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\u2019t much of a hitter (.237\/.293\/.308 in 436 games and 1,259 plate appearances). Back then, backup middle infielders weren\u2019t expected to hit, and in fact, Popovich was a capable defender.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mike Harkey, the Cubs\u2019 No 1 pick (fourth overall) out of Cal State-Fullerton in 1987, was expected to be the Cubs\u2019 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\u2019 bullpen coach for many years, but was not renewed for this year.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The next No. 22 for the Cubs was Mark Prior, and I don\u2019t think I need to tell you about his potential and the injuries that destroyed his career. Prior has done well as the Dodgers\u2019 pitching coach for the last seven years.<\/p>\n
A few guys wore No. 22 after Prior for a season or two, including Addison Russell, who wore it in 2015. Let\u2019s not belabor Russell\u2019s troubles.<\/p>\n
Jason Heyward, who had worn No. 22 his entire career to honor a high school friend who died in a car accident<\/a>, asked Russell to switch so he could have it when he signed with the Cubs. You all know about Heyward\u2019s offensive struggles in Chicago, though he did win two Gold Gloves and made an important speech in Cleveland. If you don\u2019t think that speech mattered, just ask the 2016 World Series champion players \u2014 they all thought it did<\/a>. Heyward is a good dude who is running a baseball academy in Chicago for underprivileged kids<\/a>. But his Cubs career on the field was underwhelming.<\/p>\n Luis Torrens? Thirteen games as a Cub, going 5-for-20.<\/p>\n Matt Mervis? People were buying his No. 22 jersey before he even played in a single game for the Cubs \u2014 I took this photo in the Wrigley Field bleachers on May 5, 2023, just before that day\u2019s 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<\/a>):<\/p>\n
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