dave's Sport-O-Rama: Ernie Banks 1977 Baseball Hall of Fame Induction S...

Ernie Banks , arguably the best player the Cubs ever had, died over the weekend.  Here is a link to his HOF  induction speech in 1977.

Crazy Uncle Dave's Sport-O-Rama: Ernie Banks 1977 Baseball Hall of Fame Induction S...

This has special meaning to me. as I was just at the HOF this past Summer to see Frank Thomas inducted.

Ernie Banks 1977 Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Speech

Sunday's Cool HOF Edition

Sunday's Cool!
A Link Up and A Look Ahead

A Link Up: Crazy Uncle Dave's sports blog had some exciting Ron Santo news this week.  I hope you enjoy 1 down 2 to go.

A look Ahead: Another busy week in real life life that will culminate with Spider Droid's Robotics tournament.  Here on the blogosphere will be busy as well with some posts featuring the carnivals and meme's I participate in.  I will also continue featuring HSBA winners at the end of each post.

For instance, today we will look at the Laugh With Us Blog which was the winner of funniest home school blog.  As another blog, that gets it's bread   and butter from quoting family member's crazy sayings, I must say I heartily approve.  Here is a sample post. 

Next Time:Thankswimming

Ron Santo (HOF) One Down Two To Go

Say what you want about the late Ron Santo. He wore his heart on his sleeve.  It did not take much time to figure out the 3 things he was most passionate about:  1.  He loved the Cubs and wanted nothing more for them to break their century long World Series Championship drought.

2) He wanted to cure Juvenile Diabetes.  Not only did Santo, a diabetic, raise awareness of the disease through his playing career and subsequent broadcast career, he also raised over 60 million dollars for JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund)

3) He wanted to be enshrined in Cooperstown, New York in Baseball's Hall of Fame.

It was obvious that he wanted to achieve all of those goals in his lifetime and the consummate competitor would not be satisfied until those missions were accomplished.  On December 3, 2010 Santo passed away without achieving any of those lofty goals.

The most frustrating thing for me personally was the HOF snub. The other 2 goals will take much serendipity to accomplish, the HOF was a no-brainer.  He definitely had a HOF career as a third baseman for the northsiders.      I think 3 things shied voters away from voting for him when he was on the ballot as a player. 

1) He never got to the post season and did not have a chance to wow the casual fan and generate enthusiasm beyond Chicago and the National League.  There was no inter league play this time, so American League fans did not have much opportunity to see his body of work.

2) There were 3 more HOF worthy players on his own team.  These men Ferguson Jenkins, Billy Williams and Ernie Banks were so worthy of the Hall of Fame that they have all been enshrined there.  Many voters didn't seem to want to put a 4th player there when the Cubs had little or nothing to show for such an honor. 


3) He was no Brooks Robinson.  While Santo, in my opinion,  was definitely the best third baseman in the NL in his career, Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles was the best in the Majors.

I don't think that any of these reasons were valid enough to keep him out of the HOF in the original voting or when he appeared  on the Veteran's committee ballot.  For the above  mentioned reasons or others the voters decided he was not HOF material.

Until now. Almost a year to the day after his death Cooperstown has come calling.  The Ron Santo legacy is now 1/3 complete.  Now we need to find a way to beat Diabetes and a team in the World Series.

 


I wonder what team team they will enshrine him for?



9 score and 18 years ago

I wasn't planning on participating in Six Word Saturday today. But here I am, and here's my six:

I learned something without using google.

Today Spider Droid finished reading the book, Gettysburg: The Graphic Novel to, which he has been doing over the past week or so. The book tells the story of the battle of Gettysburg and culminates with Lincoln giving the Gettysburg address.

As he was reading I realized that Lincoln gave the speech 148 years ago. So that's 9 score and 18 years ago. I'm 47 so it's also 3 me's and 7 years ago. In honor of the Cubs hiring a new manager, it's the last time Cubs were world champions and 45 years ago. Okay, you get it. It was a while back.

While I am good at remembering birthdays and anniversaries in our family, Google's little fancy designs are usually what tell me of the commemoration of a historical birth or event. Today I learned about it without Google. In fact if you take a look at a Google, you will see I scooped them. How about that?

For more Six Word Saturday Click Here.

Next Time: Aliens on the street?!?

Sports Fragments

After I began this blog I found out that managing two blogs is a little much for me. I basically have been lying low recently and not posting much of anything here. I have decided that from now to the end of the year I am going to try to post more regularly here.

Today I will start by participating in a meme called Friday Fragments.

It is basically where you just share bits and pieces that would normally not make it into your blog. Since this is a sports blog mine will all be sports related.

Fragment 1 I was mistaken for a Cubs fan today. I received a book today from paperback swap about the 1906 world series between the Cubs and the White Sox. There was a yellow stick from the previous owner that said go Cubs! Now, I am a follower of the Cubs and can speak intelligibly on them, but when it comes to the Sox and Cubs I am much more a fan of the White Sox.


It is kind of unusual for a White Sox fan to not hate the Cubs. I like the Cubs, they are my second favorite team. I grew up a Cubs fan and used to make the annual pilgrimage to Wrigley each year with my family. My 10 year old switched to the Cubs a few years ago. I indulge him this betrayal, as my father indulged me by taking me to about a White Sox game a year in my youth.

Fragment 2 Speaking of the Cubs, I think the move to get Theo Epstein from the Red Sox and have him serve in some capacity in the Front Office is a wonderful one. When that announcement is finalized, I will be interested to see what kind of moves they make. I am a big Ryne Sandberg fan and hope that one of Epstein's moves is to hire Sandberg to manage the team. We shall see.

Fragment 3 My son's soccer team went 7-0-1 last spring. This year most of his teammates and the coach moved up to the next age level. My son did not. He and the new coaches son are the only players that remain from last year's team. This year after 6 games the team is 3-2-1. I am assisting the coach on the sidelines during the games an even had to coach 2 of the games while our coach was out of town. We are 2-0 in those games, not that I'm keeping track :)

I am kind of glad that my son is on one of those win 1 week lose the next teams this year. I was afraid that going undefeated last season and only 1 defeat the season before that would give him the idea that such success is common. This year he is playing the best soccer he ever has and is enjoying himself and learning good life lessons win or lose.

Fragment 4 Now that the Rangers and the Cardinals are tied 1 game all in the 2011 World Series, it might be a good idea to share who I am rooting for.

This is a complex question for me. Normally, I cheer for the American League team as a victory bodes well for the White Sox. I also like to cheer for the team that hasn't won the World Series before or in a while. These two factors put me in the Texas Rangers camp. The Cardinals won it all in 2006 and while the Rangers finally made it to the World Series for the first time last year, thwy did not win.

On the other side of the coin, I like the Cardinals. They are like the Minnesota Twins of the N.L., they always seem to end up in the mix each year even when they are not expected to. Tony LaRussa who led the White Sox to their first playoff appearance is now the long time manager of the Cards. Also when I coached T-Ball for 2 years our team was the Cardinals. Also, John Rooney one of the announcers for the 2005 White Sox, and quite possibly the best play by play man in the business is now an announcer for the Cardinals.

So basically I am torn. My tradition based rooting system says Rangers and my root for the people I like mentality says Cardinals. I am hoping for a 7 game series and don't really mind which way it goes.

That's all the fragments I have for now. Check out the rest of Friday Fragments at Half Past Kissing Time by clicking here.

Friday Fragments Pics & Video Edition

Friday Fragment Time again. I am waiting for a Skype Call from Russia at a little after Midnight on Friday. It is 4:15 p.m on Friday in Khabarovsk where I am expecting the call from. That is a fragment for a different time but explains why I am up so late on a school day.

Just videos and pics in today's fragments.

Fragment 1. Fun at the dinner table





Fragment 2. Baseball at the Zoo

When we go to the zoo we expect to see bears like this . . .


And This . . .

But at the Brookfield Zoo this weekend there were a number of human cubs. Chicago Cub fans like my son, players and former players like Milt Pappas who my sister had on a poster in her room when she was growing up.

I had a cool video linked up of Spider Droid doing a pitching game but I called him by his real name and I can't get the edited version to upload. SPider Droid had fun playing baseball games and we all had fun at the zoo.

Fragment 3: Blue Ribbon Robotics

Earlier last week Spider Droid competed in the Kane County Fair. No pig in competition or anything like that. He participated in a virtual robotics challenge where among other things he completed a cd-ROM curriculum on robotics, entered his findings in a journal, made a PowerPoint presentation including a video (which is really cool but uses his real name are you sensing an overprotective dad theme here?) and made this poster for display at the fair.

He also overcame his shyness and had an interview with the judge where he showed his video and explained what he learned.

The result of all his work: A blue ribbon. For those of you who don't speak County Fair, A blue ribbon is as high as you get w/o being the winner or runner up of the event. We don't speak County Fair so when we saw the ribbon we both thought (me silently, I have some tact) that it was just a participation ribbon. (We both have won those before). It actually means that he met or exceeded all of his objectives. Win, Place or Show we are very proud of his accomplishments.

Fragment 4: Leave them Laughing. (I hope.)



A few hours later back at the dinner table . . .

‪Dave roller finally catches a chip‬‏ - YouTube

For more Friday Fragments drop what you are doing and head over to Half Past Kissin' Time. I have a Skype call to get, so I'll catch you later.

Fun at the Old Ball Park

For more Wordless Wednesday click here.

From Z(oo) to A(choo)

Zoo Tuesday. We’ve been sick on & off since. Took SD to see first Cubs Victory. Be back posting soon. Have pics from zoo and game. Ciao.