Ranking the top five Chicago Cubs leadoff hitters in history

The Chicago Cubs don’t have a clear-cut leadoff hitter heading into 2019. But to get an idea as to what a prolific leadoff hitter would look like, here’s a list of the top five leadoff hitters in Cubs history.

When you think of the Chicago Cubs, there aren’t many great leadoff hitters that come to mind. They haven’t had the luxury of having a Hall of Fame caliber player bat at the top of the lineup like Rickey Henderson, Ichiro Suzuki or Craig Biggio. These guys were staples for their franchises for nearly a decade or more. In their history, the Cubs may have had one guy like that.

Instead, the Cubs more often than not have a platoon at the top of the order or look for magic in a bottle. Sometimes it’s worked in their favor, and other times it’s failed miserably, I mean, we all know the Kyle Schwarber experiment certainly didn’t work out.

Around baseball, the definition of the leadoff man has changed over the years and from team to team. The leadoff man used to be someone who would always work a strong at-bat, get on base at whatever the cost and score runs for your team. Nowadays teams look for leadoff guys to even have power in that spot, guys that can start the game off with a bang to give your team an early lead.

The Cubs have had a lot of different leadoff men over the years, each of whom brought something different to the table. Some enjoyed long runs of success at the top of the lineup while others crashed and burned. Here’s a rundown of the five best leadoff men the Cubs have ever had.