It is hard for me, I really, really love Paul Goldschmidt and think he is the best first baseman in baseball, but… he absolutely destroys the Chicago Cubs. Surprisingly, Goldy isn’t on the list of official Cubs-killers (yet) but it did get me to thinking about the biggest Cubs-killers of all-time, perhaps creating a team of Cubs-killers that would be every fan’s biggest nightmare.
A couple of quick and interesting facts and I am using this helpful spreadsheet from Baseball Musings to help with career stats. 42 players have obtained 100 or more RBI against the Cubs in their career, and three players have amassed more than 200 RBI against the Cubs. Six players have hit more than 50 home runs against the Cubs, and even more impressively, two have done it since divisional play and only one has done this since the incorporation of the third division. The three highest HR% against the Cubs all played on huge rivals, Cardinals, and the Brewers.
Adam Dunn, who isn’t on the list, hit a home run against the Cubs 9.11% of the time (most of any player) but also struck out 36% of the time, proving the best approach to Dunn was to pitch to him. Of the players pulled (used a minimum of 10 career home runs against the Cubs) Jim Morrison has the highest career average against the Cubs (not including Goldschmidt) with a .361 AVG. He also hit 10 career homers against the North-siders. In his 12 year career, nearly 10% of all his home runs came against the Cubs, and he batted nearly 100 points above his career average against the team.
A total of nine players have a career OPS over 1.000 against the Cubs, with Frank Robinson, who has the highest OPS against the Cubs (1.081) he hit more home runs against the Cubs than any other team.
Cubs Hall of Famer, Andre Dawson has a career slash line of .305/.350/.515 with 27 homers against the Cubs in 163 games. He might have made the right choice going to Chicago when he became a free agent after the 1986 season.
So in honor of Goldy, who has a .362/.473/.739 slash line with 14 homers in 38 games played, here is the list of the biggest Cubs killers of all-time, position by position.
Catcher
This list has to start with Gary Carter. Over his Hall of Fame career, Gary had a .274/.346/.477 slash line when playing the Cubs. He also powered 41 balls out of the park when facing the baby bears. What is interesting, it took Carter 29 games against the Cubs before he blasted his first homer against them. But, just because he wasn’t launching balls out of the park doesn’t mean he wasn’t hurting the Cubs in other ways.
In his first game against the Chicago National League ballclub (9/24/1974), Carter had a pair of hits, including a triple, three RBIs, and a pair of runs scored. But, as great as Carter performed against the Cubs, his 155 career RBI against the Cubs are only eighth-most for any single opponent.
First Base
There was a stretch of seasons where I don’t know if the Cubs got Albert Pujols out. And if he was out, it was because Albert wanted a rest from running the bases. His ability to absolutely crush the Cubs, especially in the most inopportune times.
I mean, look at this stat-line…
163 Games Started, .297 AVG, .399 OBP, .613 SLG 56 HR, 144 RBI, 128 R, 196 H, 106 BB
He was on base (at least, this doesn’t include reach on error) 302 times in 659 at-bats – WOW! But the homers and just plain killing the Cubs whenever he could. He’s certainly a true Cubs-killer.
Honorable mentions go out to Keith Hernandez, who hit .318/.391/.458 and Andres Galarraga who hit 33 career homers against the Cubs.
Second Base
Craig Biggio was that small solid guy that just always did you in. Like a good version of David Eckstein. Whether Biggio was at the plate or in the field (at any of the four different positions he played) he just always seemed to do the right thing at the right time, much to the dismay of the Chicago Cubs.
Having played only 8% of his games against the Cubs, 12% of his home runs, 10% of his RBI, 10% of his runs came at the expense of the Cubs. He is also one of three players to have career 30/30 campaigns against the Cubs.
Oh, and he has the second most hits of any opponent in the divisional era against the Cubs (264).
You could also point to Jeff Kent as a Cubs-killer, but he had 122 fewer hits against the Cubs in his career.
Third Base
This is the ultimate Cubs killer. This is the guy that your head immediately went to when you opened the article. The guy that you said, this article isn’t worth anything if he isn’t in it.
Michael Jack Schmidt.
Mike Schmidt invented the term Cub-killer, and his numbers show why. In his 269 games against the Cubs, he nailed 78 homers, most by any opposing player in history. His 222 strikeouts are also the most by an opposing player, but it wasn’t enough to think you were better pitching to him than pitching around him. I mean, the guy had 129 extra base hits against the Cubs, and he was given a free pass 31 times.
I don’t know if you could toss up another player that would be an honorable mention after Schmidt, but the prementioned Frank Robinson did a heck of a job, OPS’ing 1.081 against the team, 0.096 points better than Schmidt in 89 fewer games.
Shortstop
Barry Larkin‘s career against the Cubs almost perfectly mimics his entire career. Just an incredibly solid player all around, and did everything extremely well on the baseball field. He might be the last Hall of Fame player to have played his entire career on one team (unless that holds true for the left fielder I’m about to name), and while he was with the Cincinnati Reds he did his job in beating the Cubs.
In 19 years, Larkin beat the Cubs with his .317/.392/.480 slash line, 17 home runs, 32 stolen bases, 40 doubles, and 117 runs in 175 games.
Also to note, Ozzie Smith. His 263 career hits against the Cubs rank T-5 all time. Oh, and of course, he was a pretty good player for the Cardinals for a very long time.
Left Field
While shortstop seemed to have little competition, left field (and most of the outfield) seems to have a ton of players worthy of being noted. There was Barry Bonds, who crushed 47 career homers against the Cubs, but he only hit .250 against the Northsiders in his career, much lower than his career mark of .298. Carlos Lee belted 39 home runs against the Cubs, by far the most against an opponent. Adam Dunn (already mentioned) hit a homer in 9.1% of his at-bats against Chicago, but also struck out 36% of the time as well.
The one player, who is also the only active player on this list, who has consistently hit against the Cubs regardless of how his season has gone is Ryan Braun.
In his 163 games against the Cubs, he has put together an MVP type of season. 199 hits, 47 doubles, 33 homers, 120 RBI, 115 R, .323/.399/.562 slash line. Braun has been a thorn in the Cubs side. We all might point to the PED’s factor with Braun, but he has killed the Cubs before and after he was caught.
Another honorable mention here is Pittsburgh Pirates great, Willie Stargell. Willie hit the fifth most homers against the Cubs (50), but he played about 40% of his career at first base.
Center Field
There could be several center fielders that make this list, but the “Say Hey Kid” Willie Mays is far and away the biggest Cub-killer among them all.
In his 270 games against the Cubs, he hit 72 bombs, 64 doubles, 329 hits, scored 199 runs, drove in 207 runs, walked 118 times (15 intentional), stole 40 bases, and slashed .330/.400/.631 with a 1.031 OPS. Oh, and he also played Gold Glove caliber defense.
Other guys that equally frustrated Cubs hitters, Al Oliver (.333/.372/.525) and Andy Van Slyke (.300/.386/.528).
Right Field
Who would have guessed that the at one-time, all-time home run leader would have hit a lot of homers against the Cubs? Well, his 75 career home runs against the Cubs are second most from a Cubs opponent. He also played the second most games against the Cubs (Charlie Hustle, Pete Rose has the most) with 284.
His .327 AVG against the Cubs was better than his career mark, same with his OBP and SLG. His 217 RBI is the most by an opposing player, and he also added 62 additional extra bases (outside of his HR’s).
I should also mention Tony Gwynn (.333/.387/.439), Roberto Clemente (.323/.373/.506 38 HR), and Dave Parker (.329/.388/.517).
Starting Pitchers
- Sandy Koufax 20-11 2.40 ERA 303.1 IP 361 K 1.04 WHIP
- Don Drysdale 30-18 2.62 ERA 450.2 IP 367 K 1.10 WHIP
- Nolan Ryan 16-5 2.40 ERA 198.2 IP 185 K 1.11 WHIP
- Tom Seaver 24-18 2.51 ERA 387.2 IP 299 K 1.13 WHIP
- Greg Maddux 12-4 2.65 ERA 169.2 IP 117 K 0.96 WHIP
In any era of baseball, that list would be almost impossible to have success against. All Hall of Fame guys, all nearly impossible to hit for different reasons.
It was almost impossible to create this list as there are guys like Juan Marichal, Bob Gibson, Steve Rogers, Jerry Koosman, that all had great careers against the Cubs. So I weighed heavily on K/9, WHIP, and overwhelmingly hard to ignore records against (however I personally don’t weight W/L records as a measure of a successful pitcher).
In any event, this fivesome beat down on the Cubs to the tune of a 65% winning percentage, not too shabby. Those 1,329 strikeouts are troublesome for Cubs hitters, could you imagine players today (who are more susceptible to striking out) hitting against that top four? Then Maddux in his prime just fooling with the aggressiveness of a young slugger? Wow.
Who did we leave off the list that you would have added? Is the list completely off in one area or another? Let us know!
FOO FIGHTERS AT WRIGLEY FIELD!
