Cubs' medal stand of GMs: Bastian's take
Jordan Bastian
@MLBastianNo one loves a good debate quite like baseball fans, and with that in mind, we are following our top 5 player rankings at each position with the best managers and general managers for each franchise, based on their careers while with that club. These rankings are for fun and debate purposes only.
Here are Jordan Bastian's top 5 general managers in Cubs history.
1. Theo Epstein, 2011-present
After Epstein helped end an 86-year World Series championship drought with the Red Sox -- capturing two titles in his tenure in Boston -- he was reeled in by the Cubs for a similar curse-defying task. Chicago had not won a World Series since 1908 when it brought Epstein aboard as its president of baseball operations.
At his introductory press conference in October 2011, Epstein said the following: "I firmly believe that we can preserve the things that make the Cubs so special and over time build a consistent winner, a team that will be playing baseball in October consistently and a team that will ultimately win the World Series."
Those boxes have all been checked.
Epstein and his front-office team inherited a well-below .500 club with a depleted farm and used the first few years to aggressively attack a rebuild. A 101-loss showing in 2012 positioned the Cubs to draft slugger Kris Bryant with the second overall pick in the '13 MLB Draft. It continued the club’s focus on constructing a core through position players.
Epstein also swung key trades in his early years to land Anthony Rizzo (from San Diego), Kyle Hendricks (via Texas), and Jake Arrieta and Pedro Strop (from Baltimore), among others. Veteran Jon Lester (December 2014) and Ben Zobrist (December '15) came on as free agents, and the Cubs landed Joe Maddon as manager ahead of the '15 campaign.
That was some of what helped the up-and-coming Cubs reach the National League Championship Series in 2015 -- the first of three straight LCS berths. And then, it all came together in '16, when Chicago defeated Cleveland in seven games in one of the great World Series of all time to give North Side fans their first crown in 108 years.
The Cubs made the playoffs again in 2018 but did not escape the NL Wild Card Game, then missed October entirely in '19. Now, Chicago is in a kind of transitional phase, in which the Epstein-led front office is trying to balance winning now with planning for the future. That included parting ways with Maddon after '19 and hiring David Ross as the club’s new manager.
2. William Veeck Sr., 1919-33
After the Cubs reached the World Series in 1918, owner William Wrigley Jr. promoted Veeck to the role of team president. It was under Veeck’s watch that the Cubs gathered a considerable amount of talent, won two pennants and saw the team’s ballpark begin a transformation.
The Cubs reached the World Series in 1929 with one of the great rosters in baseball history. The cast included the likes of Gabby Hartnett, Hack Wilson, Rogers Hornsby, Charlie Root and Kiki Cuyler, among others -- all acquired under Veeck. He also found manager Joe McCarthy, who came aboard in '26 and later went on to become the winningest manager in Yankees history.
The Cubs also won the NL pennant in 1932, and some of the core Veeck built remained in place for pennant runs in '35 and '38.
In 1927, the Cubs’ home ballpark was renamed Wrigley Field and the capacity ballooned during the time Veeck was president. He was also an early proponent for the All-Star Game and growing the game through broadcasting. It was Veeck’s son, Hall of Fame executive Bill Veeck, who planted Wrigley Field’s famous ivy in '37, following his father’s death in '33.
3. Dallas Green, 1981-87
Green was hired away from the Phillies after the 1981 season to be the Cubs' general manager after the team had not tasted the postseason since '45. It was time to start “Building a New Tradition” on the North Side.
“I went to Chicago with guns blazing and big mouth blazing about what I intended to do,” the late Green told Carrie Muskat in her book, “Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Chicago Cubs.” “When I first went there, everybody talked about time frames. I told them I have no time frames. I want results rather quickly.”
Green began tackling the farm system, big league roster and the organization’s infrastructure immediately. Under his watch, Chicago made trades to land Ryne Sandberg, Rick Sutcliffe and Dennis Eckersley, among others. Chicago reeled in the likes of Greg Maddux, Jamie Moyer, Mark Grace, Shawon Dunston and Rafael Palmeiro in the Draft. Free-agent Andre Dawson famously joined the fold before his NL MVP year of 1987.
With Green at the helm -- first as GM and later as team president -- the Cubs won the NL East crown in 1984, Jim Frey was named Manager of the Year, Sandberg earned MVP and Sutcliffe took home the Cy Young Award. Green left over “philosophical differences” with ownership after the '87 campaign, but much of the core he helped build reached the playoffs again in '89. And in ’88, Wrigley Field installed lights, which was something Green advocated for during his time atop the front office.