Ben Zobrist

Ben Zobrist spent 14 seasons in Major League Baseball, including four with the Chicago Cubs. He is also the recipient of the most important World Series MVP award in history.

I watched all 27 outs of the Cubs' most famous contest, Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, on about a six-second delay on my Roku Streaming Stick. Just as he did back then, Ben Zobrist stood out for his quiet leadership... and the most famous hit in Cubs history.

By the time third baseman Kris Bryant tossed the fateful final slow roller out to his friend Anthony Rizzo at first, I already knew that the Cubs had just done what some thought was impossible. In this or any other lifetime. Rewinding to the top of the 10th inning at Progressive Field against the team at the time known as the Cleveland Indians, I didn't know that the heroics of Chicago's most understated legend, second baseman Ben Zobrist, would burn in our memories like empty boxes of Three Floyds beer in an alley on Sheffield. 

Ben Zobrist is one of those curious players whose identity depends on where you are when you ask about him. If you're in South Florida, he's a Tampa Bay Ray who, along with his skipper at the time, Joe Maddon, should have never left the Sunshine State. 

The 184th overall pick of the Houston Astros in 2004, Ben Zobrist spent just four years as a Cub, ending in the 2019 season, one year after the Cubs had punched their last legitimate ticket to the postseason. In his time wearing Cubby pinstripes, Zobrist notched a .269 batting average and drove in 201 runs. Not included in that figure is perhaps the most important hit in Cubs history.

With runners on first and second with one out in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, the man they call "Zorilla" laced a missile of a ground ball down the third base line, rolling all the way to the left field wall corner. Zobrist cruised into second base with an RBI double. Though that would not hold up to be the game-winning run, it gave Cubs fans the most flourishing feeling they had experienced in 108 years: hope.

He wasn't even supposed to play baseball. According to a 2019 article in the Chicago Tribune, Zobrist opted to register for and attend a camp for "one more day of baseball" before heading off to Bible school. He used $50 of birthday money he had received that year to register for the event. That he stayed in baseball certainly gives the impression of a prayer answered. 

Now a regular on Cubs podcasts, Zobrist is one of the many relatively short-term Cubs like Jon Lester that had the deepest impact on the organization, then remained in the fold. A fan favorite at conventions and special events, Zobrist truly embraces his place in Chicago Cubs history and presents as one of the more approachable figures in recent memory.

Unassuming, hardworking, and an indelible part of Cubs history, Ben Zobrist's efforts in the field and at the plate earns him a spot among the franchise's best.