Chicago Cubs: Villains who would join the Cubs

Jim Edmonds – Chicago Cubs (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

There have been plenty of opposing players over the years who have tortured the Chicago Cubs in one way or another. Some of them eventually became Cubs…and it felt weird.

Hard to find a Chicago Cubs fan who does not cringe when they hear names like Steve Garvey, Albert Pujols or Ryan Braun. These guys are often classified as “Cubs villains” or “Cubs killers” among fans.

These players are classified as such due to either past performances against their team, previous scraps with a Cubs player(s), merely being a good player on a rival team, etc. Rarely is it ever because the player is evil, just to make that clear. Many great players throughout history were seen as villains to their rival teams just for how they played against them.

Those players just mentioned undoubtedly are some of the big Cub killers of the past 35-some years, but there are plenty of others. Sometimes these types of players eventually make their way to Chicago and put on Cubbie Blue uniforms, which usually gets met with mixed feelings from the fans. Sometimes a fan dreams of a great player on a rival team finally joining theirs’ while others refuse to forget the numerous times that player killed them in big games.

There is an interesting mix of long-time Cubs villains who eventually became Cubs. Some of them worked out great, others not so much. Here is a list of former Cubs villains that ultimately joined them.

Chicago Cubs: Safe to say he is still not liked by many Cubs fans even after having a brief run with them

It was May, 2008 when the Cubs brought in 38-year old Jim Edmonds. Many fans wanted to puke at the thought of the former Cardinal All-Star wearing Cubs blue. Edmonds not only did a ton of damage against the Cubs, .270/.392/.538 with 32 homers and a .930 OPS, but he got into it with Cubs players in the past. Remember the game with him and Carlos Zambrano in 2004?

Edmonds played hard and did not back down from anything. Regardless of the past, Edmonds was brought to Chicago to help give the team a veteran bat and outfield glove. In his 85 games as a Cub, he did a pretty good job. He hit .256/.369/.568 with 19 homers, 135 OPS+ and .937 OPS. Better than expected at his age.

Safe to say some fans (including myself) did warm up to him that year. He made the final catch in the division-clinching game against his former team in September. Like him or not, he was a big part of that 97-win team. He even said he wanted to be accepted as a Cub when he was in Chicago..something that sparked a spat with former manager Tony LaRussa.

After that? He went right back to being a Cubs villain…even though he did not play much longer. Eighty-five games in Chicago does not compare to the 1,105 games he played as a Cardinal and all the damage he did at Wrigley in red. Outside Chicago, most baseball fans probably do not even remember Edmonds was a Cub.

Thanks for 2008, at least.

Chicago Cubs: Before winning a ring with the Cubs in 2016, he was a Cardinal who often owned Cubs hitters

“I didn’t come for a haircut; I came for jewelry.”

Who can forget that iconic quote from former Cubs hurler John Lackey? A few months after this quote, he celebrated with his Cubs teammates after winning the World Series. Lackey pitched 15 years in the majors with his career-ending in Chicago in 2017. His final season was rough…ut his 2016 season he pitched to a 3.35 ERA, 3.81 FIP, 1.1 WHIP and 8.6 K/9 in 29 starts.

Before being part of the Cubs championship run, he was a Cardinal in 2014-2015. Long story short, he was not liked at all by Cubs fans in those days. Lackey was not the kind of guy who cared about being liked and had an old fashion “rough and tough” personality that could get under people’s skin. Add the fact he was on the Cardinals, which escalated that villain status.

2015 was the peak year of that Lackey-Cubs battles. The young Cubs could not solve Lackey in the regular season as he put up a 1.25 ERA in three starts against them. When the Cubs faced the Cardinals in the playoffs, Lackey shut them out in game one.

Everything blew up on Lackey in Game 4 when the Cubs ambushed him and went on to win the game and series that night. The raucous crowd at Wrigley mock-chanted Lackey as he screamed in a fury on the mound. It was like demons of the past were exercised in the form of steam coming out of Lackey’s ears.

The next season when he came to Chicago, he certainly was not the most popular Cub, but many at least accepted him. He will always be a part of that 2016 season.

Chicago Cubs: The ultimate Cubs villain had a forgettable run in 2018 in Chicago

Ugh. Daniel Murphy. The man who crushed the dreams of a World Series in the Windy City back in 2015. The NLCS that season against the Mets was a series that nothing went right for the Cubs, but Murphy’s performance was unreal. He hit .529/.556/1.294 with four homers in that four-game series. Seeing him grin and pump his fist in the air after hitting his fourth homer in the series was hard to stomach.

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In his career, Murphy has a .341/.377/.574 slash with 10 homers and .951 OPS against the Cubs in 59 regular-season games. This is between the Mets, Nationals and Rockies. Some players were born just to kill the Cubs, and Murphy is one of them.

It was late August in 2018 when the Cubs acquired Murphy on a waiver claim. The Cubs needed a bat for the final stretch, and they were able to snag him. It just felt wrong, but they needed an offensive spark.

He played 35 games with the Cubs in 2018 and hit .297/.329/.471 with six homers. The numbers as a whole look good, but they were greatly attributed to his hot start before really cooling off in the final weeks as they fell in the Wild Card game.

Murphy was gone as soon as he arrived. No question, he will always be the villain who destroyed Cubs pitching and broke their hearts in 2015. He was never really embraced here; he was at most a ray of hope in an offense that “broke”.

Ugh. Just ugh.

Chicago Cubs: One of the fanbase’s most beloved players was not always popular in Wrigleyville

The great Andre Dawson a Cubs villain?? Well, he was not hated like others on this list, but boy did Dawson kill the Cubs before signing a blank check to play for them in 1987.

One could argue Dawson is widely remembered as being a Chicago Cub in his Hall of Fame career, but his days as a Montreal Expo have not been forgotten either. Dawson spent 11 of his 21 playing years as an Expo, and his hat on his Hall of Fame plaque has the Montreal “M” on it.

Before Dawson joined the Cubs, he did significant damage against them. In his career against the Cubs, he hit 27 homers (all as an Expo) with a .305/.350/.515 slash in 171 games. Only five of his 204 career hits against the Cubs came after his Cubs/Expos days as a Florida Marlin in 1995. So practically all of his damage against the Cubs was done from 1976-1986 as an Expo before joining the Cubs.

But his six years as a Cub, including his 1987 MVP season, turned the former Cub-killer into a hero at Clark and Addison. Good luck finding a Cubs fan in the late-80s who did not love The Hawk. He is a classy guy and truly one of baseball’s best.

Who will be the next Cubs villain to come to Chicago? Time will tell, but hopefully, they will help lead the team to a World Series.