Friday, January 06, 2012

Cubs 365

Every day in 2012, the Just One Bad Century blog will feature a story about this day in Cubs history. We're calling it Cubs 365.

On this day in 1900, Clyde "Jersey" Beck was born. Beck was a backup infielder for the Cubs for most of his five year Cubs career (1926-1930). He started nearly 90 games for them in the 1928 season, and then went back to the bench for the pennant winning 1929 season. The highlight of his career was probably May 12, 1930. The Cubs hit four homers in the seventh inning that day and were only the second team in history to do it. Clyde Jersey Beck hit the record-tying HR.

Jersey hit a career-high six HR that season but batted only .213, 90 points below the league average. The Cubs shipped him off to Cincinnati after the season, and that's where he played his final year in the big leagues.

He died in 1988 in his native California.