The 47 Best Players from the 1998 Chicago Cubs - #14 Lance Johnson

14. Lance Johnson
Even before he was a Cub, Lance Johnson was always a player I really liked despite him most notably playing for the crosstown rival, Chicago White Sox. Hell, I didn't even find it aggravating when White Sox announcers would refer to him as One Dog. As an undersized guy my entire life, I appreciated Johnson being only 5'10" and 160 pounds since that is about my current adult size. Could I make a run at the major leagues? It's not impossible, just need to gain hand-eye coordination, the ability to swing a baseball bat, and not have a noodle arm.

Helping my case is that Johnson weirdly got better into his early 30s and put up his best numbers in 1996 for the New York Mets at the age of 32 where he hit 21 triples, stole 50 bases and led the league in hits. In 1997, his numbers he was nearly as good, but the Mets traded him to the Chicago Cubs in a deal where each team exchanged two pitchers and a center fielder (Brian McRae going to the Mets).

The Cubs thought they had a center field solution with Johnson, but early on, that did not appear to be the case. On April 27th, he was hitting .115, and then he went down with an injury that would keep him out until the All-Star break. And although that was a mighty hole to dig out of, Lance did everything he could to make a positive impact. It took him until August 18 to get his average above .200, but that average just kept rising as the season went on.

He caught fire in September as he hit .345/.395/.491 to give him a very respectable final season line of .280/.335/.352 by the end of the season. But even though he was only able to play in 85 games, Lance Johnson came through down the stretch.

In Game 163 against the San Francisco Giants, he led off the sixth inning with a single and would help extend the Cubs lead. He also received all three starts in the playoffs but was unable to keep the hot hitting going as he had just two hits in 12 at bats.

Health was Johnson's downfall as he could not stay healthy in 1999 and his numbers began to drop off. He signed with the Yankees as a free agent for the 2000 season, but only played in 18 games before washing out of the big leagues for good.

But Lance Johnson was just a cool player. He was small, super fast, and the man barely believed in doubles as he was always trying to stretch them into triples. Even with the White Sox, he was fun to watch, but I am glad that I got to cheer for him while playing for the Cubs, even with injuries limiting his time. A guy like Lance Johnson gave you hope. Now it's time for me to hit the batting cages.

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

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