Marshall spent one and a half of his five year major league career in a Cubs uniform. He was acquired from the Orioles off of waivers in August, 1958. He played in 26 games after joining the team and hit five home runs. Perhaps this gave the team some optimism about his future. But he had a very average season for the Cubs in 1959, hitting .252 with 11 home runs in 108 games. After the season he was sent to the Giants. He later played for the Mets and Pirates before his major league career was over in 1962.
The only card of Jim Marshall with the Cubs is this Topps 1959 card, #153. He is wearing an Orioles uniform in a picture that was taken at Yankee Stadium.
But his playing days weren't finished. He spent three seasons in Japan playing for the Chunichi Dragons. When he returned to the states, he looked to get into managing and landed a position with the Cubs Class A team in Lodi in 1968.
He worked his way up the ladder, managing in AA ball before being names skipper of the Cubs AAA team in Tacoma for the 1971 season. He continued at AAA until being named the Cubs third base coach in 1974.
Topps 1974 #354 shows Jim Marshall as one of the team's coaches
His rise to the top was completed when he was named the manager of the Cubs on July 24, 1974. Marshall spent the next two and a half seasons leading the team to mediocre finishes. In fact, the team had identical records in 1975 and 1976 of 75-87. He was fired following the 1976 season by new team GM Bob Kennedy.
Topps 1975 #638 Cubs Team Card with manager Jim Marshall, regular team photo
Topps 1976 #277 Cubs Team card with Manager Jim Marshall, floating head style
Marshall would have one more season as a major league manager, leading the A's in 1979. Their record was even worse than anything he did with the Cubs, finishing last with only 54 wins and 108 losses.
Mediocrity....thy name is Jim Marshall
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