The Other Russells

I was looking over my Cubs checklist and found that I have cards of a few other players with the last name of Russell besides Addison.

James Russell, him I knew.  He was with the Cubs for parts of six different seasons.

But there are two more Russells in my collection and I'd never heard of either

Rip Russell was with the Cubs from 1939 to 1942.  He was the Cubs starting first baseman in 1939 but had more limited duty the other years.  He lost what should have been his peak career years to World War II.  After the war he spent parts of 1946 and 1947 with the Red Sox.

Pitcher Jack Russell spent two seasons with the Cubs, 1938 and 1939.  The '38 season saw him record a record of 6-1 with an ERA of 3.34 for the pennant winning Cubs.

Jack is the only one of the four Russells to play for an NL champ Cubs team.  I hope Addison becomes #2. It was nice to see his bat wake up last night.