The Cubs All-Star History
As much as I dread the current All-Star break, I was a fan once upon a time. Back before interleague play, having kids and cable television, the Midsummer Classic was a guilty pleasure to get a chance to see how our Cubbies did against the best of the best.
So part of the glacially-paced Wiklifield project, I put together this page that slices and dices the Cubs All-Star appearances. Some fun facts after the jump...
- You'll often hear about Ernie Banks being a 14-time All-Star, which is true...in a sense. He only made the All-Star team in 11 seasons, but between 1959 and 1962, they played two All-Star games separated anywhere from two days to a month. Banks got an extra game in 1959, 1960 and 1962.
- Not only does Banks lead in Cubs All-Star appearances, he also leads Cubs shortstops and Cubs first basemen in appearances. I like to use the season counter rather than double counting for 1959-1962, so I just consider Banks to have made 11 All-Stars, but he made 7 as a SS, one more than Don Kessinger and 4 as a 1B, one more than Mark Grace and Phil Cavarretta, although Grace technically started at DH in 1993.
- The only Cub pitcher to ever start an All-Star game? Claude Passeau in 1946. He's tied for the most All-Star appearances for a Cubs pitcher at 4 with Bruce Sutter. Carlos Zambrano needs one more selection to tie them.
- Speaking of Sutter, he pitched three of the four times he selected, and threw 5.2 scoreless innings with a win and two saves. Randy Myers has the only other Cub save and Lee Smith threw three innings in 1987 in a 13-inning game for the win.
- A Cub has hit a home run in the All-Star game on seven different occasions - Augie Galan in 1936, Hank Sauer in 1952, Ernie Banks in 1960, George Altman in 1961, Billy Williams in 1964, Andre Dawson in 1991 and Alfonso Soriano in 2007.
- The only Cub to be named MVP of the classic was Bill Madlock in 1975, sharing the honors with pitcher Jon Matlack.
- Ryne Sandberg is second in All-Star appearances with 10 behind Banks and first in starts with 9...first in 1984 and then 1986-1993, including being the top vote-getter from 1990-1992. The one year he didn't start - 1985 - Tommy Herr got the start.
- The only other Cub to be top vote-getter was Sammy Sosa in 1999.
- Ted Lilly was the 192nd Cub to be named to an All-Star team...if I counted right.
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