When Cubs first were swept by Mets at New York bleedcubbieblue.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bleedcubbieblue.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
We briefly recap the latest kerfuffle surrounding MLB with foreign substances on baseballs, including Trevor Bauer’s comments. And we also compare the first 60 games of 2021 to the 60-game 2020 season, recap the last week, and answer mailbag questions that mostly have to do with the trade deadline.
Cubs who led NL in offensive categories By JohnW53 on May 9, 2021, 5:52am CDT +
45 different offensive categories.
A Cub has led or tied for the National League lead in at least 1 category in
101 of
Hack Wilson led in
17 in 1930; Heinie Zimmerman (1912) and Rogers Hornsby (1929), in 16; Derrek Lee (2005), in 14; and Billy Williams (1972) in 13.
At the other extreme, Walt Moose Moryn and Lee Walls led the NL only once each while with the Cubs tying for most times hit by pitches in 1958, with 8.
Ernie Banks led in WAR (10.2) and defensive WAR (3.5) in 1959, when he was voted Most Valuable Player for the second straight season. But he was only third in offensive WAR (7.8), trailing Hank Aaron (9.1) and Eddie Mathews (8.4).
Cubs oldest position players, pitchers By JohnW53 on Apr 12, 2021, 6:22am CDT +
Who was the oldest in the Modern Era?
Who was their oldest pitcher?
Who was their oldest pitcher in his final season?
Each of those questions has a different answer.
....
Nearly 125 years after his final game,
Cap Anson remains the oldest player in franchise history to appear anywhere other than on the mound.
The last game of his remarkable, 27-season career No. 2,524 overall and No. 2,277 for Chicago came on Oct. 3, 1897. That day, Anson was
45 years, 169 days old.
He had been 19 days past his 19th birthday when he played his first game, for the Rockford Forest Citys, on May 6, 1871.
April 9, 2021
The mystery pitcher began appearing in my morning box scores during the second half of September 1980. Sometimes he was Valenzuela, others Valenzla, but every time I looked, he had zeroes next to his name. I couldn’t find him in my baseball card set, my
Street & Smith’s Official Yearbook 1980, or my
Complete Handbook of Baseball 1980. All I knew was that suddenly he was one of the Dodgers’ most reliable relievers, a rookie thrown into the fire of a three-way NL West race between the Dodgers, Astros, and Reds.
What I didn’t know was that just over six months later, everybody who was anybody would know the name Fernando Valenzuela and the trail of zeroes he left in his wake. Fernandomania was coming.