Before you jump all over me for even thinking this, please know that this article is tongue in cheek.

Cade Horton is now the latest in a long sequence of Cubs players to wear No. 22 who have had their MLB time either interrupted by injury or affected by other things where they wound up with lesser careers than they might have.

Here are all the Cubs who have worn No. 22. (And please indulge me a plug here for the book “Cubs By The Numbers,” which I co-authored with Kasey Ignarski and Matt Silverman.)

No one of significance wore the number before the late 1960s, when popular backup infielder Paul Popovich wore it for three Cub stints, in 1964, 1966-67 and again from 1969-73. Nothing unusual happened to him in his eight Cubs seasons, though he wasn’t much of a hitter (.237/.293/.308 in 436 games and 1,259 plate appearances). Back then, backup middle infielders weren’t expected to hit, and in fact, Popovich was a capable defender.

Bill Buckner wore No. 22 for eight years from 1977-84. He hit well enough, .300/.332/.439 in 974 games and 4,043 PA. In fact, Buckner is one of just seven Cubs to have a .300 BA in at least 4,000 PA with the team (also Cap Anson, Jimmy Ryan, Billy Herman, Kiki Cuyler, Stan Hack and Mark Grace). But injuries limited Buckner, who played 150+ games only twice in those eight Cubs seasons.

Mike Harkey, the Cubs’ No 1 pick (fourth overall) out of Cal State-Fullerton in 1987, was expected to be the Cubs’ next big star pitcher. He had a nice first full year in 1990 (12-6, 3.26 ERA, 4.6 bWAR, fifth in Rookie of the Year voting), but injuries then ruined his career and he was done after 1997. He served as the Yankees’ bullpen coach for many years, but was not renewed for this year.

Rondell White wore No. 22 for the Cubs in 2000 and 2001. White had also been a first-round pick (24th overall) of the Expos in 1990, but after a number of injuries he was traded to the Cubs in July 2000 for Scott Downs. After 114 injury-plagued games for the Cubs he left as a free agent. The DH in the NL might have helped him, as he had a couple of decent DH years for the Tigers after leaving the Cubs.

The next No. 22 for the Cubs was Mark Prior, and I don’t think I need to tell you about his potential and the injuries that destroyed his career. Prior has done well as the Dodgers’ pitching coach for the last seven years.

A few guys wore No. 22 after Prior for a season or two, including Addison Russell, who wore it in 2015. Let’s not belabor Russell’s troubles.

Jason Heyward, who had worn No. 22 his entire career to honor a high school friend who died in a car accident, asked Russell to switch so he could have it when he signed with the Cubs. You all know about Heyward’s offensive struggles in Chicago, though he did win two Gold Gloves and made an important speech in Cleveland. If you don’t think that speech mattered, just ask the 2016 World Series champion players — they all thought it did. Heyward is a good dude who is running a baseball academy in Chicago for underprivileged kids. But his Cubs career on the field was underwhelming.

Luis Torrens? Thirteen games as a Cub, going 5-for-20.

Matt Mervis? People were buying his No. 22 jersey before he even played in a single game for the Cubs — I took this photo in the Wrigley Field bleachers on May 5, 2023, just before that day’s game when Mervis made his MLB debut (and no, those are not his parents, who you can see here in an interview done that day):

Al Yellon

Mervis went 1-for-4 that day, but overall he didn’t hit and the Cubs eventually traded him to the Marlins for Vidal Bruján. Miami let him go as well, and Mervis was released by the Nationals after Spring Training this year.

Here are some other Cubs who wore No. 22 since Paul Popovich… most of whom you’ve probably forgotten, or never heard of in the first place: Vic LaRose, Ron Dunn, Wayne Tyrone, Eddie Zambrano, Tarrik Brock, Kevin Hart, Tom Gorzelanny, Logan Watkins and Felix Doubront.

And now, Cade Horton. Who, after just 25 games wearing No. 22, already ranks eighth in Cubs history in bWAR (2.2) among players who wore that number (ahead of him: Prior 15,7, Heyward 9.1, Buckner 8.6, Harkey 4.5, Dizzy Dean 3.8, Matt Garza 3.1 and White 2.6).

Maybe it’s not the uniform number. Probably it’s not the uniform number.

But when Horton returns sometime in 2027, just in case… maybe he should pick a new number. No. 22 for the Cubs just doesn’t seem lucky.