It is safe to say that midway through the 2013 season that when the Baltimore Orioles traded Jake Arrieta (with Pedro Strop) for Steve Clevenger and Scott Feldman that the Cubs got the better end of the deal.

While Kiki Cuyler’s best years in baseball were as a Pittsburgh Pirate, he actually spent more time with the Chicago Cubs.  Playing 949 Games for Cubs, Cuyler would have five seasons where he batted over .300, two of which would see him exceed .350.  Cuyler's first three years in Chicago (1928-30) would see him lead the National League in Stolen Bases, and he would also finish first in Doubles in 1934.  Overall, he batted .325 with 1,199 Hits for the Cubs, and he would be chosen for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1968 when he was voted in by the Veteran's Committee.  The Cubs would also place Cuyler into their Hall of Fame in 2021, the first year of their exstence.

Arriving in Chicago early in the 1939 season via a trade from the Philadelphia Phillies, Claude Passeau would have his best years (and his final ones) in the Majors as a Cub.  Passeau would have a 20 Win Season in 1940 and would go on to have five All-Star appearances.  His best game was a one-hitter in the 1945 World Series against the Detroit Tigers.  Overall, Passeau would win 124 Games for Chicago.

We finally get to the third of the famed "Tinkers to Evers to Chance" with the middle component, Johnny Evers, who was considered by his peers as one of the most intelligent and also surly baseball players of the Game.  Evers would win the starting Second Baseman's job in 1903, and while he was not always known for hitting for Average near the end of the decade, he was developing an incredible batting eye, and he had his first of three .400 OBP seasons in 1908.  Evers was a vital cog of the back-to-back World Series titles in 19097 and 1908, and he batted .350 in both of those Fall Classics.  He would become the Player/Manager for Chicago in 1913, but he was fired and took the same job with the Boston Braves.  Ironically, Evers would win the National League MVP in 1914, the first year that he was not with the Chicago Cubs.  He would also win his third World Series Ring.

Phil Cavarretta debuted for the Chicago Cubs in 1934 a couple of months after his 18th birthday, and he would play there until he was released after the 1953 Season.  Cavaretta had a good 1935 season, but he would be riddled with injuries over the next few years, and it took until the 1942 season, where he had a year with 450 Plate Appearances.  Granted, World War II depleted the Major League roster, but Cavarretta was finally healthy, and he would go on the best run of his career.  Named an All-Star every year from 1943 to 1947, he would have three seasons where he batted over .300, and he would lead the NL in Hits in 1944.  Cavarretta would win the National League MVP in 1945, where he won the Batting Title and led the Cubs to the pennant where he batted .423 with an OPS of 1.115 in Chicago’s World Series loss to the Detroit Tigers.  He would have a reduced workload over the years to come, but his longevity made him a favorite of the Cubs faithful.  He would accumulate 1,927 Hits as a Chicago Cub.

Chicago selected Cavarretta for their franchise Hall of Fame in 2021, the inaugural class.

A member of the 2,500 Hit Club, Jimmy Ryan, would accumulate 2,084 of them with the Chicago Cubs.  Ryan would bat .308 for Chicago and would lead the National League in Hits in 1888, the same season he would do so in Doubles and Home Runs.  The Outfielder would finish in the top eight in OPS six times, and while he was never considered a superstar, he was a consistent producer for an extended period of time and a worthy person on this list.

Ryan was one of the many former Cubs named to the franchise Hall of Fame in 2021.

Lon Warneke was relatively ineffective during the beginning of his run as a Major League Baseball player.   This would change when Cubs Manager Rogers Hornsby noticed that he was staring at his feet rather than at the plate when he threw.  That correction turned him into an also-ran to an MVP runner-up.

The Cubs fleeced their cross-town rival White Sox when they acquired Sammy Sosa for George Bell as Sosa would become one of the best offensive players of his day while Bell was on his way out of the game.

Playing for the Chicago White Stockings/Colts for seven seasons, Bill Hutchinson was a dominating presence for three of them, so much so that he earned this high ranking.  In each of those years (1890-92), Hutchinson would lead the National League in Wins and Innings Pitched, and he would also win the Strikeout Title in 1892 while finishing second in the other two seasons mentioned above.  After that, Hutchinson was an average Pitcher at best, playing three more seasons without doing anything special, but after it was said and done, his career at Chicago would see him win 180 Games with 1,225 Strikeouts.

This is as good a time as any to remind everyone that we don't put substantial penalties those who put up their best statistics during World War II when many of the game's greats were serving in the military.  It does play a bit when we focus on intangibles, but it is about what they do on the diamond and not what is going on around them, which is paramount in our eyes.

It began with Joe Tinker, at least that is how the poem goes of Tinker to Evers to Chance in regards to turning double plays for the Chicago Cubs in the 1900s.

A multi-time All-Star, Billy Herman helped the Chicago Cubs reach the World Series three times.  Chicago may not have won any of the Fall Classics, but he was a vital cog in the machine that brought excitement to Wrigley Field for a decade.

One third of the famed Cubs infield of Tinker to Evers to Chance, Frank Chance was the final cog of that triumvirate playing at First Base. 

If you didn't agree that Fergie Jenkins was the best Pitching Chicago Cub, then we guess that it was Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown that you would give that title too.

Greg Maddux is always thought of first as an Atlanta Brave, but it was with the Chicago Cubs where he first rose to prominence.  Maddux started slowly with Chicago, but the talent was there, and in 1988, his third year in the Majors, he was chosen for the All-Star Game with an 18 Win season.  He was solid for the next three seasons, winning 19, 15, and 15 Wins, and in 1992, he would lead the NL with 20 Wins and had an ERA of 2.18.  He would win the National League Cy Young Award that year, would go to his second All-Star Game, and he had won his third straight Gold Glove.  Sadly, for the fans at Wrigley, Maddux was a Free Agent, and talks broke down, and he signed with Atlanta winning the next three Cy Youngs.  Maddux would, however, return later for two more seasons in 2004.

Mark Grace was drafted in the 24^th Round of the 1985 Amateur Draft, and generally, when you are chosen that low, you aren't expected to do much at the Major League level.  Nobody seemed to have conveyed that to Mark Grace.

Clark Griffith would be one of the most consistent Pitchers of the 1890s, where, as a member of the Chicago Colts/Orphans, he would have six straight seasons (1894 to 1899) of at least 21 Wins.  Griffith won 152 Games for the franchise and was the ERA leader with 1.88 in 1898.

Nicknamed “Big Daddy” for his portly physique, Rick Reuschel is now viewed as a sabermetric star, and most of those accomplishments took place as a Chicago Cub.

Many great Pitchers have toiled on the mound for the Chicago Cubs, but none of them have recorded more Wins than Charlie Root, who brought the “W” 201 times.

James “Hippo” Vaughn was a journeyman who bounced around from the minors to the majors from team to team for a few years before he found a home in Chicago in 1913.  He broke out with a 21 Win season in 1914 and had 20 Wins in 1915, and in 1917 he would have a career-high 23 Wins and an ERA of 2.01.  In '16 and '17, he was third among Pitchers in bWAR, but in 1918 he would have one of the best years that a hurler ever had as a Cub.  Vaughn would lead the National League in bWAR (8.1), bWAR for Pitchers (7.6), ERA (1.74), Wins (18), WHIP (1.006), and Strikeouts (148).  More importantly, he was the ace of a Cubs team that won the Pennant, and though he pitched well (1.00 ERA), he lost two Games, and they would lose to Boston.  Vaughn had a good 1919 and 1920 but went off of the rails in 1921 and would be released.  He would play in the minors for another 15 seasons, showing his love for the game.

Vaughn was chosen in 2021 to be a part of the inaugural Cubs Hall of Fame.