Chicago Cubs - The Golden Age (1950-1959)
 
   
 
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        Yr P W L   Yr P W L   Yr P W L               1950  
        1950 7 64 89   1953 7 65 89   1957 7 62 92               Decade  
        1951 8 62 92   1954 7 64 90   1958 5 72 82               Click  
        1952 5 77 77   1955 6 72 81   1959 5 74 80               on Logo  
                  1956 8 60 94                            
                                                       
                                                             
   
  Titles: Top Cubs Players of the Fifties  
  None  
    Pitchers:  
  Ballpark: Bob Rush (29.66) -   71  
  Wrigley Field Paul Minner (14.24) -   38  
    Warren Hacker (12.21) -   29  
  Team Name: Glen Hobbie (4.07) -   21  
  Cubs    Turk Lown (4.93) -   19  
    Sam Jones (5.07) -   18  
  Owners:  John Klippstein (0.85) -   17  
  Phillip K Wrigley  Dick Drott (1.14) -   17  
    Moe Drabowsky (5.77) -   17  
  General Managers: Dutch Leonard (7.15) -  11  
  Wid Mathews (1950-1956) Don Elston (6.95) -  11  
  John Holland (1957-1959) Dave Hillman (5.02) -  9  
    Bill Henry (7.04) -  6  
  Managers: Hal Jeffcoat (2.17) -   4  
  Frankie Frisch (1950-1951)    
  Phil Cavarretta (1951-1953) Catchers:  
  San Hack (1954-1956) Sammy Taylor (1.88) -   13  
  Bob Scheffing (1957-1959) Cal Neeman (2.1) -   10  
       
  Hall of Famers: First Basemen:  
  Ernie Banks Dee Fondy (5.1) -   36  
  Ralph Kiner Dale Long (4.81) -   12  
    Chuck Connors (-0.84) -   0  
  Rookie of the Year:     
  None Second Basemen:  
    Tony Taylor (2.58) -   17  
  MVP Gene Baker (6.74) -   16  
  Hank Sauer (1952) Eddie Miksis (-1.38) -   14  
  Ernie Banks (1958) Bill Serena (5.64) -   11  
  Ernie Banks (1959)    
    ShortStop:  
  No Hitters: Ernie Banks (42.36) -   70  
  Sam Jones (1955) Alvin Dark (4.59) -   9  
       
  Cy Young: Third Base:  
  None Randy Jackson (9.92) -   33  
       
  Notable Events: Outfield:  
    Hank Sauer (15.71) -   47  
  1950 - It actually started three years earlier, but the Cubs are now  Frank Baumholtz (7.08) -   25  
  officially a doormat of the National League. PK Wrigley is not interested Walt Moryn (10.02) -   25  
  in providing a winner to Cubs fans. He is also not even interested in  Ralph Kiner (4.57) -   15  
  maximizing their ability to watch ballgames. He does not install lights which Lee Walls (4.99) -   15  
  means that for ordinary working folks, Cubs games are not an available Bobby Thomson (4.47) -   15  
  option during the week. Wrigley, like most folks who inherited their wealth, Andy Pafko (7.95) -   15  
  has no idea how to run a business to generate wealth and no sense of Jim King (3.43) -   13  
  urgency to do so. He's an elitist - as long as the folks he hobnobs with  Hal Jeffcoat (-0.8) -   12  
  can go to the ballgames in a pastoral daytime setting, he's good with it.    
  The surprising thing about all of this is that Cubs fans apparently adore Notable Events:  
  Wrigley. I don't understand it, but then I don't understand why regular    
  people routinely vote for politicians whose sole purpose is to extract as 1957 - John Holland takes over as GM  
   much money as they can from those same regular folks and siphon There's a definite uptick in the signings of quality youngsters  
   it to their wealthy donors. All I know is, if I were a Cubs fan in the Forties     
  thru the Seventies, I would not have been adoring PK Wrigley 1958 - Tony Taylor, 22 year old second baseman, is taken in the Rule 5  
    draft from the Giants. Taylor will be traded to the Philies two years later  
  1952 - One that got away. The Cubs trade away twenty four year old catcher  He's one that got away.  
  Smoky Burgess to Cincinnati, but get very little in return.    
    1958 - Dick Ellsworh eighteen year lefty is signed as a free agent. He  
  1952 - It all breaks right for the Cubs and they still only finish at comes up for good in 1960 and is the ace of the staff for seven years.  
  .500 (77-77). Hank Sauer is the NL MVP.     
    1958 - Ernie Banks is MVP for a fifth place club  
  1953 - Ernie Banks, twenty two year old future Hall of Fame shortstop,    
  is signed as a free agent out of the Negro Leagues (Kansas City) and  1959 - Amateur free agent thrid baseman Ron Santo, 19, is signed  
  is brought up to the Cubs. He plays with the Cubs until he retires at the  by rhe Cubs. He comes up the following year and plays fourteen years  
  age of  forty, hitting 512 home runs in the process of his fifteen year Hall of Fame career with the Cubs.   
       
  1955 - Righthander Glenn Hobbie is signed as a nineteen year old 1959 - Seventeen year old amateur free agent second baseman Ken  
  amateur free agent. He is brought up to the majors in 1957 and  Hubbs is signed. He comes up to the big club as a nineteen year old  
  becomes an integral part of the Cubs rotation for six years phenom in 1961, but dies tragically in a plane crash in 1964  
       
  1956 - Eighteen year old amateur free agent outfielder Billy Williams 1959 - Ernie Banks is MVP for the second year in a row for fifth place   
  is signed by the Cubs. Billy spends the first fifteen of his seventeen clubs. That makes three MVPs for the Cubs during the decade   
  year Hall of Fame career with the Cubs. He will be brought up to the (Hank Sauer in 1952 was the other one)  for poor Cubs clubs.  
  big league team in 1959 after almost quitting baseball due to   Did MVP voters think that the Cubs would have finished in the AAA  
  experiencing racial discrimination in the minors,  American Association without these guys?  
    How valuable can you be when your team finishes fifth?