Here are some Cubs player chains that connect three players through multiple decades

Another fun trip down memory lane.

Yesterday I showed you a chain of players who were Cubs teammates going back to the beginning of the National League in 1876.

It was inspired by this tweet:

Today I thought I’d do a few of those scattered through Cubs history. Ron Cey is a good example of a player who had at least one Cubs teammate in his “chain,” because he and Greg Maddux were teammates on the 1986 Cubs. The Wilhelm-Cey-Maddux chain goes from 1952 (Wilhelm’s debut) to 2008 (Maddux’s retirement) — a 57-season span! Cey and Wilhelm were teammates on the 1971 Dodgers, though Wilhelm did play briefly for the Cubs in 1970. For the purpose of this exercise, I’m looking for guys who had at least one of these teammate matches as Cubs. Preferably it’d be both, but… well, you know..

So what we are looking for are players who:

• Had long careers, and
• Were teammates with an older player who had a long career in their early years, and then
• Were teammates in their last year or two with a young player who went on to have a long career.

Thus we have to start at least a decade ago, because otherwise we wouldn’t have any current players who have had long careers, or appear to be on their way to such careers. One last note: I am only counting players who were actually teammates, meaning they were on the team at the same time, not just playing for the team in the same year.

Here’s one involving a Cub from 2024. Kyle Hendricks and Dan Haren were teammates on the 2015 Cubs. In Haren’s rookie year (2003), one of his teammates was Jeff Fassero, who debuted in 1991 — 33 years ago. Fassero did play for the Cubs in 2001 and 2002.

In 2008, 38-year-old Jim Edmonds was teammates with Rich Hill, who was still playing, briefly, this year. Hill’s rookie year with the Cubs was 2005, when he was teammates with … Maddux, who debuted in 1986, so that’s a 38-year chain. In fact, Hill and Maddux played in the same game twice, including this one, the final game of the 2005 season.

Jeff Reed was a backup catcher on the Cubs in 2000. One of his teammates was a rookie lefthanded pitcher named Scott Downs, who pitched for a number of teams through 2014. In Reed’s rookie year with the Twins in 1984, one of his teammates was infielder Chris Speier, who debuted for the Giants in 1971 — so that’s a 34-season span. Speier played for the Cubs in 1985 and 1986.

The 1989 Cubs had several rookies who helped them win the NL East. The youngest of them was Joe Girardi, who was 24. Girardi played until 2003, when he was a teammate of Albert Pujols, who retired after 2022. Among Girardi’s teammates with the 1989 Cubs was Rick Sutcliffe, who made his MLB debut in 1976 — so that’s a 37-season span.

Ryne Sandberg was a rookie with the Cubs in 1982, when one of his teammates was future Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins. Ryno played until 1997. Fergie debuted with the Phillies in 1965, when one of his teammates was Lew Burdette. Burdette broke in with the Yankees in 1950 — so here we have a 48-season span from three players. In fact, Jenkins and Burdette pitched in the same game twice, including this one against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. In that game, Jenkins served up a two-run homer to Ron Santo in the eighth inning, a blast that won the game for the Cubs. It was the first of the 484 homers Fergie allowed in his career. Last curiosity about this chain: Burdette had pitched for the Cubs earlier in 1965, and when he was released, the Phillies signed him.

Billy Williams made his MLB debut in August 1959 for the Cubs. Also on that ‘59 Cubs team was Bobby Thomson — yes, the guy who hit the famous “Shot Heard ‘Round The World” home run for the Giants in 1951. Thomson debuted in the majors in 1946. Billy Williams finished his career with the A’s in 1976, when one of his teammates was a 21-year-old outfielder named Claudell Washington, who played through 1990. That’s a 45-season span for these three players.

I noted in the comments to the earlier article that Phil Cavarretta and Ernie Banks were teammates on the 1953 Cubs. Banks played until 1971 and Cavarretta debuted in 1934, so that’s already 38 seasons from just two players. But we can extend this quite a bit further by adding just two others. Burt Hooton and Banks were teammates in ‘71, though they never played in the same game. Hooton played until 1985. Now that’s 52 seasons for three players, but by adding Riggs Stephenson, a teammate of Cavarretta’s in ‘34, we can extend this four-player chain to 65 seasons, since Stephenson debuted for Cleveland in 1921.

That’s seven player chains involving Cubs, many of whom were stars or Hall of Famers. Can you come up with others?