Come to Think of It...Rating the Greatest Cubs of All-Time (Part II)

Part I was focused on the greatest position players in Cubs history.

This time, we're looking at pitching.

Cubs pitching.

Now historically, the Cubs haven't been known as a great pitching team. Thanks to a small ballpark with a fickle wind, among other reasons, this is a team best known for hitting.

Oh, but that doesn't mean the Cubs haven't had their share of great pitchers over the years. 

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Starting Pitching

Charlie Root

Root has the most wins of any pitcher while in a Cubs uniform.

While won-loss records aren't always the best way to judge the value of a pitcher, since they depend largely on run support, Root finished his career with all 201 of his wins as a Cub. While winning 20 games only once in his career (26-15 in 1927), Root finished 201-160 with a respectable 3.59 ERA.

Root finished more than half of his starts and was effective as a relief pitcher, as well.

Fergie Jenkins

Jenkins won 20 or more games six seasons in a row from 1967 through 1972. He completed 140 of his 234 starts during that period.

The Hall of Famer posted a career ERA of 3.34 and is the only pitcher in baseball history with 3,000 or more strikeouts and less than 1,000 walks.

Mordecai "Three Fingers" Brown

Brown matched Jenkins with six consecutive seasons of 20 or more wins, from 1906 through 1911. He had an amazing six seasons with an ERA of less than 2.00 while pitching in the dead ball era.

Brown finished with a 239-130 record and a 2.08 ERA in his career.

Rick Reuschel

Reuschel won 135 games while pitching for some bad Cubs teams in the 70s. Big Rick had a 3.37 ERA for his career.

Like Jenkins, Reuschel's success stemmed from good control, as he struck out almost three times as many hitters as he walked during his time with Chicago.

Greg Maddux

Perhaps the best pitcher to ever wear a Cubs uniform was Greg Maddux.

The certain first ballot Hall of Famer pitched in parts of ten seasons with the Cubs, winning a Cy Young award in 1992, the first of four consecutive awards.

Again, pinpoint control has always been Maddux's calling card.

Maddux had ERAs of 2.95 in 1989 and 2.18 in 1992.

Grover Alexander

If Maddux wasn't the best pitcher to wear a Cubs uniform, then Grover Alexander was.

In a 373-win career, he twice won more than 20 games in a Cubs uniform, going 27-14 with a 1.91 ERA in 1920. 

Previously, he had won more than 30 games in three seasons with the A's. He never struck out many batters and actually gave up more hits than innings pitched in most of his Cub seasons.

Bill Lee

Lee twice won more than 20 games as a Cub, and had another season with 19 wins. Lee had two sub-3 ERAs during that span, in an otherwise mediocre career. 

Off the field, "Spaceman" was very colorful. 

Hippo Vaughn

In five seasons with 20 wins as a Cub, Vaughn won 151 games in parts of nine seasons with a 2.49 ERA from 1908-1921. From 1918-1919 Vaughn had a 1.76 ERA.

Guy Bush

Guy Bush went 144-83 with a mid-3 ERA from 1926-1934.

Claude Passeau

Claude Passeau, in parts of nine seasons with the Cubs, had seasons with 20 and 19 wins with five years of sub-3 ERAs, mostly in the 1940s.

Ed Reulbach

Ed Reulbach had a 24-win season in 1908, and had a record of 36-8 with an ERA of 1.67 from 1906 through 1907.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to compare pitchers form different eras, especially ones from the dead ball era. You will notice that I've ignored players from Chicago NL teams prior to the Cubs, so guys like Larry Corcoran and Bill Hutchinson, both of whom had 40-win seasons yet played in the 1800s, do not count although they are listed in Cubs official records.

The Choice: Fergie Jenkins.

Honorable mention

Rick Sutcliffe went 16-1 for the Cubs in their division winning 1984 season. Ken Holtzman won 80 games as one of the better left handed pitchers in Cubs history. Pat Malone won 20 games or more twice for the Cubs in the late 20s, early 30s. Lon Warneke did it three times in the 1930s. Dick Ellsworth went 22-10 with a 2.11 ERA in 1963. Bill Hands won 20 and 18 games, respectfully, in 1969 and 1970, with sub-3 ERAs. Orval Overall twice won 20 or more with the Cubs, both times with sub-2 ERAs, in 1907 and 1909.

Relief Pitching

This is a difficult area to compare as rule changes, most notably the save statistic, and specialist relievers have skewed the results over the years.  

Lee Smith

Finished his career with the most saves of any relief pitcher in history, Smith gets no love from Hall of Fame voters.

The Padres’ Trevor Hoffman has since passed him, yet there's no denying that when big Lee Arthur Smith ambled into a game, it was pretty much over.

Smith had five consecutive seasons of at least 25 saves with the Cubs, from 1983-1987, with a high of 36. 

Unlike today's closers, Smith had three seasons where he pitched more than 100 innings.

Bruce Sutter

Not only did Sutter produce great numbers as a closer, but his split-fingered fastball revolutionalized baseball. The Hall of Fame reliever notched 37 saves in 1979 and only had one season with an ERA higher than 3.00 as a Cub.

Like Smith, Sutter routinely pitched more than 100 innings in a season, and despite the lack of a great fastball, he averaged more than one strikeout per inning pitched in most seasons with the Cubs.

Honorable mention

Submarine pitcher Ted Abernathy recorded 31 saves in 1965 for the Cubs, at a time when the save statistic was not officially recognized by MLB. He had a 2.57 ERA that season while pitching for a last place team. He also pitched 136.1 innings. His 31 saves and 84 appearances set records at the time.

Randy Myers pitched with the Cubs from 1993-1995, setting a Cubs record with 53 saves in 1993.

Mitch Williams saved 36 games for the Cubs in 1989.

The late Rod Beck saved 51 games in 1998.

Ryan Dempster saved 85 games from 2005-2007, although two of the years he had ERAs above 4.50.

The Choice: Bruce Sutter.