Fergie Jenkins, Hall of Fame but no jersey number retired
Last night's Cubs/Reds game wasn't telecast here, so I listened to the game a bit on the radio while running errands around town.
I hear that Fergie Jenkins was the 7th inning stretch conductor last night. He spent some time in the radio booth on WGN. I love hearing from the Chicago Cubs of the past. It would be great if WGN would capture these audio segments and make them available on the web for those of us who missed these wonderful radio moments.
Last week I wondered why Fergie's number hadn't been retired yet. It seems like his stats would lead to that result. A friend from church pointed out that Fergie wore jersey number 31. Uh oh. I wonder how the Cubs will deal with this?
Anyway, below are some interesting weblinks regarding Fergie's career and Cubs history. I have a picture of Fergie at bat that I should get scanned and share online. It is a framed 8x10 on a bookcase in my library. One of the rare enlargements in my collection and probably the only one framed. Hopefully the negative can be found for a scan.
Fergie Jenkins player statistics
Awards received by Cub players
Cubs who played in the All Star game
Former Cubs now in the Hall of Fame
Stoicism was Jenkins' strength
Fergie's page at the Baseball Hall of Fame
Sandberg talks his best game on special day
Sandberg was the only Cub to have played with both # 31's, Fergie Jenkins and Greg Maddux.
Google News article search for keywords Fergie Jenkins
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Jenkins
A friend from church pointed out that Fergie wore jersey number 31. Uh oh. I wonder how the Cubs will deal with this?
My solution: retire Jenkins's number but not Maddux's. Obviously, Maddux is an all-time great, but his only truly outstanding year with the Cubs was 1992. When all is said and done, I don't think he deserves that honor from the club - for the most part, he was someone else's great player.
On another note, if we're going to go around righting retired number injustices, I submit the name of Gabby Hartnett. Of course, the problem there is that he wore three different numbers, in addition to spending a good part of his career before getting a number at all ... but I think no. 9 would be best, given the circumstances.
Hack Wilson, who wore jersey # um...
Of course, they also have the challenge of honoring slugger Hack Wilson's achievements as a Cub. In 1930 he hit 56 home runs and drove in 191 runs. I think the WGN blog mentioned that the players didn't have uniform nummbers back then - so it might be a trick to retire a number that never existed.
Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/articles...
The great 8 and other jersey numbers
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/...
The ultimate number goes to ...
http://espn.go.com/page2/s/caple/030303....
Pictures from Ryne Sandberg's jersey retirement ceremony at Wrigley Field
Hack
Yeah, I think Hack played in the days before numbers. All the same, I think he'd be a borderline candidate anyway. Six years with the club, five of which were very good, with one of those five being a great year ... tough call.
Does Hack have a flag on the roof? I don't remember for sure, but if he doesn't, he should. I think that would be an appropriate honor.