Chicago Cubs: The Heroes of Wrigley Series presents Rick Reuschel

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Chicago Cubs: Is Reuschel a Cooperstown snub?

Rick Reuschel’s career spanned 19 seasons where he compiled a 214-191 record with 102 complete games (19 percent of his career starts), two Gold Glove Awards and was twice an All-Star.

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Twelve of those 19 seasons were spent on the North Side of Chicago where he won a total of 135 games (15 percent of the team’s victories from 1972-81 and 1983-84), pitched in 358 total games, started 343 of them (2nd in franchise history) and tossed 2290 1/3 innings (6th). His 48.3 bWAR is cemented as second in club history only behind Fergie Jenkins (52.9).

In 1997, his first year of eligibility on the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, Reuschel received only 0.4 percent of the votes, falling well short of the required amount for future consideration.

Rick Reuschel’s career record is what probably hindered his Hall chances and made voters bypass his consideration so quickly. However, that’s not the only statistic that should be taken into account when really analyzing his career performance.

Pitching on mostly bottom-dwelling teams for the majority of his career, Reuschel’s overall record probably suffered which caused voters to overlook the notoriety he deserved. He was one of the most solid and consistent pitchers of his time.

His career bWAR is 69.7, which is actually higher than other Cooperstown notables such as Don Drysdale, Don Sutton, John Smoltz, Juan Marichal, and 2019 inductee, the late, great Roy Halladay.

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Cooperstown may have overlooked his success, longevity, and consistency but, to Cub fans, “Big Daddy” will forever be remembered as a Hero of Wrigley.

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