News
Big Z the lone award winner for Cubs
Right-hander takes home Silver Slugger for NL pitchers
By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com
12/22/09 3:17 PM EST
CHICAGO -- Carlos Zambrano was the Cubs' lone award winner in 2009, but not for pitching.Zambrano picked up his third Silver Slugger award on Nov. 12, even though his batting average dipped in 2009 to .217. He hit four home runs and drove in 11 runs to earn the award in a vote of Major League managers and coaches.
Zambrano also won the Silver Slugger in 2008, when he batted .337, hit four home runs and drove in 14. The switch-hitter is the Cubs' all-time leader in home runs by a pitcher with 20.
Big Z now is tied with pitchers Rick Rhoden and Don Robinson, who also have won three Silver Slugger Awards.
Pitcher Randy Wells was the biggest surprise of 2009, winning 12 games, and finished sixth in the Rookie of the Year balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. The right-hander's wins and innings totals (165 1/3) were the most by a Cubs rookie since Kerry Wood won 13 and amassed 166 2/3 innings in 1998, when he won the top rookie award.
Last year, Cubs catcher Geovany Soto became the fifth player in franchise history to win NL rookie honors.
Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee placed ninth in the NL Most Valuable Player Award balloting. St. Louis slugger Albert Pujols was a unanimous winner, picking up his third MVP trophy.
Lee, who received one second-place vote, drove in a career-high 111 RBIs, and led the Cubs with a .306 batting average and 35 home runs, his highest total since he hit 46 in 2005.
The Cubs have had nine players win the NL MVP award 10 times. Sammy Sosa was the most recent winner, doing so in 1998, when he hit 66 homers, scored 134 runs, and led the league with 158 RBIs. Prior to Sosa, Cubs' MVP winners include Andre Dawson in 1987, his first year in Chicago, when he led the league with 49 homers and 137 RBIs; and Ryne Sandberg in 1984, when he batted .314, hit 36 doubles, 19 triples and 19 home runs and paced the league with 114 runs.
Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, won the award in consecutive years in 1958 and '59, leading the NL in RBIs both seasons.
Zambrano has been cheered for his hitting but has yet to garner the coveted Cy Young. The Cubs have had four pitchers win the award, including Hall of Famers Fergie Jenkins in 1971 and Bruce Sutter in 1979. Rick Sutcliffe won in 1984 when he went 20-6 overall, including a 16-1 record with the Cubs, and Greg Maddux won the first of his four Cy Young awards in 1992 with Chicago, when he went 20-11 with a 2.18 ERA.
Besides Soto and Wood, Hall of Famer Billy Williams won the top rookie award in 1961. Williams, a senior advisor to the Cubs, hit 25 homers, 20 doubles, and drove in 86 runs in 146 games that season.
Lou Piniella won his third Manager of the Year Award in 2008, and first in the National League. Piniella guided the Cubs to 97 wins in his second season at the helm to claim the BBWAA award. He also won it in 1995 and 2001 with Seattle. Piniella is one of five managers to win the award at least three times, joining Tony La Russa, Bobby Cox, Dusty Baker and Jim Leyland. Piniella is the fourth manager to win the award in both leagues, joining La Russa, Cox and Leyland.
Other Chicago skippers to win the award include Don Zimmer in 1989, when he led the team to the Eastern Division title with a 93-69 record; and Jim Frey, whose 1984 squad went 96-65 and became the first Cubs team to reach the postseason since 1945.
The Cubs have had repeat Gold Glove winners. Ron Santo won five in a row, starting in 1964. Sandberg is the Cubs' top Gold Glove winner with 10 in a row from 1983-92. Dawson picked up two with the Cubs (1987 and '88), and Maddux won five of his 18 Gold Glove awards with the Cubs (1990, '91, 2004, '05, '06).
First baseman Mark Grace received the top defensive honors in 1992, '93, '95, '96, and Lee is the most recent winner, taking the honor in 2005 and '07.
| National Awards | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MVP | Cy Young Award | ROY | |||
| Frank Schulte | 1911 | Fergie Jenkins | 1971 | Billy Williams | 1961 |
| Rogers Hornsby | 1929 | Bruce Sutter | 1979 | Ken Hubbs | 1962 |
| Gabby Hartnett | 1935 | Rick Sutcliffe | 1984 | Jerome Walton | 1989 |
| Phil Cavarretta | 1945 | Greg Maddux | 1992 | Kerry Wood | 1998 |
| Hank Sauer | 1952 | Geovany Soto | 2008 | ||
| Ernie Banks | 1958-59 | ||||
| Ryne Sandberg | 1984 | ||||
| Andre Dawson | 1987 | ||||
| Sammy Sosa | 1998 | ||||
| Manager of Year | Rawlings Gold Gloves | Silver Slugger | Jim Frey | 1984 | Ernie Banks | 1960 | Leon Durham | 1982 |
| Don Zimmer | 1989 | Ken Hubbs | 1962 | Ryne Sandberg | 1984-85, 1988-92 |
| Lou Piniella | 2008 | Ron Santo | 1964-68 | Andre Dawson | 1987 |
| Randy Hundley | 1967 | Sammy Sosa | 1995, 1998-2002 | ||
| Glenn Beckert | 1968 | Derrek Lee | 2005 | ||
| Don Kessinger | 1969-70 | Michael Barrett | 2005 | ||
| Ryne Sandberg | 1983-91 | Carlos Zambrano | 2006, 2008-09 | ||
| Bob Dernier | 1984 | ||||
| Jody Davis | 1986 | ||||
| Andre Dawson | 1987-88 | ||||
| Greg Maddux | 1990-92, 2004-06 | ||||
| Mark Grace | 1992-93, 1995-96 | ||||
| Derrek Lee | 2005, 2007 | ||||
| Roberto Clemente Award | This Year in Baseball | ||||
| Rick Sutcliffe | 1987 | Mark Grace (Oddity) | 2002 | ||
| Sammy Sosa | 1998 | Ozzy Osbourne (Oddity) | 2003 | ||
| Mark Prior (Starting Pitcher) | 2003 | ||||
| Dusty Baker (Manager) | 2003 | ||||
Carrie Muskat is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
