Sticking to Great

Over at renewed good friend Bleed Cubbie Blue, they've been compiling a list of the greatest 100 players ever to wear a Cub uniform. They've run through about 20 players and, so far, there’s been a big problem with the list.

Quite a few of the players listed suck.

See, when a team goes 98 years without winning, a significant reason for that lack of winning is a lack of great players. While it is quite easy to rank the top 100 players in Cub franchise history, it is actually rather hard to dole out the term “greatest” to 100 players as so few of them were great.

What we here at Ivy Chat have created (with some Desipiotic assistance), is a list of the 63 players in Cub history DESERVING to be included on a "greatest" list. We've also compiled a second list of 25 players who are "on the bubble" for inclusion on the list.

The criteria used were entirely subjective, save the need for the player to have played 3 full seasons in a Cub uniform. The main point is not who were our "favorite" players, but who were actually good. That eliminates the Ivan DeJesuses from consideration. If they sucked, they sucked and are not listed, even if they may have been one of the 100 best players to whom the franchise has issued payroll checks.

Here are the two lists:

Top Players in Cub History

Al Spalding	Andre Dawson	Andy Pafko	Aramis Ramirez
Bill Buckner	Bill Hands	Bill Lee	Bill Madlock
Bill Nicholson	Billy Herman	Billy Williams	Bruce Sutter
Cap Anson	Carlos Zambrano	Charlie Grimm	Charlie Root
Clark Griffith	Claude Passeau	Derrek Lee	Dick Ellsworth
Dizzy Dean	Don Kessinger	Ed Reulbach	Ernie Banks
Fergie Jenkins	Frank Chance	Gabby Hartnett	Glenn Beckert
Greg Maddux	Grover Cleveland Alexander	Hack Wilson	Hank Sauer
Heinie Zimmerman	Hippo Vaughn	Jack Pfeister	Joe Tinker
John Clarkson	Johnny Evers	Johnny Kling	Jon Lieber
Ken Holtzman	Kiki Cuyler	King Kelly	Lee Smith
Leon Durham	Lon Warneke	Manny Trillo	Mark Grace
Mordecai Brown	Ned Williamson	Orval Overall	Phil Cavaretta
Randy Hundley	Randy Myers	Rick Reuschel	Rick Sutcliffe
Riggs Stephenson	Rogers Hornsby	Ron Santo	Ryne Sandberg
Sammy Sosa	Stan Hack	Woody English

And the Bubble Boys:

On The Bubble Top Players in Cub History

Augie Galan	Bill Dahlen	Bill Lange	Bob Rush
Dave Kingman	Frank "Wildfire" Schulte	Fred Pfeffer	George Altman
George Gore	Guy Bush	Hank Wyse	Jimmy Ryan
Jimmy Sheckard	Jody Davis	Keith Moreland	Larry French
Max Flack	Michael Barrett	Milt Pappas	Moises Alou
Pat Malone	Ray Grimes	Rick Monday	Shawon Dunston
Tex Carleton

Some feedback please. Why should some of the top 63 be left off? Why should some of the Bubble Boys be promoted? Why should some of the Bubble Boys be eliminated? Anyone who has been forgotten?

And if you suggest Jerry Morales, you can go jump in Lake Michigan.