Chicago Cubs: Middle infielder dynamic duos throughout the years

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The National League Champion Chicago Cubs (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images) /

The Chicago Cubs have had some great middle-infield combinations. The style of play has changed, but the core of every great defense is still in the middle of the diamond.

We’ll examine three Chicago Cubs middle infield combinations, looking primarily at their defense but with an eye towards their offensive production as well. Fielding percentage, defensive runs saved, WAR, UZR-150, and the new Outs Above Average (OAA) metrics will be the guide when possible. But I can’t rule out a little nostalgia creeping in either.

Chicago Cubs: Tinker to Evers to Chance

Not many infield combinations have opposing team’s fans writing poems about them. However, the combination of shortstop Joe Tinker, second baseman Johnny Evers, and first baseman Frank Chance was so overwhelmingly good they inspired a forlorn New York Giants fan and columnist Franklin Pierce Adams to pen Baseball’s Sad Lexicon.

The middle infield of Tinker and Evers led the Cubs from 1902 until 1912. In that time, the Cubs won the National League Pennant four times from1906 to1910 and back to back World Series in 1907 and 1908. Ironically they never had the opportunity to turn a double play in any of their World Series appearances.

Before we talk about metrics, it is essential to note that equipment and other anomalies like scoring practices will seem to diminish their performance. Also, they played during the dead-ball era, so hitting metrics won’t seem outstanding compared to hitters in later years.

Shortstop Joe Tinker posted a career .938 fielding percentage, twelve points higher than league average. His best season was 1908 with a .958 fielding percentage against a .930 league average. He did play three seasons with Cincinnatti Reds and Chicago Whales from 1913 to 1915.

The1908 season was Tinker’s best in his career. He posted a 14.3 offensive runs above average, a 32.7 defensive runs above average, and 7.5 WAR. Offensively his slash in 1908 seems pedestrian by today’s standards, .266/.307/.391, but it produced a wRC+ of 119. He drove in 68 runs and stole 30 bases.

Holding down the other side of the bag was second baseman, Johnny Evers. Tinker wasn’t a big guy at 5’9″, 175 pounds, but Evers was more slight at the same height and 50 pounds lighter. Nonetheless, he was a better hitter, slashing a career .276/.354/.345 and .700 OPS with the Cubs. (Hey, we’d take that slash from a second baseman today, but I digress).

In the field, Evers was one of the best, and like Tinker posted his best overall numbers in the World Series-winning 1908 season. Evers slashed .300/.402/.375 with a .777 OPS in that championship season, and though his fielding was uncharacteristically off, it was still good enough for a 6.0 dWAR.

Throughout their years together, they broke many opposing team fans’ hearts even as the two middle infielders grew to dislike each other intensely.

Javier Baez, Addison Russell – Chicago Cubs (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images) /

Chicago Cubs: Russell to Baez

The Cubs led by the duo of Tinker to Evers won the 1908 World Series. Bookending 108 years of frustration is another defensive duo led the Cubs to World Series victory in 2016.

Javier Baez played more games at third (62) in 2016 than at second base (59). But his athleticism, especially his tagging ability, ensured that a middle infield spot was his future. In 2016 Baez posted a 5.5 UZR-150, nine Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), and five Outs Above Average (OAA) at second. Javy was named co-MVP of the 2016 NLCS, and in the previous series against San Franciso, he made Matt Vasgersian lose his mind.

With the shift to shortstop fulltime in 2018, El Mago’s defense took a hit, but he rebounded nicely in 2019 and ranked among the best in the league. I am confident that with a reduction in errors, 15 in 2019, mostly throwing errors, there is a Gold Glove in Javy’s future.

On the other side of the bag in 2016, shortstop Addison Russell played to a 9.7 UZR-150, posting what would be a career-high 15.0 DRS on his way to a career-high mark of 27 OAA.

At the plate, Russell worked in the shadow of the more significant bats like Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and his field-mate Javier Baez. Nonetheless, in 2016 he drove in 95 runs, scored 67, and along with Bryant, Baez, and Rizzo made the starting infield for the NL All-Star team making for an all Cubs starting infield.

It’s left for us to ponder what could have been had Russell not put his career on the shelf with his private life. That left the Cubs searching the last two seasons for a compliment to Javy’s defensive abilities. So far, that search has not yielded any results, and we may end up waiting to see what Nico Hoerner does when he arrives in the Show for good.

Glenn Beckert, Chicago Cubs (Photo by: 1972 SPX/Diamond Images via Getty Images) /

Chicago Cubs: Kessinger and Beckert

They were not flashy though both would win Gold Gloves, Glenn Beckert in 1968, and Don Kessinger twice in 1969 and 1970.

They played together for nine years, from the day Beckert came up in 1965 until he was traded in 1974 to the San Diego Padres. From 1967 until 1972, Kessinger and Beckert anchored the middle of the infield through those six winning seasons in a row.

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In 1969 Beckert and Kessinger would be involved in over 100 double plays as the Cubs fought for a long-sought National League title and World Series. We know what happened. The Cubs faded in September, and the Mets went on 44-17 win streak throughout August and September, led by future Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Tug McGraw, and then 22-year-old Nolan Ryan.

That year was among the best for both Kessinger and Beckert. Kessinger would post a 10.0 Runs Above Average at shortstop, Beckert 5.0 RAA, career marks for both. Neither wielded a particularly dangerous bat, but Kessinger slashed a respectable .273/.332/.366 in 1969, and Beckert a .291/.325/.341 slash.

All four Cubs infielders would make the National League All-star team in 1969, though only Kessinger and Santo would start. That year was the pinnacle for the team. By1973, the Cubs began a teardown of sorts and wouldn’t be contenders again for over ten years.

Ryne Sandberg, Chicago Cubs (Photo by Ron Vesely/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /

Chicago Cubs: Sandberg and company

No list of middle infield pairs would be complete without Ryne Sandberg. What else needs to be said? At second base, he earned nine Gold Gloves. He was a nine-time Silver Slugger award winner, an MVP, and was an All-Star ten times. How many MLB players have a game named after them like the June 23, 1984, Sandberg Game? Topping that off was his selection to the MLB Hall of Fame in 2005.

Opposite Sandberg throughout most of his career was shortstop Shawon Dunston, though Larry Bowa played shortstop from 1982 through 1985. Bowa, on the downside of a great career, and Dunston, the error machine at short, never achieved the defensive balance on the other side of second base. All that aside, Ryno’s extraordinary play makes Sandberg and Company one of the best.

Chicago Cubs: Honorable mentions

Two other players to come to mind. I haven’t mentioned them, but they deserve recognition. Darwin Barney was a 4th round pick of the Cubs in 2007 and debuted in 2010. In 2011 he batted a decent .271, but that was as good it got at the plate. In 2012 Barney beat out perennial Gold Glove winner Brandon Phillips of the Reds for the award.

Starlin Castro, who my Cubbies Crib colleague Nick Blazek wrote about recently, held down shortstop from 2010 when he came up at age 20 until 2015. Despite a reputation as the most significant error machine since Dunston, unlike Dunston, Castro’s defense steadily improved over the years. Moved to second base in late 2015, Castro slashed .376/.404/.656 with a 1.060 OPS after the switch.

Next. Yadier Molina potentially leaving St. Louis just seems wrong. dark

El Mago was always the heir apparent at shortstop, and once Castro moved to second in 2015, it seemed that duo would lead the Cubs. Nonetheless, the Cubs opted to keep Russell, trade Castro to the Yankees, and four seasons later, as with Sandberg, they are again looking for that middle infield compliment to Baez.

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