Saturday, April 4, 2020

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Three cards from yesterday's post stood out to me.

 


They are not the best players, or most well-known.

What I noticed was their last names.  They all begin with the letter Z.  How odd, I thought, that three players on the team have Z last names

But then I was thinking of recent Cubs teams and players like Zobrist, Zagunis, and Zastryzny.  Go back a few year for Zambrano.  

The Cubs seem to have more than their fair share of Z-named players.

So I did some digging.  It turns out that the Cubs have had 15 different players with a Z name, and that is by far, the most of any MLB team.  The next closest is 9.

Here's a listing of the 15 CubZ


Mark Zagunis - 2017-2019


Geoff Zahn - 1975-1976



Carlos Zambrano - 2001-2012



Eddie Zambrano - 1993-1994



Oscar Zamora - 1974-1976



Rob Zastryzny - 2013, 2016-2019



Rollie Zeider - 1916-1918



Todd Zeile - 1995



George Zettlein - 1874-1875 - no cards of him exist.



Bob Zick - 1954 - His MLB career was just eight games with the Cubs in 1954.  No cards of him exist, so I created one, using the 1954 Red Heart template.



Don Zimmer - 1960-1961



Heinie Zimmerman - 1907-1916



Ben Zobrist - 2015-2019



Julio Zuleta - 2000-2002



Dutch Zwilling - 1916

And how about the rest of the teams?  Here's how many Z's they have
9 - Pirates, Giants, Twins, Yankees
8 - Reds, Cardinals, Dodgers, Orioles, Red Sox, White Sox, Athletics
7 - Phillies, Tigers
6 - Marlins, Astros, Rangers, Royals
5 - Mets, Indians
4 - Diamondbacks, Braves, Brewers, Mariners, Rays, Blue Jays
3 - Nationals
2 - Rockies
1 - Padres, Angels

3 comments:

  1. Wow, talk about Z domination.
    I forgot all about Todd Zeile.

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  2. Interesting. I wouldn't have thought there were that many "Z" players in total.

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  3. Off the top of my head... and before looking at your list, I only came up with Carlos Zambrano. Kinda embarrassed that I didn't remember Zobrist.

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