As I write this, the Chicago Cubs are half a game out of the final NL Wild Card, just like half the other squads in the NL, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys, and your company softball team. They've lost four of their last five, so maybe I'd better post this before they tumble any further...1
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Bryan LaHair 2012
Micah Hoffpauir 2009
Lloyd McClendon 1989
Matt Stairs 2001
Eric Karros 2003
Pete LaCock 1976
LaHair and Hoffpauir are similar players, left-handed hitting first basemen/outfielders with a little pop. Each had a single good year, three seasons apart. LaHair's was a bit better; he led in OPS .784 to .727 and made the 2012 All-Star Game. McClendon went on to success as a platoon player with the early 90's Pirates, but his .847 OPS with 12 homers as a part-time player with the division champions stands as his best year. Stairs was a natural DH who could play first or outfield if he absolutely had to; now that both leagues have the DH, he'd never put on a glove but might hit 300-plus homers instead of 265. Karros had a lot of successful years as a Dodger, one less than successful year in Chicago: a .786 OPS in only 114 games. Had a two homer game in the Division Series. LaCock walked 79 times in about a season of plate appearances in '75-76, traded to Kansas City and played better there.
Remember I said Bryan LaHair made an All-Star Game? Yeah, the Cubs were not good at the turn of the last decade, dropping from 87 to 91 to 101 losses between 2010 and 2012. Sometimes you get weird All-Stars from such teams, and sometimes you also get retread first basemen hitting 28 homers, with 80 RBI and an .819 OPS. Sporting 161 strikeouts and a .225 batting average, Pena was rather feast or famine, but everybody is nowadays. Arrived as a free agent and left a year later the same way. Anthony Rizzo took over the job from LaHair midway through the next year, and things started turning around in Wrigley.
Born in Pocahantas, Iowa, the best first baseman born in that state since Hal Trosky's prime in the 1930's. Achieved a career high in hits in '77 with 147, one of two years in his career he reached triple digits and also the only year he hit double-digit homers, with 12. Even at that, he only managed a .777 OPS, nothing to write home about for a corner infielder at Wrigley. Fits in the group of left-handed bats manager used to keep on their bench to pinch-hit, not quite good enough for regular playing time. Reinforced the impression by hitting .228 against lefties for his career, with a .663 OPS. 14-year career, but you'll have forgotten it by the end of the next paragraph.
On the flip side of Rizzo's tenure, the Cubs had to beg, borrow, and Schwindel to keep the lights on at first base. Slugged at a .591 clip in 2021, .613 after coming from Oakland on waivers in July. Slumped the next year and gave the job back quickly. Had 40 hits in 26 games in September, seven of them homers. Served as an emergency pitcher three times in '22, allowing 4 homers in three one-inning outings. Career OBP is slightly higher against righties, but slugged 27 points better the right way. He's out of the league in his early 30's, but I might not have given up on him as a lefty-masher.
Went on to hit 214 homers in Cleveland, but did well in limited at-bats in '74 (.807 OPS) and spectacularly in '75 (.944). The Cubs probably shouldn't have traded him for Biittner and a year-plus of Steve Renko, but they're the Cubs. They shouldn't have done a lot of things. Missed April of 1975 completely, compensated with a closing kick: .321 with eight homers, 21 RBI in September. Slugged only .399 with men on base, or he might have improved on his 60 RBI. 88 walks in 120 games, however, is some modern-style plate discipline. Seems to have been called "Andy" some in his early days, but "Andre" is a much cooler name for a power hitter, don't you think?
Mark Grace was so durable and such a long-term Cub, hardly anybody else played that position for them in the entire 1990's decade. (Second-most AB's as a Cubs first baseman between 1990 and 2000: Julio Zuleta, with 68.) Grace went to Arizona in '01 to win a ring, finally freeing up some playing time for others: Zuleta, Stairs, and after a deadline trade: McGriff, Grace’s rival for most consistent first baseman of the previous decade. The Crime Dog was aging, but only cost Chicago Manny Aybar and Jason Smith, a bargain price for a Hall of Famer with one and a half good years left. Slugged .659 at Wrigley after the trade, but better on the road in '02.
Players shifting between first base and center field, not just at the end of the line to keep a great bat in the lineup like Mantle in the late 60's, but in something akin to their primes: Pepitone. Darin Erstad. That's all I've got off the top of my head. I never understand the combo: It's one thing to shift between infield positions or outfield corners, but if a guy can play center at all, seems like he's got to be wasted at first, right? A power hitter with 219 career homers, Pepitone hadn't hit over .258 since 1963, his first full year with the Yankees, before kicking that up to .307 given a year in Chicago. It wasn't just Wrigley: He hit .315 on the road, career average .252. I guess those high mounds in the 60's really bothered him...
Obviously far better earlier in his career, I could list him as the #1 Cubs shortstop for his final year there in '61. But to my mind, Banks the 50's shortstop and Banks the 60's first baseman are almost two different players, and it's the latter who was part of the era we're concerned with. Still had home run power at his new position (37 HR in '62, 28 in '65, 32 in '68), but OBP never reached .330 while playing that position. The 60's make his stats look worse than they were, but the park makes them comparatively better: He hit 21 bombs at home in the pitcher's paradise of '68, but only .219-.257-.396 on the road. Also hit .186-.228-.244 in Chicago's 8-17 September swoon in 1969, his last full year, linked to the fate of the Cubs like E.T. and Elliott.
If you're making Cubs teams by eras, Durham exacerbates Grace's domination of the 90's by rendering their 1980's first base position problematic as well: Had his best season by far in 1982 (.312-.388-.521, 90 RBI), playing right field. But the Cubs have Moreland and Dawson in the same decade, so you don't need Durham there, or even as a DH, if you're using one. Their other options with significant at-bats in the 80’s are Grace, their first baseman of the 90's, and Bill Buckner, their first baseman of the 70's. It's a 25-year logjam at the position caused by the bunching of three quality players, which bothers me way more than it would a normal person. In practical terms, Durham doesn't seem to have been much of an outfielder, so we'll rank his .874 OPS at first in the division title year.
On the other hand, we can go ahead and use Buckner's '81: from our current perspective, a 1970's Cubs decade team probably runs from more like 1972-82, so we can make the final decade end with ‘23. Does that sound right? No? I dunno what to tell you, it made sense in my head. Buckner was the Keith Hernandez lefty line-drive model of first baseman, but without the walks and (rather infamously) without the defense, it's not really the same. Arguably better in '82, but with a career-high .480 slugging percentage and a league leading 35 doubles in '81, he's among the handful of players who stood out in the strike year.
A quality player for a long time, so I don't think we can use the word fluke, but Lee's 2005 was one of the most dominant seasons I can remember by a relatively non-dominant player: Led the league in hits (199), doubles (50), batting average (.335), slugging (.662), 1.080 OPS, 46 homers, 120 runs, 107 RBI. They gave the MVP to Albert Pujols, having an ordinary year by his inner-circle Hall of Fame standards, and Andruw Jones finished second in his 51 home run year (but with his epic center-field defense diminished from his peak.) In retrospect, I think I would have voted for Lee, although it's hard to argue against Pujols in any season for about a decade. After an injury year, Lee was perfectly good for three-plus Cubs seasons, but never in that company again.
Follows Sosa, Williams, Santo, Sandberg, and Banks on the list of Cubs home-run hitters of the expansion era, just ahead of Aramis Ramirez. Right on the line between "productive long-term regular" and "icon," in other words. If we give him his five postseason homers, he sneaks ahead of Mr. Cub (again, for the era). Also, none of the others bring a championship to the table; barring any objections, I'll rank him with their greatest. As consistent a hitter as you'll ever see, hit 31 or 32 homers four straight years from '14 to '17, OPS's of .913, .899, .929, and .899 again. Also won three Gold Gloves. One of them came in the championship year, and I have to stress HE WON A CHAMPIONSHIP AS A CHICAGO CUB, so we'll rank that season.
I called it the Keith Hernandez model, but Cubs fans might justifiably call this type of first baseman the "Mark Grace model." Their raw career totals are similar: .303-.383-.442 line for Grace, .296-.384-.436 for Keith. Grace had a few more hits (2445 to 2182), more homers (173-162), RBI (1146-1071), runs scored (1179-1124), walks (1075-1070). Hernandez won more Gold Gloves, 11 to 4, and played in tougher eras, probably tougher parks, so his numbers look better in context. Still, the similarities are eerie. If they hadn't been contemporaries for a couple of seasons, I'd have thought they downloaded Hernandez into a new body for a second career.2 Grace went nuts in '89 LCS: .647 average on 11 hits, 8 RBI in 5 games. But of course, Hernandez won an extra ring.
I think you could make an argument for Rizzo as #1 here, if you strongly value having a traditional, power-type first baseman or give extra credit for winning. But if you asked me to name a Cubs first baseman, Grace's name would come to my lips a fraction of a second before Rizzo's, and it's not only because I'm an old dude who peaked in the 90's. Amazing Grace, indeed.
On Friday: Cardinals first basemen. So I'll be talking about Hernandez again.
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Sorry, I’ve been watching Battlestar Galactica…