Before there was Ernie Banks, there was Phil Cavarretta, who many in Chicago referred to as "Mr. Cub," before that was universally bestowed upon Banks.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity. As such, we are very happy to present the pre-2021 update of our top 50 Chicago Cubs of all-time.

As for all of our top 50 players in baseball we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National League. 

3. Playoff accomplishments.

4. Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

There is only one new addition, but he is not an active player.  As always, we announce our top five immediately, but out full list can be found here.

1. Cap Anson

2. Ernie Banks

3. Ryne Sandberg

4. Ron Santo

5. Billy Williams

There was some minor tinkering on the list due to the changing values from Baseball Reference.  This led to former Infielder, Woody English,replacing Hall of Fame closer, Lee Smith at #50.

We welcome your input and commentsand as always, we thank you for your support.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  We have a new one to unveil today, that of the Chicago Cubs. 

When it comes to iconic sports teams in North America, few can come close to the Chicago Cubs.

The Cubs first came into existence in 1870 as the Chicago White Stockings would join the National League in 1876.  Before 1900, Chicago was one of the most successful teams.  Led by Cap Anson, Chicago would win the National League Pennant in 1876, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1885 & 1886.  They would go through a couple of name changes to the Colts, Orphans and would officially adopt the name of the Cubs in 1903.

The Cubs did well in the first decade of the 1900s where with stars like Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, Frank Chance, and Three Finger Brown and would win the World Series in 1907 and 1908.  That would begin the longest championship drought in sports.

You know the story.  The alleged curse of the goat.  Steve Bartman. 

It would take until 2016 when they would win the World Series again, although they did win the National League Pennant multiple times between them (1910, 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938 & 1945).  They also had Hall of Famers at that time, like Ernie Banks and Ryne Sandberg.

As of this writing, three World Series Championships is not very many for a team that has been around since the beginning, but again, how many organizations are as well-known as the Cubbies!

As for all of our top 50 players in baseball we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Remember, this is ONLY based on what a player does on that particular team and not what he accomplished elsewhere and also note that we have placed an increased importance on the first two categories.

This list is updated up until the end of the 2018-19 Season.

The complete list can be found here, but as always we announce our top five in this article.  They are:

1. Cap Anson

2. Ernie Banks

3. Ryne Sandberg

4. Ron Santo

5. Billy Williams

We will continue our adjustments on our existing lists and will continue developing our new lists.  

Look for our All-Time Top 50 Oakland Athletics coming next!

As always we thank you for your support.

Mike "King" Kelly was considered an innovator in his day as it is believed that he was the first to foul off pitches deliberately.

A World Series Champion with the Florida Marlins in 2003, Derrek Lee was one of the many players who was jettisoned off in their fire sale.  Lee would play for the Cubs for six and a half seasons, where he had 1,046 for the team with a beautiful Slash Line of .298/.378/.524 and was a two-time All-Star.  He will always be remembered for his spectacular 2005 season, where he won the Batting Title (.335), Slugging Title (.662), and OPS Title (1.080), and he would have career highs in Home Runs (46).  He would finish third in MVP voting that year, and he would also have a ninth place finish in 2009.

In the last half of the 1930s, Bill Lee was on a very good Chicago Cubs starting rotation that would take the team to two National League Pennants, 1935 and 1938.  Lee was far from just a participant from 1935 to 1939, and he would have four 18 Win Seasons, including a 22 Win campaign in 1938, which was enough to lead the National League.  That year Lee would also lead the league in Earned Run Average, Shutouts, and ERA+ while also finishing second in MVP voting.  Overall, he would win 139 Games for the Cubs.

Ned Williamson played the entire 1880's with the Chicago White Stockings, where his strength was his defensive skills.  Used at Third Base and Shortstop for most of his career, Williamson would twice lead the National League in Defensive bWAR and was in the top five in that statistic four other times.  Had there been a Gold Glove Award back then, Williamson would have likely won at least six (or should have) for his work at Third Base as even by traditional metrics, he was a six-time leader at his position in Assists and five-time leader in Double Plays Turned.

Kerry Wood may not have had the career in the majors that he was pegged to have when he was a 21-year old flamethrower, but this was still a strong run for the Strikeout master.  For the Cubs, Wood became a two-time All-Star (2003 & 2008) and would lead the National League in Strikeouts in 2003.  He would throw for 1,470 Strikeouts over 1,278 Innings for 80 Wins.

Bill Dahlen played his first eight seasons in Chicago, which is where the legend of “Bad Bill” began.  As a member of the Colts/Orphans, Dahlen proved to be a very good hitter who had three .300 seasons and was .299 overall for Chicago.  Dahlen would collect 1,170 Hits with 561 RBI for the team with a 34.0 bWAR.

Andy Pako first broke into the Cubs roster in 1943, and in 1945 he had 159 Hits and was part of the Chicago's National League Pennant winning club.  Pafko’s playing time did not reduce when the rest of the big leaguers came home from the War, and he would be named an All-Star four years in a row (1947 to 1950).  In three of those years, he batted over .300, and he had a pair of 30 Home Run seasons.  Overall, he accumulated 1,048 Hits, and he would bat .294 with 126 Home Runs for the club.

The Cubs selected Pafko for their first Hall of Fame Class in 2021.

Frank Schulte would play 13 of his 15 seasons with the Chicago Cubs, where he played Rightfield and was part of the Cubs dynasty that won the National League Pennant in 1906, 1907, 1908, and 1910 and the World Series in 1907 and 1908.  While Schulte was not the star of those teams, he was undoubtedly a contributor, as he batted .321 in those four World Series appearances.

Bob Rush may have had a losing record with the Chicago Cubs (110-140), but in his defense, he did not have a lot of strong teammates around him, and the Cubs were not particularly good at the time.  Still, we are talking about a two-time All-Star who finished in the top ten in bWAR for Pitchers four times and in Strikeouts four times.  He would record 1,076 Ks for Chicago and was one of the better players the team had in the 1950s.

There have been a lot of unlikely Cy Young winners over the years, but perhaps nobody more shocking than Rick Sutcliffe, who won the NL version of 1984.  This is not because he wasn't a good Pitcher or a flash in the pan but because he never arrived in the National League until June 13.

A Pitcher for the back-to-back World Series Championship teams in 1907 and 1908, Ed Reulbach was the beneficiary of playing for some potent Cubs teams.  It certainly didn't hurt his winning percentage as he would lead the National League three years in a row in that category (1906-08), and he had at least 17 Wins in his first five years.  The success of his team didn't mean that he didn't help his cause as he had an ERA under 2.00 in four of those years, all of which were good enough for a top six finish.  Reulbach would also lead the NL in H/9 in 1905 and 1906.

Heinie Zimmerman was a member of the Chicago Cubs World Series Champions in 1907 and 1908, but this was early in his career, and he didn't play much for the Cubs at the time. Instead, he would come into his own in the early 1910s, and in 1912 specifically, he would win the Triple Crown with a stellar .372 Batting Average.  Zimmerman would also lead the National League in Hits (207), Doubles (41), and Slugging Percentage (.571) but amazingly only finished sixth in MVP voting.  Zimmerman would have two other .300 seasons, and overall as a Cub, he would bat .304 with 1,112 Hits.  Had he a better On Base Percentage (.343), he would probably be a few spots higher on this list.

Zimmerman entered the Cubs Hall of Fame as part of the first class in 2021.

The story of Andre Dawson has long been told when it comes in relation to the Chicago Cubs.  It was the year of "Collusion," and Dawson and his agent agreed to a blank amount in front of the Cubs management.  The Cubs would sign him for a half a million dollars, a bargain in every stretch of the word.  "The Hawk" would then proceed to have the best season of his career where he blasted a league-leading 49 Home Runs, and 137 Runs Batted In and would win the National League MVP Award.  Dawson never had a year like that again, but he was still a good power hitter who would have 20 or more taters in the next five seasons.

While we stated that Anthony Rizzo was the heart of the Cubs' 2016 World Series Championship, Kris Bryant was the star.

A member of Cap Anson's dominant Chicago White Stockings teams of the 1880s, Larry Corcoran had five seasons where he was a pivotal contributor to the team.  From 1880 to 1884, Corcoran won 170 Games and was rare that he was a switch-pitcher, meaning he could alternate throwing arms.  Corcoran made history in 1882 when he became the first pitcher to throw a second no-hitter in his career, which was the same season where he led the National League in ERA, WHIP, and H/9/.  Like so many of his era, the heavy workload took its toll, and he had a dead arm by 1885 and was out of the game two years later.

The first half of George Gore's career was spent with the then-named Chicago White Stockings, which was easily the better half of his career.  Playing in Centerfield, Gore was a very good hitter who would win the Batting, On Base Percentage, and Slugging Titles in 1880, and he was in the top ten in Batting Average four more times.  Gore would lead the NL in Walks three times and helped Chicago win the Pennant five times.  Overall he would bat .315 for Chicago, but as he was alleged by Cap Anson to be lazy, he could have accomplished much more.

In retrospect, the Chicago Cubs stole Anthony Rizzo from the San Diego Padres in a trade in 2012 that saw little attention.  At that point in his career, Rizzo had only played 49 Games in the Majors, and while his future was thought to be bright, it wasn't expected that he would become the heart of the Cubs.