Kerry Wood Shockingly Among Chicago Cubs Pitching Mount Rushmore Snubs
Chicago Cubs’ Kerry Wood was among the players who did not make the cut for the team’s Mount Rushmore of starting pitchers.
Kenneth Teape | 5 Hours Ago
May 6, 2023; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Former Chicago Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood throws out a ceremonial first pitch on the twenty year anniversary of his twenty strike out game against the Houston Astros. at Wrigley Field. / David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
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The Chicago Cubs are one of the most storied franchises in all of baseball.
Going back to their inception in 1876 as the Chicago White Stockings, the team has had plenty of legendary players take the field for them.
The Cubs have had plenty of incredible sluggers, as the top seven players in franchise history based on Baseball-Reference’s WAR are position players. The first pitcher to make the list is Fergie Jenkins.
A little further down their list of all-time bWAR is Carlos Zambrano. He pitched for Chicago during the first 11 years of his career before ending with one season on the Miami Marlins.
Effectively wild throughout his career, Zambrano led the Majors in walks surrendered twice; in 2006 with 115 and in 2007 with 101. In 2006, he also led the National League with 16 wins and finished fifth in the Cy Young award voting.
Reliable and a good hitter with the bat, he takes the No. 1 spot on the Cubs Mount Rushmore of starting pitchers put together by Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report. It is a well-earned distinction and one that most fans will agree with.
What many people are going to be shocked by is Kerry Wood didn't make the list.
He had some incredible performances during his career in Chicago that were marred at times by injuries. A strong argument could be made for Wood based on what he gave the team during several stellar regular season performances. But he, along with Greg Maddux, came up short during the postseason when the franchise needed them most.
That is as much of a reason why they were beaten out by Kyle Hendricks, Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester.
Hendricks came in at No. 2 on the list for his longevity and contributions to the Cubs breaking their World Series drought in 2016.
Hendricks threw 25.1 innings with an ERA of 1.42 that postseason. The pivotal Game 7 against Cleveland was started by the right-hander, who gave way to Lester after giving up two runs — one earned — in 4.2 innings pitched.
Lester, who was No. 4 on the list, threw three innings of one-run ball himself. During that postseason, he pitched 35.2 innings and recorded a sparkling 2.02 ERA. He recorded two top-10 finishes in the NL Cy Young Award voting as well.
Arrieta, No. 3 on the list, won the award in 2015. He also played a big part in the team winning the World Series in 2016 and has the lowest ERA among Chicago pitchers who threw at least 300 innings since 1990, the cutoff for the exercise Miller put together.
Leaving Wood and Maddux off the list was tough, but helping to break a 108-year curse, as Hendricks, Arrieta and Lester did, certainly deserves recognition.
