Cubs 365, March 30

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 1904, future Cub Ripper Collins was born. If his name sounds familiar, it should. He was mentioned in Cubs 365 just the other day as the man the Cubs acquired when they shipped off their best pitcher Lon Warneke in 1937.

His real name was James Anthony Collins, but everyone called him "Rip" or "Ripper." He said he got his nickname when, as a boy, he hit the team's only ball and snagged it on a fence nail, ripping its cover.

Collins was a star with the Cardinals, and to be fair, he got off to a good start with the Cubs too. Ripper was an all-star for the Cubs in '37, and played on the pennant winner in 1938, but he hit only .133 in the Series, and with Phil Cavarretta on the team, Collins was no longer wanted or needed.

The Cubs released him before the 1939 season…on his 35th birthday.