11 replies to this topic

[Fishin Phil]

Cubs Trivia:

Who hit the most home runs with the Cubs in the 1940s?

[OCCubFan]

Bill Nicholson?

[Fishin Phil]

That is correct! He had 200 during the 40s.

[Spriggs]

Yes, it's gotta be "Big Swish" Nicholson. He was once intentionally walked with the bases loaded (vs Giants in 1944).

[Spriggs]

Here is a true story about Bill Nicholson and my Dad - sort of - if you care to read it - it's pretty funny

While studying the Battle of Gettysburg in high school history class, it was my Dad's turn to read aloud from the history book in front of the class. While the students read aloud, their lazy teacher often napped, read other stuff– or who knew what. So my Dad read from the history book for several minutes citing Gettysburg facts (the battle was fought July 1-3, 1863; George Meade’s Union army defeated the Rebels, led by Robert E Lee; about 50,000 casualties from both sides, etc…). Then at some point, my Dad suddenly began “reading” that it was the bottom of the ninth and the Cubs were losing 3-2 with 2 outs and a runner on base when Bill Nicholson stepped up and hit a 2 run homer to win the game for the Cubs!

He then went back to reading about Gettysburg for several more minutes until the teacher appeared to wake up and told another student to continue where my Dad left off. A few days later, the class had a test on the Battle of Gettysburg. And what was the first question on that test? "Who hit the 2-run homer for the Cubs in the bottom of the 9th?"!

[college_of_coaches]

LOL, great story Spriggs. BTW, my father's favorite baseball player when he was growing up in NY was Pee Wee Reese.

[college_of_coaches]

Wait a minute, is your picture Duke Snider? Ha, sorry, I missed that.

[Spriggs]

LOL, great story Spriggs. BTW, my father's favorite baseball player when he was growing up in NY was Pee Wee Reese.

My Mom liked the Dodgers too. Though she was a huge Cubs fan, her favorite player was Duke Snider (hence my photo).

[Fishin Phil]

Great story Spriggs, thanks for sharing.

[King Jeff]

I always love hearing old baseball stories, even when they aren't directly about baseball. Thanks for sharing Spriggs.

[Spriggs]

My dad was a really unique, funny guy and was always doing crazy things. Huge Cubs fan. Damn, how he and my mom loved the Cubs. Lots of really funny Cubs related stories I could tell. I miss them both.

[fromthemitten]

who else saw the title "homers" and thought this was going to be about Hawk Harrelson?