Top Ten All Time Chicago Cubs By Position

Second Base — Ryne Sandberg (1982-1994, 1996-1997)

Picking up Ryne Sandberg was one of the smartest moves ever by former general manager Dallas Green. The Philadelphia Phillies and the Cubs were in discussions on a trade of shortstops, Ivan De Jesus for Larry Bowa.

Green, who was a former Phillies manager, asked for a throw-in. He had an idea of what type of player Sandberg was, and asked for him. The Phillies did and regretted that move for the rest of Sandberg’s career.

Sandberg was an all-around player who could hit for average, hit for power, could run, and played excellent defense.

He was a ten-time All-Star, a nine-time Gold Glove winner, and a seven-time Silver Slugger winner. He finished in the top twenty in the National League MVP voting six times, finishing in the top four three of those times, and won it in 1984.

That 1984 season was a glorious one for the Cubs and their fans. Sandberg led the Cubs into the playoffs for the first time in 39 years. Of course, these are the cursed Cubs! Even though they had a 2-0 series lead and were one game away from the World Series, even Sandberg could not get his team over the hump.

Sandberg had a .285/.344/.452 hitting slash, with 282 home runs and 1,061 RBI. He also had 344 stolen bases.

When Sandberg retired, he had records for most home runs as a second baseman (277), highest fielding percentage at second base (.981), most consecutive games without an error in a season (90), and most consecutive games without an error in multiple seasons (123).

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