First Baseman George Altman started the season at first, but a May trade with the Phillies brought Ed Bouchee to the Cubs, and he ended up the regular first baseman the rest of the year.
Second Baseman Tony Taylor started the season at second, but was traded to the Phillies in the Bouchee trade. Jerry Kindall and Don Zimmer shared the spot for the remainder of the season.
Shortstop Superstar Ernie Banks played in every game of the season. His 41 HR's, and 117 RBI's led the team. He walked 71 times, but I thought he would have been pitched around a lot more than that.
Third Baseman The hot corner was manned by Don Zimmer at the start of the season, who was picked up in a trade with the Dodgers four days before the season began. Zim lost the spot when rookie Ron Santo joined the team in late July. Santo hit .251 and finished 4th in Rookie of the Year voting
Catcher Cal Neeman was the opening day starter, but was traded to the Phillies. Sammy Taylor caught 74 games and hit a pathetic .207
Left Field The other Frank Thomas was the regular left fielder and finished second on the team in home runs with 21. He also led the team by striking out 74 times. It's interesting that Topps didn't try to airbrush anything on the card. But at least the photo was taken at Wrigley Field
Center Field Richie Ashburn came to the Cubs from the Phillies in a January trade and became the team's center fielder. Its interesting the the Cubs and Phillies were trading so many players back and forth, since the Phillies ended up the only team with a worse record than the Cubs. Maybe the rest of the league didn't want any of their players! Ashburn had a nice season, hitting .291 in the leadoff spot.
Right Field Bob Will held down the spot in right, hitting .255. You would think you'd want some power coming from that spot, but Will hit only six dingers.
And now you have a pretty good idea why this team won only 64 games!
Tomorrow we'll look at the rest of the position players.
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