5 Hall of Fame players that were briefly Chicago Cubs

Chicago Cubs: Irvin was going out as Ernie Banks was coming into his own.

Monte Irvin was a star with the Newark Eagles of the Negro Leagues from 1938 through 1948. He hit .333/.402/.524 over that span. A versatile player who for average and decent pop, he made his debut in the MLB at age 30 with the New York Giants in 1949. He played there until 1955 before joining the Cubs via the Rule 5 draft in November of that year.

Irvin was 37 and winding down. Ernie Banks was 25 and just hitting his prime. The two played together in 1956 on a team that ended up losing 94 games. Irvin still put up solid numbers, hitting .271/.346/.460 with 15 home runs in 111 games. That would be the final year of his MLB career.

While his stint with the Cubs might be forgotten by some, others might remember this photo of him above with him alongside Banks and Hank Sauer. A lot of All Star games and three MVP awards combined with those three guys.

As for Irvin, he lived to be 96 and recently passed away in 2016. He lived a very long life and left a great legacy in the game of baseball.

Sadly nobody on this list is still living as they played a long time ago, but they make for great baseball footnotes. All legends who had a brief sting in Cubbie Blue.