March 30, 2021: Cub Lifers

Ernie Banks, 19 years all with the Cubs. He is an anomaly. There is only one Mr. Cub. Actually, there is one other guy that has donned the Cubs uniform exclusively; he is Stan Hack who spent 16 years all with the Cubs. He’s actually on the ticket stub of the first game I took my son when he was 5 months old. That’s it… Yep, not too many Cub lifers. There are teams with less: the Rockies (Todd Helton), Mariners (Edgar Martinez), and the Nationals/Expos (Steve Rogers) all have one player who spent their entire careers with one team. Then there are the franchises with zero: the Diamondbacks, Marlins, Rangers, Rays, and Blue Jays. The thing about most of those teams is they haven’t been around half as long as the Cubs. What gives?

Well, it would take some time to go through all the guys that should have been Cub lifers, and figure out why that didn’t happen. Billy Williams spent his last two years with the As; Ron Santo had that one last year with the Sox of all teams. Fergie was all over the place; we know about Maddux. The guy that was the next closest was Ryne Sandberg, who only played 13 games with the Phillies before the rest of his 16 year career with the Cubs. I think of another guy who fits into that Sandberg type mold: Anthony Rizzo. He played his first 49 games with the Padres and has been here ever since. Will he finish his career here?

The latest word is that the Cubs and Rizzo are far away from each other in extension talks, which means Rizzo will play out the last year of his contract in a Cubs uniform in 2021; who knows what will happen then. It sucks. The Cubs have a lot of great players right now; seeing any of them in another uniform would hurt… it always does. But Rizzo… man, I know I was calling out the whiny bitches re: the Nico news earlier this week, but I’m feeling kind of whiny myself about this one. It’s Anthony Rizzo for God’s Sake!!!

If there was one guy who I should never have to see in another uniform again, it’s Anthony Rizzo. There are the stats of course; look them up for yourself if you want. We know he plays an awesome first base defensively, and like Leon Durham saving Shawon, Rizzo saves a bunch of errors for Javy. There is more than that, no? Yes, heck yes. If I had to pick one guy that is the leader of this team it would be Rizzo. Who could forget all the playoff and World Series stuff? Who caught that last out and stuffed the ball in his pocket? OK, I’m going to stop. Yeah, and there’s even more than that. It’s the kind of stuff that doesn’t show on his Baseball Reference page; it’s all the charity work he does for kids w/cancer, being one himself at one point. There are people who hate the Cubs who are fans of Rizzo because of that. Again, not saying this should dictate a contract extension, but when you roll all this shit up together, and of course the fact that my left handed son has his jersey and poster on his bedroom wall who loves imitating his home run swing where he genuflects before sending the ball over the right field wall, there is more than enough there to keep him happy. Shit, hasn’t he taken less money thus far to be here? Do we forget about that too?

I know last year wasn’t his greatest. I know the Cubs team has disappointed over the past few years, up to this point, not being able to capture that 2nd World Series title. I understand the need for change; I know there are guys from that 2016 team, and we’ve already seen it, that will not be here any longer. I just can’t see this with Rizzo. If there is only one guy that gets extended on this current Cubs roster, it has to be Rizzo. Imagining him play his last game at Wrigley at the end of this year is horrible. Get. It. Done. Cubs…. NOW!