Rick Sutcliffe is a baseball announcer on ESPN broadcasts of MLB but in 1984 he was on top of the world. It didn’t start that way as Sutcliffe was with the Cleveland Indians when that year started. He pitched in 15 games (all starts) for the Indians and he was 4-5 with a 5.15 ERA and a 1.66 WHIP. That didn’t stop the Cubs from trading for Sutcliffe and the rest is history. Sutcliffe pitched in 20 games (all starts) for the Cubbies in 1984 and he was 16-1 with a 2.69 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. He only gave up 123 hits for the Cubs in 150 1/3 innings with 155 whiffs showing how nasty he was for them. Sutcliffe went on to win the N.L. Cy Young Award despite barely playing more than half of the year for the Cubs. He pitched 8 years for the Cubs appearing in 193 games (190 starts) in which he was 82-65 with a 3.74 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP.

3B Ron Santo was a good baseball player for the Cubs without a doubt but he just doesn’t have Hall of Fame numbers. In his 14 years with the Cubs, Santo was a All-Star 9 times and he won 5 Gold Gloves. Santo played in 2,126 games in his 14 years with the Cubs and he was 2,171 of 7,768 (.279 avg, .838 OPS) with 1,109 runs scored, 337 homers, 1,290 RBIs and 35 stolen bases. Santo is #5 on the all-time list in games played with the Cubs with 2,126. He is also #7 in hits (2,171), #8 in runs scored (1,109), #4 in homers (337), #5 in RBIs (1,290), #9 in doubles (393) and #2 in walks (1,071). If Santo would have played a couple of more years I think he might have had the numbers for the Hall of Fame but he will have to settle for the Hall of Good.

The Cubs were pretty poor when righty starter Fergie Jenkins pitched for them but that didn’t stop him from winning his fair share of games. Jenkins pitched in 401 games (347 starts) in his 10 years for the Cubs and he was 167-132 with 6 saves, a 3.20 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP. He won the Cy Young Award in the N.L. in 1971 with the Cubbies. In that year he pitched in 39 games (all starts) in which he was 24-13 with a 2.77 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP. He pitched an amazing 30 complete games in 1971 working 325 innings in which he allowed 304 hits and whiffed 263 batters. Jenkins is the Cubs’ all-time leader in games started (347) and strikeouts (2,038). He also is #5 all-time in games pitched (401), #5 in wins (167), #9 in WHIP (1.12), #4 in shutouts (29) and he is #3 in innings pitched (2,673 2/3). Jenkins was one of the best players in Cubs’ history and he was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.

Leon “Bull” Durham played 8 years with the Chicago Cubs. He appeared in 921 games for the Cubs and he was 898 for 3,215 (.279 avg, .846 OPS) with 474 runs scored, 138 homers, 485 RBIs and 98 stolen bases. Durham was never an elite player with the Cubs but he had decent power and speed for a player his size. He saw more than his share of losing years with the Cubs as he was one of the better players in the dark years for the Cubs.