5 Hall of Fame players that were briefly Chicago Cubs

Chicago Cubs: His brief stint with the Cubs came after a stretch on the South Side

Hoyt Wilhelm appeared in 1,070 games in 21 seasons in the majors. He made his debut at age 29 and pitched until he was just shy of his 50th birthday. “Old Sarge” was able to do what he did for so long thanks to his use of the knuckleball. He appeared mostly out of the pen and pitched to a 2.52 ERA, 3.06 FIP, 1,610 strikeout and 228 saves in 2,254.1 innings in his career.

He played for nine different teams and appeared in more games in a White Sox uniform than any other team. He did however return to Chicago briefly in 1970 to play with the Cubs.

In September 1970, Wilhelm was selected off waivers from the Atlanta Braves. He was an NL All Star earlier that season with Atlanta and things were going well for him. Wilhelm with the Cubs appeared in just three games (3.2  innings) and he gave up four earned runs. His career ERA with the Cubs is 9.82. Three of those runs came on a walk-off three-run homer by Mets infielder Wayne Garrett at Shea Stadium.

Wilhelm was traded back to the Braves in November for Hal Breeden. His final MLB season came in 1972 with the Dodgers.