Today’s column from the Kankakee Daily Journal and The (Ottawa, Ill.) Times …
In Chicago, phenoms come — and they go
The WISCH LIST
May 15, 2010
Chicago is called the Windy City for good reason.
It’s no stranger to bluster.
From its architecture (The Spire) to its quarterbacks (Cade McNown, Rex Grossman … Jay Cutler?) to its political clout (The 2016 Olympics), Chicago likes its hype and loves its “Next Big Thing.”
No matter if it actually materializes.
And, today, even with the tantalizing specter of a free agent LeBron James looming over the city, there’s still nothing that can compare to Chicago’s hype of its Major League Baseball phenoms.
It’s our natural pastime.
This spring, as one side of Chicago stresses over its struggling youngster (the White Sox’s Gordon Beckham), while the other celebrates its latest great hope (the Cubs’ Starlin Castro) that ritual is again in full bloom.
Over the years, with disappointments such as Joe Borchard, Mike Caruso and Bourbonnais native Kris Honel, White Sox fans have certainly had their let-downs. But perhaps no organization has quite the history of busts as the Cubs, whose remarkable list of phenom failures can fill out an entire starting lineup card.
It remains to be seen if Castro lives up to the “Star” in his name or devolves into the Starlin “Can’t-Throw” of his Wrigley debut, but the fates of many of his once-celebrated Cubs contemporaries were long ago sealed.
First Base: Hee Sop Choi
The first Korean-born position player to play in the majors, Choi began 2003 as a celebrated starter for the Cubs. In 80 career games, however, he hit just .218 and left his only mark on Wrigley Field – quite literally – when he smacked his head along the first base line following a collision with teammate Kerry Wood and was carted off by ambulance.
Second Base: Ty Griffin
Perhaps the biggest Cubs bust of all-time, Griffin was an amateur superstar in the late 1980s for Georgia Tech and the USA National Team, a squad he headlined even with future MLB standouts Robin Ventura and Tino Martinez on the roster.
Selected by the Cubs with the ninth overall pick of the 1988 MLB Draft, Griffin was considered so good he was expected to eventually force Ryne Sandberg to third base. Instead, he never made it past Class AA, and by 1992 was out of Major League-affiliated baseball.
Shortstop: Luis Montanez
A multi-talented shortstop out of Miami’s Coral Park High School, Montanez was the third player picked in the 2000 MLB Draft and signed for a $2.75M bonus. But after seven lackluster seasons in the Cubs’ minor league system, he was released in 2007.
Montanez, though, did go on to win a Triple Crown in ’08 – for the Bowie Baysox of the Class AA Eastern League.
Third Base: Gary Scott (see also: Orie, Kevin)
The Cubs’ Opening Day starter at third in both 1991 and ’92, Scott was supposed to be the next Ron Santo. He wasn’t.
In ’91, Scott batted .165 through May 14, when the Cubs sent him to the minors. Then, on April 20, 1992, Scott was batting a sickly .103 when he managed to crack a grand slam at Wrigley Field. The success didn’t stick, though. Three games later, he was demoted again.
Catcher: Rick Wilkins
Not exactly a phenom, but in 1993 at the age of 25, the lightly considered Wilkins became the first Cubs catcher to hit 30 home runs in a season since Gabby Hartnett in 1930.
Wilkins then hit just 37 more homers over the final eight seasons of his career.
Left Field: Earl Cunningham
Selected No. 8 overall in the 1989 MLB Draft – one pick behind Frank Thomas – the 6-foot-2, 225-pound Cunningham hit .419 with 12 homers and 15 steals in just 86 at-bats as a high school senior in Lancaster, S.C.
Then, in seven seasons with the Cubs, he never made it out of Class A ball.
Center Field: Corey Patterson (see also: Pie, Felix)
With the third pick of the 1998 MLB Draft, the Cubs took Patterson, a supposed can’t-miss All-Everything out of Harrison High School in Kennesaw, Ga.
Turned out, he missed.
By 2002, Patterson was a full-time starter with the Cubs and then was back in the minors by 2005.
Right Field: Ryan Harvey
In 2003, the Cubs plucked the strapping 6-foot-5, 240-pound Harvey – a slugging revelation from Dunedin High School in Clearwater, Fla. – with the sixth pick of the MLB Draft. He signed for a $2.4M bonus and then promptly spent five seasons compiling a .246 career average in the Cubs’ farm system, never rising above Class AA before his release in 2008.
Pitchers: Kerry Wood and Mark Prior
Really, need I say more?