Cubs WARs

    

DICK ELLSWORTH

     Of the many new statistics introduced to baseball fans over the past decade or two, perhaps the most interesting is WAR (wins above replacement). This stat seeks to measure a player's value to his team by determining the number of wins he was responsible for. A WAR of 5.0, for example, means that the team won five more games with the given player in the lineup than it would have won with an average player in his place.
     Not including 19th-century pitchers who logged complete games and innings pitched that are beyond comprehension today, the highest single-season WAR of all time was Babe Ruth's 14.7 in 1923. The Bambino is also the career leader in WAR with 190.0.
     Among Cubs, the 13.8 figure posted by righthanded pitcher John Clarkson in 1885 is the highest in franchise history. Clarkson went (ready for this?) 53-16 with an earned-run average of 1.85, completed 68 of his 70 starts, tossed 10 shutouts, and worked 623 innings. Clarkson and his fellow pre-1900 hurlers Al Spalding, Bill Hutchinson, and Clark Griffith accounted for six of the top ten single-season WARs in franchise history.
     We have excluded these worthy gentleman from both the single-season and career pitchers' lists below, because comparing their feats to those of pitchers in the so-called modern era (since 1900) is apples to oranges. That leaves us with Dick Ellsworth's 10.3 in 1963 as the highest single-season WAR among Cubs pitchers. The 23-year-old lefty went 22-10 with a 2.11 ERA, completed 19 of his 37 starts, and yielded just 223 hits in 291 innings. At 82-80, the Cubs finished over .500 (barely) for the first time since 1946.
     The highest WAR ever recorded by a Cubs position player was Rogers Hornsby's 11.5 in 1929, a year in which Hornsby won the Most Valuable Player award and the Cubs won the pennant.

Top Ten Cubs WARS, single season (pitchers, since 1900)

  1. Dick Ellsworth (1963), 10.3
  2. Grover Alexander (1920), 10.0
  3. Fergie Jenkins (1971), 9.2
  4. Bill Hands (1969), 8.8
  5. Mordecai Brown (1909), 8.7
  5. Rick Reuschel (1977), 8.7
  7. Greg Maddux (1992), 8.4
  8. Mordecai Brown (1908), 7.8
  8. Ed Reulbach (1905), 7.8
  8. Jack Taylor (1902), 7.8


Top Ten Cubs WARS, single season (position players)

  1. Rogers Hornsby, 2B (1929), 11.5
  2. Sammy Sosa, RF (2001), 11.4
  3. Ron Santo, 3B (1967), 10.2
  4. Ernie Banks, SS (1959), 10.0
  5. Ernie Banks, SS (1958), 9.7
  6. Mike "King" Kelly, OF-C (1886), 8.7
  7. Ryne Sandberg, 2B (1984), 8.5
  8. Frank Chance, 1B (1906), 8.4
  9. Ron Santo, 3B (1966), 8.3
10. Ernie Banks, SS (1960), 8.2


Top Ten Cubs WARs, career (pitchers, since 1900)

  1. Fergie Jenkins (1966-1973, 1982-1983), 53.5
  2. Rick Reuschel (1972-1981, 1983-1984), 46.8
  3. Mordecai Brown (1904-1912, 1916), 45.7
  4. Charlie Root (1926-1941), 38.6
  5. Grover Alexander (1918-1926), 35.9
  6. Bob Rush (1948-1957), 33.5
  7. Hippo Vaughn (1913-1921), 33.4
  8. Greg Maddux (1986-1992, 2004-2006), 31.4
  8. Carlos Zambrano (2001-present), 31.4
10. Ed Reulbach (1905-1913), 29.5


Top Ten Cubs WARs, career (position players)

  1. Cap Anson, 1B (1876-1897), 89.1
  2. Ron Santo, 3B (1960-1973), 68.5
  3. Ernie Banks, SS-1B (1953-1971), 64.4
  4. Ryne Sandberg, 3B-2B (1982-1994, 1996-1997), 62.1
  5. Sammy Sosa, OF (1992-2004), 60.0
  6. Billy Williams, OF-1B (1959-1974), 55.2
  7. Stan Hack, 3B (1932-1947), 54.8
  8. Frank Chance, C-1B (1898-1912), 49.4
  9. Gabby Hartnett, C (1922-1940), 49.3
10. Mark Grace, 1B (1988-2000), 44.9