Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Cubs 365, October 31

On Halloween 1963, future Cub Fred McGriff was born. He was nicknamed the Crime Dog because of his last name's similarity to the "actual" crime dog McGruff.

Our crime dog, it's safe to say, was at best a reluctant Cub. He refused to be traded to the Cubs at first, and then when he finally agreed to the trade, he seemed to be a bad luck charm as the surging Cubs faded out of contention shortly after he arrived in 2001. He had a great season in 2002 (30 HR, 103 RBI), but that team was headed nowhere.

He played two more seasons after he left Chicago, and ended his career with 493 home runs. During his big league career he was one of the premier sluggers in the game.