Chicago Cubs: Five guys you forgot played for the Cubs

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There have been plenty of memorable names to have suited up for the Chicago Cubs over the years. There are also plenty who fans may have forgotten about and have to be reminded to remember their tenure in Chicago.

For all you Chicago Cubs history nuts out there, ever look at a box score online of an old Cubs game and see some names on the sheet and go, “Oh yeah! He was a Cub.” Some players who spent time on the north side can be forgotten about for a number of reasons: they did not work out, their time here was brief, or they played on some terrible teams.

Seeing as the Cubs have been around longer than most professional sports franchises in the United States, many names fit these criteria. For this piece though we will pick five. There are certain things to keep in mind before looking at this list.

The main thing is that these names are not some obscure minor leaguers who had a brief time with the Cubs, these are guys relatively known in the baseball world. These are not necessarily all Hall of Famers or All-Stars, but at least veteran guys who have been around long enough for people to at least remember their names. Key is looking at guys we forgot were Chicago Cubs, not those who played.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at this list!

(Photo by Michael Heiman/Getty Images) /

Chicago Cubs: How many of you are old enough to remember Tony LaRussa in Chicago?

That’s right, Hall of Fame manager Tony LaRussa once suited up to play for the Cubs. Before he managed, he was a middle infielder in the 60s and early 70s. Let’s just say his playing career is not what got him into Cooperstown. In 132 career games, he hit .199/.292/.250 with no home runs and seven RBIs. He never came close to playing 100+ games in a season.

So what was his Cubs tenure like? He played in one game as a Cub on Opening Day, 1973 at Wrigley Field against the Montreal Expos. He was a pinch-runner in the ninth inning for Ron Santo who reached on an error and eventually scored the game-winning run on a walk-off walk. He never played in an MLB game again after he scored that run. He bounced between the Pirates, White Sox, and Cardinals organizations but never played with their big league clubs.

Not much else to say about him. He would go on to be one of the greatest managers in MLB history and probably does not care to recall his unsuccessful playing career. His one game as a Cub in 1973 is a nice little footnote in team history.

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

Chicago Cubs: Former All-Star Tony Womack was a Cub in 2003 and 2006

Unlike LaRussa, former utility man Tony Womack had a long playing career. The former infielder and outfielder played 13 years in the majors and batted .273/.317/.356 with 36 home runs, 363 stolen bases and recorded 1,353 hits. He was an All-Star in 1997 when he played in Pittsburgh.

His first stop in Chicago was in 2003 when he came over from the Rockies in mid-August during their run to the playoffs. In the 21 games he played he with the Cubs hit .235/.250/.314 and stole two bases. He did not appear in the 2003 playoffs. After bouncing around the next few years with the Cardinals, Yankees and Reds, he returned to the Cubs in 2006 when he signed in May of that year. He only appeared in 19 games hitting .280/.333/.360 before being released in June, which would end his MLB career.

Womack was not a player one would think of as a member of the division winning 2003 Cubs. He was an excellent player for many years but was pretty much past his prime by the time he was a Cub.

Chicago Cubs: Many positions were a rotating door in the Theo rebuild years and many names passed through…including veteran Scott Hairston.

Scott Hairston is one of many of the Hairston family members to play baseball. Scott played 11 seasons in the majors and hit .242/.296/.442 with 106 homers and 313 RBIs. Towards the end of his career in 2013, he signed with the Cubs on a two-year deal. He was mainly meant to be a veteran presence and a spot-filler.

Hairston only played in 52 games as a Cub in 2013, hitting .172/.232/.434 with eight homers and 19 RBIs before being traded to the Nationals in July. The Cubs got a minor league arm by the name of Ivan Pineyro in return, who was pitching in the Angels organization last year. He played out the rest of his contract through 2014 with the Nationals and never saw the majors again.

The funny thing is the 2013 Cubs had such a rotating door of outfielders since veterans like Alfonso Soriano and David DeJesus were also traded away that season. Hairston was probably the most recognizable name to play the outfield outside those other two that season. At least he gave us a grand slam against the Diamondbacks on May 31st of that year.

Chicago Cubs: Veteran Doug Davis pitched his last MLB games in Chicago

The 2011 Chicago Cubs were a team with no hope, and no future before Theo Epstein came in and changed everything. It was a dark, gloomy year and GM Jim Hendry gave one last meek attempt at contending that just ended with a 71-91 record. Within that bad season was veteran lefty starter, Doug Davis.

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Davis, who was 35 at the time, was in his 13th season as an MLB player. He spent most of it with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Milwaukee Brewers. He had some solid seasons but was overall mediocre/average, pitching to a 4.44 ERA, 4.41 FIP, 1.5 WHIP and 6.7 K/9 in 1,715 2/3 innings.

He came to the Cubs in April of 2011 and would make nine starts. The results were a 6.50 ERA and 1.861 WHIP with 36 strikeouts and 26 walks in 45.2 innings. By far his best game as a Cub was his 7 1/3 inning performance against the New York Yankees as he gave up just one run on three hits and struck out four at Wrigley Field on June 17th. Just a few weeks later he was released after giving up 10 earned runs against the Giants on June 28th.

If Davis were a Cub in his prime, he would probably have stuck around a bit longer. But being 35 in a really bad season briefly is a recipe of forgetting his tenure here.

Chicago Cubs: The 2009 squad had an outfielder by the name of Joey Gathright

2009 was a lot like 2004, a team with high expectations that did not make the postseason in the end. Mixed within that story was the brief Cubs tenure of Joey Gathright. He is probably the most “obscure” name on this list, though he did play in 452 MLB games with a respectable .263/.328/.303 slash.

Gathright came to the Cubs in 2009 as a free agent in the offseason and played in just 20 games in red, white and blue before being traded to Baltimore for Ryan Freel. He recorded three singles in 14 at-bats and drew one walk. His tenure in Chicago was over in early May when the trade happened. Outside of a few people recording some Spring Training footage of him on YouTube, cannot say there are any highlight videos of him as a Cub online.

Next. What to make of Lester's rough spring. dark

There are so many other names that could fit on this list, would love for readers to comment with more names!

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Chicago Cubs: Five guys you may have forgotten played for them