Best Chicago Cubs’ I’ve seen play second base in my lifetime

Who was the best Chicago Cubs second baseman I’ve ever seen? I assume you can answer that. But what follows will be a little bit strange, and I like it.

The Chicago Cubs have had many second basemen I’ve seen in my lifetime. Well, from 1982 through 1997. This touched off a series of small ‘series of blocks’ of second basemen. I wanted to stick with four years or more–excluding two-year players or less. Which honestly were pretty good–just not long enough.

Just so you know, I left Ben Zobrist off this list. He was extraordinary, but yet I didn’t see him play. The brain surgery in 2018, plus the resection in 2019 kept from seeing him.

One player was Mark Grudzielanek. He had a successful time–albeit short–in Chicago. He had a slash line of .312/.360/.421 with a .781 OPS, and an OPS+ of 102–the highest of his career. He only had nine home runs and 50 knocked in, but he was a workhorse on the field.

The other was Todd Walker. He had 33 home runs and 130 RBI–eight fewer RBI than in Minnesota in two more years. He also slashed an impressive .286/.353/.447 with a .800 OPS. He nodded to going to college, which was crucial to his success.

"“Had I been picked in the second round (out of high school), I could have taken the bonus and skipped those years I had in Baton Rouge,” Walker said. “It’s something I tell the kids today: I’m certainly a strong believer in going to college.” h/t Ron Morris, Baseball America"

I can’t tell you if I’ve seen them before. I really can’t. I’ve been to a plethora of games–and I’ll admit I don’t know. But I’ll start it off by introducing you to ‘The Riot.’