Cubs Cult Heroes At Every Position This Century

[Paul Niemiec]

Image courtesy of © Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

How does an athlete establish a connection with a fan base? Usually, its performance. The best players put up the best stats to help their team win more games. We’ve also seen players show a devout admiration toward their city and fans. You’ll see players sign a big contract then start doing endorsements with local brands or hanging out at bars in the city.

However, sometimes, it's not sustained success on the field that wins over the fans. It can be a memorable moment or two, a unique look, or a hot streak born out of irrelevancy, that can earn a player a spot in the team’s lore. Linsanity has become a bit of a short-hand way of understanding this phenomenon, but the idea isn't too complex; some players simply find a way to nestle themselves into "cult favorite" status by just injecting the fanbase with joy.

With the team set for the playoffs this year, let's take a breather and stroll down memory lane. In this piece, we'll look back at is Cubs player in recent memory at each position that you will not hear about on MLB Network, but you’ll hear about in “remember when” conversations in the bleachers and at any bar down Clark St. Note: This is not about studs who spend a short time on the North Side, so there won’t be mentions of Aroldis Chapman or Jim Edmonds, for example.

Catcher: David Ross 

Okay, we are off to a debatable start. Ross is hardly an unknown across the MLB universe. Ross is a 15-year MLB veteran and played for six different teams from 2002 to 2016. We all know he was also the successor to Joe Maddon as the club's manager. During his playing days on the Cubs in 2015 and 2016, though, he was the ultimate character. Whether it be his iconic gray beard, his role as personal catcher for Jon Lester, or his fatherly antics with Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant, Grandpa Rossy is the catcher that will be talked about when celebrating the 2016 World Series Champion Cubs decades from now. For what its worth, he did put up a .784 OPS at 39 years old in 2016.  Even if he did not become the oldest player to hit a home run in the seventh game of a World Series, he would still be the obvious choice for this list.

Honorable Mentions: Carson Kelly, Michael Barrett

First Base: Frank Schwindel

The second half of 2021 was a bleak affair on the North Side. The infamous July collapse lead to the trades of Rizzo, Bryant, Javier Baez, and Craig Kimbrel, which left the Cubs with a hodgepodge of nothingness of their own (a big thanks to Dennis Eckersley for that line) for the remainder of the season. Enter Frank “The Tank” Schwindel. The former 18th-round pick out of St. Johns University crapped out in Kansas City, Detroit, and Oakland before winding up on the Cubs via a waiver claim in July of 2021. Schwindel was promoted on July 30 after the Rizzo trade and gave fans something shiny to look at for the next few months. He hit .344 with six homers and 18 RBIs while posting a 1.030 OPS in August, which was good enough to earn him Rookie of the Month honors. On September 5 of that season, he hit a go-ahead grand slam to seal the win for the Cubs against the Pirates. That grand slam was the third go ahead grand slam of the game, the only time this has happened in MLB history. Ultimately, that was the apex of his time in Chicago. After bouncing around between Wrigley and Iowa for most of 2022, he was released that September and has not appeared in a major league game since.

HM: Matt Stairs, Hee-Seop Choi, Bryan LaHair

Second Base: Donnie Murphy

2013 was a largely forgettable year for the Cubs outside of it being Rizzo’s first full year in the big leagues. Luis Valbuena was the starting second baseman, which is a great example of how unremarkable the Cubs teams of this era were. Although, for a couple weeks in August, we got to meet Donnie Baseball. Valbuena got hurt, and the Cubs called upon a guy with 640 big league plate appearances across parts of seven seasons. From August 4 through the 22nd, Murphy hit .328 with eight home runs. He had two separate two homer games during this stretch as well, including one that put the Cubs ahead of the Phillies in the ninth. Here is Murphy spoiling a complete game for Stephen Strasburg. For the remainder of the season, his batting average fell close to the Mendoza line and he never appeared for the Cubs again after 2013. He caught on with the Rangers the next season where he hit in the .190s, and then that was it for Donnie Baseball. 

HM: Mike Fontenot, Todd Walker

Shortstop: Rickey Gutierrez 

The crosstown series doesn’t hit like it used to. I remember going to these games as a kid and getting a real sense that these fans hated each other. Now, it's like the Disney Channel version of that. The players treat it like any other series, and the fans just go through the motions. Gutierrez makes this spot because of his role in that rivalry. On July 12th, 2001, the White Sox were visiting Wrigley, and the game is tied 1-1 entering the bottom of the eighth. Sox Pitcher Bob Howry intentionally loads the bases to face Gutierrez, who needed only one pitch to do his thing. Gutierrez hit a grand slam to left field, which ended up winning the game for the Cubs. It is worth mentioning that Gutierrez had the two best seasons of his career with the Cubs in 2000 and 2001, where he posted 3.1 WAR (his total career WAR over 12 seasons was -1.4). 

HM: Ryan Theriot, Munenori Kawasaki

Third Base: David Bote

This would have been a great spot for Patrick Wisdom, but he stuck around for another three painful seasons after his hot month and change in 2021. On the other hand, David Bote probably, maybe, deserved more of a runway with the Cubs than he got. He appeared in six seasons with the team, from 2018 to 2022, and again briefly last season. Although he was given an extension, he only had two seasons with over 300 plate appearances. Bote was an 18th0round pick, and never had a real prospect pedigree. He became the type of player that you root for as a feel good story. On August 12, 2018, weeks after his debut, he walked off the Nationals with a grand slam. Twelve days later, he hit another walk-off home run to down the Reds. Sadly, that stretch has been the highlight of Bote’s career. He signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers for 2025 but has not played in a game for the MLB team yet.

HM: Jake Fox, Tommy LaStella

Left Field: Matt Murton

Murton was originally drafted by Boston in the first round of the 2003 draft. He came to the Cubs in 2004 as part of the four-team blockbuster that brought Nomar Garciaparra to Chicago. His first two seasons were excellent. Murton hit .321 with a .908 OPS over 160 plate appearances as a rookie in 2005, then he followed that up with a .297 average and an .809 OPS while playing full time in left field the next season. He flipped to right field after the arrival of Cliff Floyd and Alfonso Soriano pushed him out of left. He fell off quickly in 2007 and was off the team by 2008 when he was involved in the Rich Harden trade. Murton was iconic to fans due to his red hair and beard. Owen Caissie might have already supplanted him as the most iconic red-headed Cub this century, but Murton deserves a mention here.

HM: Cliff Floyd, Chris Coghlan

Center Field: Tony Campana

All-Star Marlon Byrd is probably the best player to choose for this spot, but Tony Campana and his main highlight as a Cub, the inside-the-park home run, is enough for him to beat out a player who actually made an All-Star team as a Cub. Campana played two seasons for the Cubs from 2011-2012. He was never an everyday player, but he managed 1.9 WAR and 54 stolen bases in 184 games. Standing at 5’8, his high socks and baggy uniform created this iconic, scrappy look that Cubs fans will remember as a fun character from an otherwise boring era. Also, although it's not a Cubs highlight, in a minor league game with the Reno Aces, Campana stole his way around the bases. 

HM: Marlon Byrd, Billy Hamilton, Juan Pierre

Right Field: Kosuke Fukudome

Fukudome became a fan favorite before he even played a game at Wrigley. The NPB superstar was coming off an MVP season just two years before he signed a four-year contract that made him set to become the first-ever Japanese-born Cubs player. In his Major League Baseball debut, he went 3-3 with a walk, a double, and a three-run homer. He hit .327 in the month of April, and an also-impressive .293 in May. He was hitting .275 with seven home runs when he was named a starter in the 2008 All-Star Game. This speaks volumes to how much he was adored by fans at the time; we’ve seen in 2016 and this year how Cubs fans will show out and vote for their players. On a playoff-bound team that was loaded with veteran talent, Fukudome stole the show for the first half of 2008. He was never the same player after that All-Star game though, as he struggled to hit .200 for the rest of 2008 and followed that up with two and a half years of mediocre play before being traded to Cleveland. 

HM: Nick Castellanos, Xavier Nady (who played more at first base, but for the sake of this exercise we will call a right fielder)

Starting Pitcher: Dan Haren

The Cubs acquired Haren during their Wild Card push in 2015, and were the eighth and final team of his 13-year career. The move symbolized the window opening for the Theo Epstein version of the Cubs. Haren would join eventual Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester, Jason Hammel, and Kyle Hendricks to form one of the best Cubs rotations of all time. Haren was more sturdy than spectacular as a Cub, posting a 4.01 ERA with 44 strikeouts over 11 starts. This was still a three-time All-Star with a reputation for being a great clubhouse presence. His Twitter activity under the handle “ithrow88” became retweet fuel for fans as well. Often poking fun at his own ability, Haren gave that “regular guy” energy that fans are so fond of. It's worth noting that Haren retired after his age-34 season, which many may think is quite young, but he probably wanted to get out before he had to change his Twitter handle to “ithrow82”.

HM: Jon Lieber, Javier Assad, Jeff Samardzija, Shota Imanaga

Relief Pitcher: Andrew Chafin

Andrew “Failed Starter” Chafin was the key bullpen addition at the trade deadline for the 2020 Cubs, the last time the team won the NL Central. He threw only three innings in 2020 but re-signed with the Cubs for 2021, when he had the best season of his career. He posted a 2.06 ERA in 39 1/3 innings before being traded to Oakland. Outside of being a productive reliever, it was the look and personality that made Chafin an icon in Chicago for a year. The aforementioned “failed starter” shirt was hilarious but also accurate, as Chafin was a longtime starter before transitioning to the pen. He had another shirt that said “baseball player” in similar font that he wore when he posted this adaptation of the famous quote from 1988 cult classic They Live. That look—the handlebar mustache combined with the curly hair—made him look straight out of a time machine.

HM: Travis Wood, Kyle Farnsworth, Pedro Strop

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Who were your favorite undersung Cubs heroes? Any players we forget to mention here? Let us know in the comments!

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[Randall Simon]

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