Chicago Cubs: 25 best all-time players in franchise history

Chicago Cubs Greatest All-Time Players: No. 17 – Billy Herman

WAR: 40.4

When you average just a tick under 200 base hits annually over a 15-year career, good things happen. That was the case for Billy Herman, who spent 11 of those 15 seasons on the North Side with the Cubs before the team traded him to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1941.

In 1932, his first full season in the bigs, Herman hit .314 and finished ninth in MVP voting. That marked the first of three times in his career he’d eclipse the 200-hit mark, ending the season with 206 – including 42 two-baggers.

A 10-time All-Star, the New Albany, IN native put together a career worth of remembrance by many standards. In his 10 full seasons with the Cubs, Herman hit .300 or better in seven of them. He had an incredible three-year stretch from 1935 to 1937 in which he slashed .337/.390/.475 — averaging 50 doubles, eight triples and seven home runs annually.

A testament to his proclivity to make contact, Herman struck out just 428 times over the course of 8,641 plate appearances — while walking 737 times. This was the epitome of a bat-on-ball player and his year-in and year-out consistency eventually got him inducted into Cooperstown via the Veteran’s Committee in 1975.

Accomplishments & Awards

• 10-time All-Star