Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Number 9

Today is a numerologist's wet dream...9/9/09. Seems like a good day to take a look at some of the Cubs that have worn the number 9. As it turns out, there have been quite a few big names...

For the first few months of 1932, future Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby wore the #9. He was fired amidst a player revolt and an investigation into his gambling.

After Hornsby left the team that year, Mark Koenig took the #9. The way his Cubs teammates treated Koenig may have provided the bad karma that lost the 1932 World Series.





In 1933 another Hall of Famer, Gabby Hartnett,took over the #9. He wore that number for the next four seasons, including the 1935 World Series.









In the early 50s (1950-1955) Hank Sauer wore #9. All he did with that number was win the MVP award in 1952. He also once hit 3 home runs in one game.









In the late 50s (58-59), the number 9 was worn by the man who hit the most famous home run in history (the shot heard round the world) a few years earlier for the New York Giants. His nickname was "The Flying Scot."







In the late 1960s the heart and soul of the Hey Hey Holy Mackeral Cubs, Randy Hundley, wore #9. In 1968, Hundley caught a ridiculous 160 games. (His son Todd later wore the same number in 2001-2002, but we don't talk about that.)






Those guys are obviously the best players to wear number 9, but there have been many others, including Frank Demaree (1937-38), Hank Leiber (1939-41), Chico Hernandez (1942), Clyde McCullough (1945-48), Mickey Owen (1949), Rube Novotney (1949), Bob Lennon (1957), Gordon Massa (1957), Del Rice (1960), Jim Hegan (1960), Cuno Barragan (1961-63), Steve Swisher (1974-77), Joe Wallis (1978), Tim Blackwell (1978-81), Butch Benton (1982), Larry Cox (1982), Fred Koenig (1983), Johnny Oates (1984-87), Damon Berryhill (1988-91), Matt Walbeck (1993), Scott Servais (1995-98), Benito Santiago (1999), Damon Buford (2000-01), Paul Bako (2003-04), Henry Blanco (2005), Jody Gerut (2005), Scott McClain (2005), Juan Pierre (2006), Jake Fox (2007), Reed Johnson (2008-09)