Chicago Cubs: Ten players you may have forgotten were once on the team

We all know the star players who spent many years with the Chicago Cubs. Yet here we look at some star players you may have forgotten were on the team.

We all know the star players who have put on the blue pinstripes for the Chicago Cubs over the years. We know about the great Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, possibly the franchise’s most established player of all time. We know about Billy Williams, who starred for the Cubs for years and would also make the Hall of Fame.

We know about Ron Santo, who eventually made the Hall of Fame after his passing and spent many years entertaining Cubs fans in the radio booth. We also know about Fergie Jenkins, the most decorated pitcher in Cubs history. We also know about other greats like Ryne Sandberg, Mark Grace, Sammy Sosa, just to name a few.

The Cubs have had a lot of star players who spent many years with the team. Even though Greg Maddux spent his best years with the Atlanta Braves, he still accomplished a lot while with the Cubs. Members of the 2016 team also became stars when they helped the team win their first title in 108 years, even the ones who didn’t contribute much to the team.

Yet the Cubs have also had some players on their team who were stars for a long time elsewhere. Here, we look at ten players who accomplished a lot in other places but who briefly spent time with the Cubs. Some you might remember and some you may have forgotten. Some were part of big Cubs moments, while others’ tenures were forgettable. Still, they were all once Chicago Cubs, and they should be recognized as such.

Chicago Cubs: Jamie Moyer

Left-handed pitcher Jamie Moyer was known for years as the ageless wonder because he was able to hang around so long in the major leagues. He pitched all the way until 2012 when he was 49 years old. That long career, which began in 1986, started with the Chicago Cubs.

The Cubs drafted Moyer in the sixth round of the 1984 amateur draft, and he signed on June 7, 1984, and would make his major league debut with the Cubs two years later, on June 16, 1986, against the Philadelphia Phillies. On that day, he lasted 6 1/3 innings and allowed four runs but earned the win.

For the next two years, Moyer would struggle to find his footing in the majors. He made 16 starts in 1986 and posted a 5.05 ERA. Then in 1987, he made 35 appearances – including 33 starts – and posted a 5.10 ERA, leading the league in earned runs allowed. It would all come together in 1988, however, as he made 34 appearances (30 starts) and posted a 3.48 ERA.

The Cubs traded Moyer before the 1989 season (see more details on the next slide), and Moyer’s long career would take him to several places. His best stretch was with the Seattle Mariners when he finished in the top six in AL Cy Young Award voting three times over five years between 1999 and 2003. He’d also win a World Series ring with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008.

Moyer finished his exceptional career with 269 wins, making 638 starts. He’s the all-time major league leader in home runs allowed with 522.

Chicago Cubs: Rafael Palmeiro

As we know, Rafael Palmeiro would easily make the Hall of Fame had his career not been tainted by steroid use. The career numbers are incredible: 569 home runs, 1,835 RBIs, 585 doubles, and 3,020 total hits. Many forget about his defense, yet he also won three Gold Glove Awards. Amazingly, he only made the All-Star team four times, yet he placed in MVP voting ten times.

Most of Palmeiro’s career was with the Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles. Many forget that the Chicago Cubs were his original team. He was drafted by the New York Mets in 1982 but did not sign; three years later, he was drafted by the Cubs in the first round (22nd overall) and did sign. He made his big league debut just a year than with the Cubs on September 8, 1986.

Palmeiro split 1987 between the minors and majors, yet he stuck in 1988 and made the All-Star team, mainly by batting .351 through June 1. He would fade a little down the stretch, finishing the year at .307, while only hitting eight home runs, his power wouldn’t show up for a few more years.

At the time, the Cubs also had another up-and-coming first baseman, Mark Grace, and the Cubs decided to trade the Jamie as mentioned above Moyer along with Palmeiro to the Texas Rangers before the 1989 season. Mitch Williams came over to the Cubs in that trade, and he served as the closer for the Cubs’ 1989 National League East-winning team.

Chicago Cubs: Luis Gonzalez

Outfielder Luis Gonzalez had an excellent career, collecting 2,591 hits, 354 home runs, a whopping 596 doubles, and 1,439 RBIs. His best years were with the Arizona Diamondbacks, particularly 2001, with their World Series Championship team, when he hit 57 home runs while batting .325. Overall, from 1999 to 2003, he had a five-year stretch in which he hit at least 26 home runs and drove in over 100 each year while batting over .300 in four of those five years.

Before all that, many forget that Gonzalez spent some time with the Chicago Cubs. There was no indication during the first several years of Gonzalez’s career that he would become such a star. He was drafted by the Houston Astros in the fourth round of the 1988 amateur draft and made his debut with the Astros in 1990. He did bat .300 in 1993 but otherwise had unspectacular several years in Houston.

On June 28, 1995, the Cubs acquired Gonzalez, along with catcher Scott Servais, from Houston for catcher Rick Wilkins. In 77 games with the Cubs, Gonzalez batted .290 with seven home runs and 34 RBIs. Gonzalez then returned to the Cubs in 1996 and batted .271 with 15 home runs and 79 RBIs.

Gonzalez left as a free agent and returned to the Astros for the 1997 season, then played with the Tigers in 1998, setting a career-high with 23 home runs. Yet again, no one could have predicted that Gonzalez would bust out in 1999, at age 31, the way that he did when the Tigers traded him to the Diamondbacks for Karim Garcia.

Chicago Cubs: Fred McGriff

First baseman Fred McGriff had a tremendous career that got a lot of Hall of Fame consideration. Unfortunately, he came up shy of 500 home runs, hitting 493, but he was a five-time All-Star who placed in MVP voting eight times. He also hit at least 30 home runs ten times and drove in at least 100 runs eight times.

McGriff played for several teams, one of them being the Atlanta Braves, with whom he won a World Series ring in 1995. He went to the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1998 until 2001, when the Chicago Cubs were surprising the National League by hanging in contention. The team was looking for both a left-handed hitter to help Sammy Sosa and a first baseman. McGriff was the perfect fit.

However, McGriff, a Tampa native, had a no-trade clause and initially refused to accept the trade. For several days, the saga went on in the media as there was mounting pressure for McGriff to give in. He finally did, and he was great for the Cubs down the stretch, posting a .942 OPS in 49 games with 12 home runs and 41 RBIs. However, the Cubs faded down the stretch and didn’t make the playoffs.

McGriff stayed with the team in 2002 and quietly had an excellent year, hitting 30 home runs and driving in 103. McGriff then went to the Los Angeles Dodgers for the 2003 season before finishing up his career back with the Devil Rays in 2004.

Chicago Cubs: Eric Karros

First baseman Eric Karros had a tremendous run with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers drafted him in the sixth round of the 1988 draft, and he made his debut with them in 1991. He won National League Rookie of the Year in 1992 when he hit 20 home runs and drove in 88. In all, he would hit at least 30 home runs and drive in over 100 five times in Los Angeles between 1995 and 2000.

2002 was Karros’s final year with the Dodgers. That year, he hit 13 home runs and drove in 73 while batting .271. After that year, the Dodgers decided to trade Karros, along with Mark Grudzielanek, for Chad Hermansen and the disappointing catcher Todd Hundley, son of Cubs great Randy Hundley, who had signed with the Cubs as a free agent and was a complete disaster.

It was one of the best trades the Cubs have made in recent memory. Grudzielanek was great for the Cubs during their 2003 N.L. Central Championship season, while Karros primarily served in a platoon role, sharing time with Hee Seop Choi and Randall Simon after the latter was acquired in a late-season trade. In 114 games, Karros batted a robust .286 with 12 home runs in 2003. His big home run in a regular-season game against the New York Yankees will always be a highlight of that season.

Karros briefly played for the Oakland Athletics in 2004 before retiring and making a name for himself covering baseball for FOX.

Chicago Cubs: Nomar Garciaparra

Shortstop Nomar Garciaparra broke through in a big way with the Boston Red Sox in 1997. That year, he won American League Rookie of the Year, batting .306 with 30 home runs and 98 RBIs. He also led the league in at-bats, hits, and triples. The next year, he would finish second in AL MVP voting.

Garciaparra would follow that up by winning back-to-back batting titles in 1999 and 2000. Though he missed most of 2001 due to injury, he came back and had two more stellar years in 2002 and 2003. Yet Garciaparra’s future in Boston was uncertain, and the 2004 season started with an unsettled contract situation as well as another injury.

After getting into just 38 games, the Red Sox shipped Garciaparra to the Chicago Cubs at the last minute before the trade deadline in 2004. The Cubs did have Alex Gonzalez at shortstop, yet Garciaparra, though he was limited due to injury concerns, was considered a significant upgrade. He played fine down the stretch, batting .297, yet as we know, the Cubs choked at the end of the season and missed the playoffs while the Red Sox, with Orlando Cabrera at shortstop, won their first World Series title in 86 years.

Garciaparra re-signed with the Cubs before the 2005 season, yet injuries were again a problem and he only got in 62 games. He finished his career with stops in Los Angeles (Dodgers) and Oakland. Had it not been for all the injuries that slowed him down, he could have been a Hall of Famer.

Chicago Cubs: Juan Pierre

Outfielder Juan Pierre was one of the leading players of the Florida Marlins who broke Cubs’ fans hearts in the 2003 National League Championship Series. Pierre went 10-for-33 in that series as the Marlins knocked out the Cubs in seven games.

By that time, Pierre had established himself as one of the game’s premier leadoff hitters, as well as one of the most dependable players in the league. The 2003 season was the first of five in which he played in all 162 games while leading the league in plate appearances twice and at-bats three times. For his career, Pierre collected 2,217 hits and 614 stolen bases.

One of those reasons mentioned above was the 2006 season, Pierre’s only one with the Cubs. Sensing a need for a leadoff hitter, general manager Jim Hendry acquired Pierre from the Marlins for pitchers Sergio Mitre, Ricky Nolasco, and Renyel Pinto before the 2006 season. Nolasco would go on to win 114 major league games.

Pierre became the second major player from the 2003 Marlins to come over to the Cubs, joining Derrek Lee in 2004. Lee’s tenure was a lot longer and went much better. Through June 9, Pierre batted just .231 as the Cubs quickly plummeted out of contention, reeling from an injury to Lee. Pierre picked it up after that, however, hitting .326 the rest of the way while finishing with 38 stolen bases. Pierre left as a free agent for the Los Angeles Dodgers after the 2006 season.

Chicago Cubs: Jason Kendall

Though he’s not talked about much, Jason Kendall had a great career. His 41.7 WAR ranks 21st all-time among catchers. He began his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1996 and made the All-Star team three times. He had six seasons in which he batted over .300 and reached double digits in stolen bases nine times. Overall, he collected 2,195 hits, including an impressive 394 doubles.

In 2007, the Chicago Cubs were in contention for the National League Central crown. They did have a problem at catcher, however. Michael Barrett had become one of the league’s better offensive catchers, batting .307 with 16 home runs in 2006. Yet one afternoon early in the season, cameras caught him and star pitcher Carlos Zambrano getting into a physical altercation in the Cubs’ dugout.

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Barrett was gaining a reputation as a hothead, as he had also punched A.J. Pierzynski in a game against the Chicago White Sox. Thus, the Cubs traded Barrett away to the San Diego Padres and decided to fill the void by trading for catcher Jason Kendall from the Oakland Athletics.

Though the Cubs would win the division, Kendall didn’t do much in his time with the Cubs. In 57 games, he batted .270 with just one home run, which is better than when he was with the A’s and hit just .226 earlier in the season. By the end of the year, Geovany Soto was earning playing time as the catcher; he would win Rookie of the Year in 2008. Meanwhile, Kendall left and signed as a free agent with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Chicago Cubs: Jim Edmonds

We end this list with outfielder Jim Edmonds. I’m sure I joined many Chicago Cubs fans in having mixed feelings about Edmonds joining the Cubs after he was a villain for so many years with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Starring mostly with the Cardinals and Angels, Edmonds boasts a career WAR of 60.4. He was a four-time All-Star and placed in MVP voting six times. He collected 1,949 hits, 393 home runs, 437 doubles, and 1,199 RBIs. He was also an elite defender, making lots of highlight-reel plays and winning eight Gold Glove Awards. It wasn’t quite a Hall of Fame career, but it is at least a Hall of Very Good career.

After the 2007 season, the Cardinals traded Edmonds to the San Diego Padres for future World Series hero David Freese. Edmonds was terrible in his brief time in San Diego, and the Padres gave up in him after just over a month. The Cubs quickly snatched him up, and he would go on to hit 19 home runs in only 85 games, forming a solid platoon in center field with Reed Johnson.

As we remember, the Cubs were quickly knocked out of the playoffs in 2008, so, unfortunately, the Edmonds signing didn’t help them in that regard. Edmonds played briefly for the Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers in 2010, meaning that he played for every N.L. Central team except the Pirates. Did that complicate his legacy with Cardinals fans? Apparently not, as he’s been doing T.V. work for them.