Cubs Players Project Round Up: The "Shark", The Hype Surrounding Junior Lake, and... Tony La Russa?

[Brandon Glick]

It's 2025, so it's time to take a look at what's new on the Chicago Cubs Players Project here on North Side Baseball!

What is the Players Project? It's a community-driven, wiki-style project focusing on Cubs players of all stripes. It's open to all North Side Baseball users, and we've had contributions from current players, past players, and players who never even made the major leagues but played in the Cubs’ farm system. Create your favorite player today!

Welcome back, everyone! Happy New Year to you all — we've seen some really fun players added to our in-house Cubs database over the holiday season, so I wanted to highlight some of the most fascinating entries. As a reminder, any user here on the site can hop in right away and add their favorite player to the system. Perhaps your next entry will be featured in a future round-up!

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Jeff Samardzija, a.k.a "Shark," was one of the best players for a series of bad Cubs teams. Case in point: In 2014, he set a major league record for the lowest ERA (1.46) by a winless pitcher through his first ten starts. That 2014 season was pretty wild for him, as he rejected a big extension offer from the Cubs before being flipped to the Athletics before the trade deadline... which prevented him from participating in his only All-Star game. Oh, and don't forget that he was one of the best two-sport collegiate athletes ever and was supposed to be a first-round pick in the NFL draft as a receiver.

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Anyone remember the summer of 2013? The Cubs weren't anything special then, but it did seem like something special was brewing in Wrigleyville: Junior Lake. The young Dominican outfielder took Chicago by storm with his tremendous debut, hitting nearly .500 over his first week in the majors. Of course, Lake's tenure with the Cubs never panned out after that initial honeymoon, and he was gone by 2015, but those first few months were a sight to behold.

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Tony La Russa is well known around these parts as the Hall of Fame manager who won two World Series titles with the St. Louis Cardinals, but did you know he played one game for the team on Opening Day in 1973? He never even took an at-bat for the Cubs, but he did pinch run for Ron Santo in the bottom of the ninth in a one-run game. He would later score the winning, walk-off run on a bases-loaded walk drawn by Rick Monday. As far as pinch-running appearances go, that's a pretty good one.

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Of course, other entries, like Matt Garza and Jason Heyward, continue filling up our database. The Chicago Cubs Players Project is open to all North Side Baseball users. If you're a Cubs history buff or just want to dive into the background of your favorite player, come on board!

Please stop by the Players Project by hitting the button below!

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Are you interested in Cubs history? Then check out the Chicago Cubs Players Project, a community-driven project to discover and collect great information on every player to wear a Cubs uniform!

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