Windows in Time: The Cubs Decade-by-Decade

The Cubs of the early twentieth century featured such legendary names as Frank Chance, Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Mordecai Brown. As baseball statistics guru Bill James has pointed out, those Cubs established major-league records for the most wins in one year (1906), two years (1906-1907), three years (1906-1908), four years (1906-1909), five years (1906-1910), six years (1905-1910), seven years (1904-1910), eight years (1904-1911), nine years (1904-1912), and ten years (1904-1913). Each of these records still stands. (The 2001 Seattle Mariners equaled the 1906 Cubs' 116 wins, but they lost ten more games than the Cubs.)

   

FRANK CHANCE

This information gave us the idea to survey the Cubs' performance for each ten-year period in franchise history. 

     Immediately below is the log by decades, which illustrates what we already knew--that after a sustained run of success and even dominance for many years, the Cubs entered a long period in which mediocrity or worse was the norm and respectability or better the exception. From 1876 through 1939, the Cubs (and their forerunners, the White Stockings and Colts) were 1,163 games over the .500 mark. Notwithstanding the Cubs' recent successes, they are 577 games under .500 since 1940. 

 

Years                     W.         L.         Pct.        Championships

1876 - 1879          154       110       .583         N.L. 1876

1880 - 1889          691       395       .636         N.L. 1880, 1881, 1882, 1885, 1886

1890 - 1899          710       654       .521         none

1900 - 1909          879       592       .598         N.L. 1906; World 1907, 1908

1910 - 1919          826       668       .553         N.L. 1910, 1918

1920 - 1929          807       728       .526         N.L. 1929

1930 - 1939          889       646       .579         N.L. 1932, 1935, 1938

1940 - 1949          736       802       .479         N.L. 1945

1950 - 1959          672       866       .437         none

1960 - 1969          735       868       .459         none

1970 - 1979          785       827       .487         none

1980 - 1989          735       821       .472         Div. 1984, 1989

1990 - 1999          739       813       .476         none

2000 - 2009          807       811       .499         Div. 2003, 2007, 2008

2010 - 2019          817       803       .504         World 2016, Div. 2017

 

When we review every ten-year stretch of franchise history, we find the period that Bill James pointed to and also a stretch in the nineteenth century--the days of Cap Anson--in which the club's winning percentage was even higher (while the total number of wins was lower because of shorter schedules).

     The first ten-year stretch in Cubs annals to produce a losing record was the period from 1939 to 1948. From then on, every ten-year stretch through 2009 produced a losing record--with the single exception of the .502 mark achieved between 1967 and 1976. 

    

ERNIE BANKS

The Cubs' worst ten-year run of all time was from 1953 through 1962. It certainly was no reflection on Ernie Banks that these were the first ten years of his career. Few if any players ever performed so brilliantly for such bad ballclubs and before so many empty seats as Mr. Cub, who was an All-Star every year from 1955 through 1962 and won back-to-back Most Valuable Player awards in 1958 and 1959.  

     How bad would the Cubs have been in those days without Ernie? One shudders even to imagine it, but former White Sox manager Jimmie Dykes summed it up nicely. "Without Ernie Banks," Dykes remarked, "the Cubs would finish in Albuquerque."

 

Years                     W.         L.         Pct.        Notes

1878 - 1887          623       335       .650         Six seasons over .600

1903 - 1912          980       533       .648         Worst season = .594

1904 - 1913          984       542       .645         Eight seasons over .600

1953 - 1962          652       895       .422         Best season = .481

 

Chicago Cubs year-by-year history on Baseball-Reference.com

 

Check out our book Heydays: Great Stories in Chicago Sports on Amazon.

 

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

Cubs Honor Roll

CAP ANSON

Cubs retired numbers:
10 - Ron Santo
14 - Ernie Banks
23 - Ryne Sandberg
26 - Billy Williams
31 - Fergie Jenkins
31 - Greg Maddux

World championship managers:
1876 - Al Spalding
1880 - Cap Anson
1881 - Cap Anson
1882 - Cap Anson
1885 - Cap Anson
1886 - Cap Anson
1907 - Frank Chance
1908 - Frank Chance

National League Most Valuable Player:
1911 - Frank "Wildfire" Schulte
1929 - Rogers Hornsby
1935 - Gabby Hartnett
1945 - Phil Cavarretta
1952 - Hank Sauer
1958 - Ernie Banks
1959 - Ernie Banks
1984 - Ryne Sandberg
1987 - Andre Dawson
1998 - Sammy Sosa

National League Cy Young Award:
1971 - Fergie Jenkins
1979 - Bruce Sutter
1984 - Rick Sutcliffe
1992 - Greg Maddux

National League Rookie of the Year:
1961 - Billy Williams
1962 - Ken Hubbs
1989 - Jerome Walton
1998 - Kerry Wood
2008 - Geovany Soto

Batting champions:
1876 - Ross Barnes
1880 - George Gore
1881 - Cap Anson
1884 - Mike "King" Kelly
1886 - Mike "King" Kelly
1888 - Cap Anson
1912 - Heinie Zimmerman
1945 - Phil Cavarretta
1972 - Billy Williams
1975 - Bill Madlock
1976 - Bill Madlock
1980 - Bill Buckner
2005 - Derrek Lee

Home Run leaders:
1884 - Ned Williamson
1885 - Abner Dalrymple
1888 - Jimmy Ryan
1890 - Walt Wilmot
1910 - Frank "Wildfire" Schulte
1911 - Frank "Wildfire" Schulte
1912 - Heinie Zimmerman
1916 - Cy Williams
1926 - Hack Wilson
1927 - Hack Wilson
1930 - Hack Wilson
1943 - Bill Nicholson
1944 - Bill Nicholson
1952 - Hank Sauer
1958 - Ernie Banks
1960 - Ernie Banks
1979 - Dave Kingman
1987 - Andre Dawson
1990 - Ryne Sandberg
2000 - Sammy Sosa
2002 - Sammy Sosa

Runs Batted In leaders:
1876 - Deacon White
1880 - Cap Anson
1881 - Cap Anson
1882 - Cap Anson
1884 - Cap Anson
1885 - Cap Anson
1886 - Cap Anson
1888 - Cap Anson
1891 - Cap Anson
1906 - Harry Steinfeldt
1911 - Frank "Wildfire" Schulte
1929 - Hack Wilson
1930 - Hack Wilson
1943 - Bill Nicholson
1944 - Bill Nicholson
1952 - Hank Sauer
1958 - Ernie Banks
1959 - Ernie Banks
1987 - Andre Dawson
1998 - Sammy Sosa
2001 - Sammy Sosa

Leaders in victories:
1876 - Al Spalding
1881 - Larry Corcoran
1885 - John Clarkson
1890 - Bill Hutchinson
1891 - Bill Hutchinson
1892 - Bill Hutchinson
1909 - Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown
1912 - Larry Cheney
1918 - Hippo Vaughn
1920 - Grover Alexander
1927 - Charlie Root
1929 - Pat Malone
1930 - Pat Malone
1932 - Lon Warneke
1938 - Bill Lee
1964 - Larry Jackson
1971 - Fergie Jenkins
1987 - Rick Sutcliffe
1992 - Greg Maddux
2006 - Carlos Zambrano

Leaders in Earned-Run Average:
1883 - Larry Corcoran
1898 - Clark Griffith
1902 - Jack Taylor
1906 - Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown
1907 - Jack Pfiester
1910 - King Cole
1918 - Hippo Vaughn
1919 - Grover Alexander
1920 - Grover Alexander
1932 - Lon Warneke
1938 - Bill Lee
1945 - Ray Prim

Leaders in strikeouts:
1880 - Larry Corcoan
1885 - John Clarkson
1892 - Bill Hutchinson
1909 - Orval Overall
1918 - Hippo Vaughn
1919 - Hippo Vaughn
1920 - Grover Alexander
1929 - Pat Malone
1938 - Clay Bryant
1946 - Johnny Schmitz
1955 - Sam Jones
1956 - Sam Jones
1969 - Fergie Jenkins
2003 - Kerry Wood

Manager of the Year:
1984 - Jim Frey
1989 - Don Zimmer
2008 - Lou Piniella