The 47 Best Players from the 1998 Chicago Cubs - #4 Glenallen Hill

4. Glenallen Hill
Objectively, Glenallen Hill is too high on this list. But this is not a list of WAR contributions. There has to be some subjectivity involved, and subjectively, it is really tough to find a cooler member of the 1998 Chicago Cubs than Glenallen Hill.

Hill is a guy who bounced around, starting in Toronto, heading to Cleveland, then to the Cubs for his first stint in 1993, over to the Giants, followed by the Mariners, back to the Cubs in 1998, before stops with the Yankees and Angels before wrapping up his career. But let's just focus on that second stint with the Cubs that started in 1998 when the Cubs selected him off waivers from the Seattle Mariners.

He would put up eight home runs with a line of .351/.414/.573, and he hit a nearly unbellievable .459/.524/.973 at home. I wouldn't believe those numbers if it were anyone but Glenallen Hill. As great as those numbers are, Hill has his place this high on this list because of how he got to those numbers. This man, more than any other player in baseball history, crushed baseballs like no other.

Good God, that is a thing of beauty. You can tell just by how hard he hits and how confidently he drops the bat that not only was it a home run, but there was now way the friendly confines of Wrigley Field were going to keep that ball within its premises. He crushed it to the street, because that's just what Glenallen Hill did.

Since baseball is awful at YouTube, let's look at a home run from 2000 since it is probably what Glenallen Hill is most remembered for.

I'll be honest. If Glenallen Hill had hit that home run in 1998, he might have been number two on this list.

Somehow, since the Cubs felt it necessary to challenge my fandom, Glenallen Hill only played in Game 2 of the NLDS. He went 1-3 which made him one of the Cubs best hitters during the playoffs. In the top of the tenth inning, he made his impact felt even more when he led off the inning and did this.

At first, he takes the base because he knows it was what was good for the team, but after walking a few feet down the line, he gives the pitcher a look as if to say, "You just made the best decision of your life by not giving me something in the strike zone." Even though Hill couldn't make an impact with his bat in extra innings, he wasn't going to let Braves pitchers off easy.

This big, burly man stole third base in extra innings of a tied game, and who could blame him? It's not like he could trust Jeff Blauser to knock him in. Hill made it so all Blauser had to do was put the ball in play and he could score. Blauser, of course, struck out, and Mickey Morandini was called out at second base for a strike out double play to end the inning.

That following year with the Cubs, he hit .300/.353/..581. In 2000, he split time with the Cubs and Yankees and hit .293/.336/.600. He went to the Angels in 2001 and 16 poor games was enough for the entire league to decide he didn't deserve a spot on an MLB roster anymore.

Most importantly, I was able to meet Glenallen Hill at a Cubs convention before the 2004 season. They had a dual signing with him and Kevin Tapani, so I was more excited for this than any sexual encounter I have experienced. First was Tapani, and I expressed that the 1998 team was my favorite team of all-time, and he kind of blew me off. Whatever, Kevin Tapani, your ERA was a far better indicator of your performance than your win-loss record. But then, I told Glenallen Hill the same thing, and he replied, "Man, if we would have beat the Braves, we would have won it all." I KNOW, GLENALLEN HILL, And that is why I am still proclaiming it 20 years later. Glenallen Hill is the coolest player in baseball history, and nobody will ever convince me otherwise.

In case you missed it:
Introduction
#47 - Matt Karchner
#46 - Jose Nieves
#45 - Rodney Myers
#44 - Justin Speier
#43 - Tony Fossas
#42 - Kennie Steenstra
#41 - Chris Haney
#40 - Bob Patterson
#39 - Pedro Valdes
#38 - Derrick White
#37 - Ben Van Ryn
#36 - Terrell Lowery
#35 - Don Wengert
#34 - Kurt Miller
#33 - Jason Maxwell
#32 - Kevin Foster
#31 - Mike Morgan
#30 - Felix Heredia 
#29 - Jeff Blauser
#28 - Jason Hardtke
#27 - Dave Stevens
#26 - Manny Alexander
#25 - Marc Pisciotta
#24 - Kevin Orie
#23 - Sandy Martinez
#22 - Terry Adams
#21 - Matt Mieske
#20 - Amaury Telemaco
#19 - Tyler Houston
#18 - Geremi Gonzalez
#17 - Orlando Merced
#16 - Scott Servais
#15 - Mark Clark
#14 - Lance Johnson
#13 - Brant Brown
#12 - Jose Hernandez
#11 - Steve Trachsel
#10 - Henry Rodriguez
#9 - Kevin Tapani
#8 - Mickey Morandini
#7 - Gary Gaetti
#6 - Rod Beck
#5 - Terry Mulholland

The 47 Best Players from the 1998 Chicago Cubs - #7 Gary Gaetti

7. Gary Gaetti
Is this too high to put a guy who only played a little over a month for the Cubs in 1998? No, because it is my list, and I can do whatever I want. Also, spoiler alert, he's not even the highest ranked guy on this list that was acquired late in the season.

Gary Gaetti had a fascinating career before joining the Cubs. He began his career in Minnesota where he had some great years including a World Series in 1987 and finishing eighth in the AL in OPS and winning a Gold Glove. Then he fell off and things only got worse when he went to California in 1991 as he lost the ability to hit at age 32. Then, he went to Kansas City in 1993, and he regained the ability to hit, even hitting 35 home runs in 1995. He would go to the Cardinals in 1996 and put nearly three seasons of good work for them during his age 37-39 years. But the Cardinals acquired Fernando Tatis at the trade deadline and decided he was their third baseman of the present and future. They waived Gary Gaetti on August 9, and ten days later, when he was free to join any other team, he signed on with the Chicago Cubs.

His impact in 37 games was nothing short of incredible. Not only did he fill in at third base, allowing Jose Hernandez to replace Jeff Blauser at shortstop to eliminate the black holes in the lineup that had been the left side of the infield, but he exceeded every possible expectation during those final six weeks.

The Cubs started him off slowly, as he had just eight at bats in his first five games with the team. In the sixth game, he took John Hudek of the Cincinnati Reds deep for a two run homer, and he would start every game but one from then on. Oh, and that game he didn't start? He hit a pinch-hit home run in his one at bat.

On September 2nd, he continued his Reds killing ways by hitting a two-run homer in the eighth inning to turn a one-run deficit into a one-run lead. He also had a home run against the Brewers that sparked an eight-run comeback in one of my favorite games ever. Oh, and that pinch-hit home run i casually mentioned above? Yeah, that was in the tenth inning off of Trevor Hoffman to give the Cubs a win. This man did not just hit well. He was incredibly clutch as well. In close & late situations, he may have only had 25 at bats, but he managed 13 hits, four doubles, and four homers for a line of .520/.556/1.160. Gary Gaetti fucking ruled.

But there was no more clutch moment than Game 163. In a winner-takes-all, loser-goes-home matchup against the San Francisco Giants, neither team had scored halfway through the game. After a Henry Rodriguez single, Gary Gaetti, facing an 0-2 count, did this:

It's one of the most important home runs in Cubs history. I know nine years isn't some incredible playoff drought, but it's not that the Cubs didn't make the playoffs, it's that they could barely muster up a season of competence during that time. It was that the Cubs had one of the greatest pitchers ever, but he chose to go to Atlanta for less money. These were the true lovable losers, but on this night, Gary Gaetti hit a ball so hard that all Cubs fans felt like champions.

The Cubs resigned him after 1998, but he would only last 1999 with the team as they released him after the season when it was clear that the magic from 1998 had worn off. He would sign with the Red Sox but would only play five games before retiring early in the 2000 season. He played in over 2500 games before it was all said and done. I would say that was one hll of a career, and in 1998, he gave the Cubs one hell of a run. Gary Gaetti owned.

In case you missed it:
Introduction
#47 - Matt Karchner
#46 - Jose Nieves
#45 - Rodney Myers
#44 - Justin Speier
#43 - Tony Fossas
#42 - Kennie Steenstra
#41 - Chris Haney
#40 - Bob Patterson
#39 - Pedro Valdes
#38 - Derrick White
#37 - Ben Van Ryn
#36 - Terrell Lowery
#35 - Don Wengert
#34 - Kurt Miller
#33 - Jason Maxwell
#32 - Kevin Foster
#31 - Mike Morgan
#30 - Felix Heredia 
#29 - Jeff Blauser
#28 - Jason Hardtke
#27 - Dave Stevens
#26 - Manny Alexander
#25 - Marc Pisciotta
#24 - Kevin Orie
#23 - Sandy Martinez
#22 - Terry Adams
#21 - Matt Mieske
#20 - Amaury Telemaco
#19 - Tyler Houston
#18 - Geremi Gonzalez
#17 - Orlando Merced
#16 - Scott Servais
#15 - Mark Clark
#14 - Lance Johnson
#13 - Brant Brown
#12 - Jose Hernandez
#11 - Steve Trachsel
#10 - Henry Rodriguez
#9 - Kevin Tapani
#8 - Mickey Morandini

The 47 Best Players from the 1998 Chicago Cubs - #12 Jose Hernandez

12. Jose Hernandez
Jose Hernandez might be the most 1998 Cubs player of them all. Obviously, he's not the most memorable, but I'm not sure if anybody embodied that season more than him. Hernandez was never impressive before 1998. He bounced around the Rangers' and Indians' organizations before coming to the Cubs in 1993 in exchange for Heathcliff Slocumb. He did put up his best minor league hitting stats in 1993, putting up a whopping ten home runs which over tripled his previous high of three. It ended up being enough to get him a shot at the big leagues. Over the next four years, he was a solid bench player for the team, filling in at third and shortstop when necessary. There was no reason to expect anything great in 1998.

Things didn't start out great for Hernandez. He was on the bench, and in the first month, he gave the Cubs no reason to make him a starter. On May 1, he was hitting an abysmal .167/.189/.306. But in May, he started putting things together, raising his line to .231/.276/.454, maybe not great, but enough to get hi 15 starts in the month instead of the five he got in April.

As the weather warmed, so did Hernandez's bat. By June, Hernandez was a full-time starter and his line continued its rise to .282/.335/.544. His numbers stayed steady in August before tiring out in September and having his numbers drop to a still impressive .254/.311/.471. I know that OBP may not impress people, but the starters at the beginning of the year were Kevin Orie and Jeff Blauser, so I'll take a low OBP for 23 home runs and 75 RBI on the left side of the infield. On top of those positions, he also played every other position outside of pitcher and catcher during the season. Jose Hernandez was awesome.

It was not a great playoffs for Hernandez. In Game 1, he failed to get a hit and made an error that led to the Braves first two runs of the game. He did not play in Game 2 before coming back in Game 3 and helping spark a rally with his second hit of the game. He ended up scoring, but the Cubs failed to score enough.

Things did not come together for the Cubs in 1999 as they were sitting at 48-53 at the trade deadline. The Cubs made one of the most depressing trades of my lifetime when they sent Hernandez and Terry Mulholland to the Braves just a year after they competed with Atlanta in the playoffs. They would follow that up by going 9-25 in their next 34 games, ending the year with the fourth worst record in baseball.

Hernandez would bounce around to Milwaukee where he would become an All-Star in 2002, Colorado, before coming back to the Cubs in 2003. It was not a long stint as he only lasted 33 days before the Cubs traded him again, this time to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Instead of being depressed, it was one of the greatest trades of my lifetime as they traded Hernandez along with Bobby Hill and a minor leaguer for Kenny Lofton and Aramis Ramirez which would help spark the Cubs first playoff appearance since that 1998 season. Hernandez would go on to play for the Dodgers, Indians, Pirates again, Phillies, before ending his career in the Puerto Rico at age 39.

Jose Hernandez embodied the 1998 Chicago Cubs. This was not a team that came out of nowhere on the backs of young prospects making leaps in their performance. This was a team that came out of nowhere on the backs of veterans who had established their true level of performance but somehow exceeded even the rosiest of prognostications. The Cubs thought they had third base and shortstop solved going into the season. It turns out they did, but it came from a bench player who provided exactly what the Cubs needed.

In case you missed it:
Introduction
#47 - Matt Karchner
#46 - Jose Nieves
#45 - Rodney Myers
#44 - Justin Speier
#43 - Tony Fossas
#42 - Kennie Steenstra
#41 - Chris Haney
#40 - Bob Patterson
#39 - Pedro Valdes
#38 - Derrick White
#37 - Ben Van Ryn
#36 - Terrell Lowery
#35 - Don Wengert
#34 - Kurt Miller
#33 - Jason Maxwell
#32 - Kevin Foster
#31 - Mike Morgan
#30 - Felix Heredia 
#29 - Jeff Blauser
#28 - Jason Hardtke
#27 - Dave Stevens
#26 - Manny Alexander
#25 - Marc Pisciotta
#24 - Kevin Orie
#23 - Sandy Martinez
#22 - Terry Adams
#21 - Matt Mieske
#20 - Amaury Telemaco
#19 - Tyler Houston
#18 - Geremi Gonzalez
#17 - Orlando Merced
#16 - Scott Servais
#15 - Mark Clark
#14 - Lance Johnson
#13 - Brant Brown

The 47 Best Players from the 1998 Chicago Cubs - #16 Scott Servais

16. Scott Servais
Scott Servais started his career in Houston and was traded to the Cubs along with Luis Gonzalez in the middle of 1995 for Rick Wilkins, and he proceeded to tear shit up. He played in 52 games and hit .286/.371/.560. It didn't seem like the Cubs had just found their new catcher, it seemed like they might have the steal of the century. At least it did to me, who was only 11 years old at the time and thought that a 52-game sample size was plenty big enough to disregard his previous work for the Astros. Of course, if someone hit 3-4 in the first game of the season, I would think that maybe they could do that every game. I mean, they already did it once, just repeat that performance 161 more times.

Anyway, let's ignore how impressionable the young version of me was and focus on Servais. To the surprise of no one over the age of 12, his numbers came back to Earth. But he was still the Cubs starting catcher entering the 1998 season.

Scott Servais was as offensively productive as you would expect, which is to say not very. The highest batting average he had at any point in the season was .235, and that was on April 14. And things somehow find a way to get significantly worse. In the middle of July, he was hitting just .196 with a .289 slugging percentage.

Jim Riggleman tried to give Tyler Houston more playing time, but he was battling a groin injury and couldn't find his hitting stroke. So Servais kept playing consistently although definitely in a timeshare with Houston and occasionally Sandy Martinez. Servais did get better though, and his numbers rose to a not nearly as bad .222/.289/.338 line with seven home runs.

Scott Servais only got one start in the NLDS, but he made it count. In the sixth inning of Game 2, Mickey Morandini led off with a single and Servais followed with a base hit to right field. After a sacrifice bunt from Kevin Tapani, Lance Johnson knocked Morandini home on a ground out, giving the Cubs a 1-0 lead.

Although the Braves would tie that game in the ninth, Servais had another chance to make an impact in the tenth inning. He was already 2-3 on the day, but with two runners on, the Cubs chose to pinch hit for Servais. This led to Jeff Blauser shitting the bed on a strike 'em out, throw 'em out double play to end the rally.

That would be Servais's last game for the Cubs. He signed with the Giants in free agency and had a short stint with the Rockies before coming home to Houston to end his career. he would stay in baseball, starting off as a member of the front office for the Rangers and Angels before becoming the Manager of the Seattle Mariners. Although he has never admitted to this publicly, his greatest career highlight is meeting with my wife as an ambassador for the Angels.

In case you missed it:
Introduction
#47 - Matt Karchner
#46 - Jose Nieves
#45 - Rodney Myers
#44 - Justin Speier
#43 - Tony Fossas
#42 - Kennie Steenstra
#41 - Chris Haney
#40 - Bob Patterson
#39 - Pedro Valdes
#38 - Derrick White
#37 - Ben Van Ryn
#36 - Terrell Lowery
#35 - Don Wengert
#34 - Kurt Miller
#33 - Jason Maxwell
#32 - Kevin Foster
#31 - Mike Morgan
#30 - Felix Heredia 
#29 - Jeff Blauser
#28 - Jason Hardtke
#27 - Dave Stevens
#26 - Manny Alexander
#25 - Marc Pisciotta
#24 - Kevin Orie
#23 - Sandy Martinez
#22 - Terry Adams
#21 - Matt Mieske
#20 - Amaury Telemaco
#19 - Tyler Houston
#18 - Geremi Gonzalez
#17 - Orlando Merced

The 47 Best Players from the 1998 Chicago Cubs - #29 Jeff Blauser

29. Jeff Blauser
Coming into 1998, expectations for Jeff Blauser were incredibly high. He just had his best season as a pro, putting up a .308/.405/.482 line for the Atlanta Braves in 1997, becoming an All-Star and winning the NL Silver Slugger award in the process. The Cubs signed Blauser as a free agent to help remake their middle infield along with Mickey Morandini. Maybe the front office remembered his performance in 1992 when he hit three home runs at Wrigley Field.


Unfortunately, Jeff Blauser did not live up to his end of the bargain. He hit .219/.340/.299 with a grand total of two home runs on the season, and there were very few highlights to find during this season. He only had three games where he had more than one RBI. The most exciting performance was on July 5th against the Pittsburgh Pirates where Blauser went 3-4 with two runs scored and two RBI. He helped spark a rally where the Cubs completed a four-run comeback with a five-run eighth where Blauser knocked in two runs with a double and would score the deciding run in the game.

His biggest contribution was against his former team in the playoffs. In the 10th inning of a tie game, the Cubs had two men on with just one out. The Cubs sent Henry Rodriguez out there to pinch hit, but the Braves countered by bringing in lefty Odalis Perez. Despite the Cubs having Jose Hernandez, a man who could actually hit, sitting on the bench, Jim Riggleman went with Jeff Blauser. This decision looked like it would pay off for the Cubs when Glenallen Hill stole third base. If there was one thing Blauser could do, it was put the ball in play. Blauser worked it to a full count. Morandini ran on the decisive pitch, and Blauser struck out while Morandini was caught stealing to end the Cubs' chances at scoring. The Braves would go on to score in the bottom of the tenth. Was Jeff Blauser a sleeper agent? No, I think he just got really bad at baseball.

He stuck around the Cubs for another unimpressive year in before retiring after the 1999 season. He was a noted Cubs killer during his time with the Braves, and he kept that moniker while playing in Chicago. But at least people in Atlanta really like him and his elegant home.

In case you missed it:
Introduction
#47 - Matt Karchner
#46 - Jose Nieves
#45 - Rodney Myers
#44 - Justin Speier
#43 - Tony Fossas
#42 - Kennie Steenstra
#41 - Chris Haney
#40 - Bob Patterson
#39 - Pedro Valdes
#38 - Derrick White
#37 - Ben Van Ryn
#36 - Terrell Lowery
#35 - Don Wengert
#34 - Kurt Miller
#33 - Jason Maxwell
#32 - Kevin Foster
#31 - Mike Morgan
#30 - Felix Heredia