To say that Kyle Schwarber was struggling at the plate going into last night’s game against Philadelphia would have been a complete understatement. The Cubs new lead-off hitter was hitting below .200 and hadn’t hit a home run since April 18th and was beginning to show signs of frustration at the plate.
Last night, he took some of that frustration out on a baseball and my God was it a thing of beauty.
With that three-run bomb in the bottom of the fourth inning, Kyle Schwarber not only murdered a baseball but he also set a little bit of Cubs history at the same time. He became the fastest player in Cubs history to reach 20 career home runs in only his 97th career game.
When I heard that statistic, I thought, “Holy shit. 97 games?! Took you long enough” but then I started to look at some other players in Cubs history to see how long it took them to reach 20 career home runs and Schwarber’s 97 games is pretty damn impressive.
I chose nine Cubs sluggers throughout history and looked up how many games it took them to reach 20 career home runs (I also looked at Babe Ruth since everyone wants to compare the War Bear to the Great Bambino.)
One note: These are total regular season games to begin the players career NOT their first 20 bombs as a Chicago Cub.
Player
Career Games To 20 HRs
Kyle Schwarber
97
Kris Bryant
114
Billy Williams
122
Ernie Banks
132
Anthony Rizzo
150
Andre Dawson
170
Ron Santo
195
Hack Wilson
198
Babe Ruth
210
Sammy Sosa
212
Ryne Sandberg
374
If you’re curious, the overall record for fastest to 20 home runs is a tie between 1930’s slugger Wally Berger and current Yankee phenom Gary Sanchez who both only needed 50 games to reach that milestone according to ESPN Stats and Info.
The Yankees visit Wrigley Field this weekend and the team hopes Sanchez will join them as he finishes up a rehab assignment. Safe to say there’s a great chance some baseballs will be traveling into the bleachers from the bats of both he and Schwarber.
There is no doubt that former center Jay Hilgenberg is the popular name for Canton snubs in Chicago Bears history. However, case can be made that the Jimbo Covert Hall of Fame ice out is even worse. Hilgenberg at least was close a few times. The same cannot be said for Covert. Despite having a championship ring and anchoring one of the best offensive lines in the 1980s he just doesn’t get his due.
Dan Pompei wrote about this travesty on the Talk Of Fame Network. His belief, along with many others is that Covert is poised for a serious push to finally get his own bust. This after watching former Jacksonville great Tony Boselli gain steam for his own possible induction last year. Covert doesn’t have the luxury of time, and should be considered more accomplished.
Jimbo Covert Hall of Fame candidacy needs steam
What really stands out about Covert is how criminally overlooked he is. Anybody who bothers to watch the film would’ve seen he was one of the two or three best left tackles in football. He helped pave the way for a rushing at that finished top three seven times during his time with the team including first overall in four-straight seasons. To say nothing of the fact the offensive line gave up few than 30 sacks during three of those years as well.
Yet no stat reveals how badly the voters have screwed up than this.
“There were 22 position players, both on offense and defense, named to the 1980s’ NFL all-decade team. All except one have busts in Canton. Covert is the lone omission — and he’s never even been a Hall-of-Fame semifinalist, much less a finalist.
Like Boselli, Covert played left offensive tackle, the cornerstone position of NFL offensive lines. But unlike Boselli, Covert’s candidacy is running out of time. Players have a 25-year window of eligibility as modern-era candidates before tumbling into the abyss that is the senior pool. Covert enters his 22nd year of eligibility when the list of preliminary candidates is distributed for the Class of 2018.”
Walter Payton, Jim McMahon and others always seemed to grab the spotlight on offense. Little of their success though would’ve been possible without the presence of Covert. He was a mainstay who dominated his competition right up until he suffered a difficult injury that forced him to retire. A fixture during the greatest run of the Super Bowl era for the Bears franchise.
The voters proved once before that length of career doesn’t matter with Gale Sayers. It’s about impact. Many defenders can attest Covert made an impact. Here’s hoping the right people come to their senses.
Bill Polian loves the Bears Trubisky pick. That has to be a good thing right? The guy is a Hall of Fame general manager who took two different teams to a total of six Super Bowls. He knows what good football looks like, but on the field and in the front office. Few could work a draft board and find great players quite like him. There’s a reason Chicago fans nearly lost their minds when rumors hit he might join the franchise in some capacity last year.
That was never realistic. GM Ryan Pace is the man running the show. This 2017 draft proved it more than ever when he did something nobody has had the guts to do in 35 years. That was use a top five draft pick on a quarterback. It was a ground shaking decision. Another thing Polian knows about. He did it twice. Once in Carolina (Kerry Collins) and again in Indianapolis (Peyton Manning).
So if anybody could offer some perspective and opinion on the move, it was him.
Bill Polian loves the Bears Trubisky pick
Most of the time Polian remains a somewhat critical person in regards to draft picks. However, that was out the window when he spoke on the ESPN 1000 radio program “Waddle & Silvy.” Asked for his thoughts, he didn’t waste any time heaping praise on Pace and his entire operation before and during the action.
“I thought it was a stroke of genius. The Bears kept quiet. The Browns told the world they were going to take (Myles) Garrett and trade back up for Trubisky assuming no one else would do it.
The Bears kept quiet. They talked with San Francisco, they made a deal and BOOM they took him at the very spot that Cleveland could have had they made a deal with San Francisco and assured themselves of both guys.
I thought it was just tremendous of Ryan Pace. Great move, great organizational move, great disciplines in terms of keeping things quiet and staying out of the press. A lesson for the Cleveland Browns.
Bottom line: great, great move. That’s what general managers get paid to do. That’s draft management at its best.”
There is no question that Pace executed a masterful deception campaign. Right up until the draft began all the experts were convinced of two things. Either the Bears would take a top defensive player or they would take Deshaun Watson. Needless to say the entire NFL world was caught flatfooted when they jumped up from #3 to #2 to grab Trubisky. Few can appreciate the discipline and intricacies of it like Polian.
He also understood why they did it. The young quarterback is the best at his position in the draft.
“He has the most ability of anybody that came out in the draft this year. The most natural ability. The most natural thrower. He’s a good athlete. Probably a superior athlete. He can use his feet to get out of trouble and do things in the pocket. He’s a pretty accurate thrower.
No one knows what he’s going to be other than the top prospect in this years’ draft.”
The rules have changed
Of course most of the critics keep hammering the Bears on the move. Not because of its execution, but because they don’t believe Trubisky is worth it. Why? Is it the talent? No, most are like Polian in belief that he has the total package. Where people continue to get hung up is the fact that he started just 13 games in college. That’s less than half of what Watson played at Clemson.
Not ideal to say the least. Even so, Polian dismissed it. Sure experience is important, but the reality of this modern NFL just means certain thing have to be accepted in order to get a talented quarterback. Experience being one.
“The rules have changed. You might as well exceed to it. The idea that Bill Parcells put forth, which I certainly subscribed to, that you got to have a quarterback with 30 starts and a 70% winning percentage and all that kind of stuff is long gone. Now quarterbacks are so scarce that Andy Reid traded up to the 10th pick of the draft to get a project prospect. So that’s just the way it is. Those are the rules and you have to play by them.
And so good for Ryan Pace, and George McCaskey and the Chicago Bears. Terrific job.”
There is no guarantee that Trubisky will pan out. Then again there have been plenty of more experienced quarterbacks taken that high in the draft over the years who flopped. Pace believes the Bears have the ideal environment to help this young man become the star he’s capable of being. Polian and others are saying it’s time to accept that and let the man do his job. Who knows, he may just prove he was right.
One thing is for certain: Theo Epstein knows how to throw a party.
Over the weekend, Paradise Rock Club hosted Boston’s annual Hot Stove Cool Music charity concert that benefits Epstein’s Foundation To Be Named Later organization while the Cubs were in town to face the Boston Red Sox. The Cubs dropped Game 1 of the series on Friday but bounced back to win Game 2 Saturday evening.
What you DON’T see is the fact that when Vedder was rocking everyone’s faces off, Epstein took the 2004 and 2016 World Series trophies from backstage and let the two trophies crowd surf with the drunken Red Sox and Cubs fans.
Mark Shanahan of the Boston Globe reported earlier today that the Cubs trophy had a few missing parts when the concert finally ended.
“Problem is, the Commissioner’s Trophy, as MLB’s ultimate prize is called, is fragile. It weighs 30 pounds, but it features 30 little gold-plated flags — one for each MLB team — that apparently can break very easily. We’re told that at least a few of the flags on the Cubs trophy snapped off while it was making its way through the crowd.”
Luckily, the pieces were retrieved and the trophy was repaired in time for fans to take pictures with for the final game of the series which was held Sunday night. Shanahan goes on to say,
“As far as we know, none of the fans who donated $20 to the Red Sox Foundation and Chicago Cubs Charities to have their picture taken with the trophies noticed the solder (or superglue) that was keeping the Cubs trophy together.”
Shanahan hit the nail on the head with fans not being able to notice the damage. I was one of those fans who was lucky enough to get my picture taken with both trophies Sunday night and had no idea that the Cubs trophy was being held together by glue.
To my credit, I may or may not have been a few beers deep at that point.
Let’s just keep the Commissioner’s Trophy in a trophy case moving forward please.
In a league that puts such a premium on quarterback play, few things are more treasured that quality blocking up front. New Chicago Bears undrafted rookie Dieugot Joseph, a left tackle from Florida International University knows this better than most. Every given year in the NFL there are hundreds of young, new faces hoping to carve out a bright career in pro football. Several of them come from humble beginnings.
Being undrafted is not the stigma it used to be. Not even close. Cameron Meredith proved that last year. Experts would like people to believe the best offensive linemen come from the draft, and high in the draft at that. Tell that to Jason Peters. Many people don’t know the nine-time Pro Bowler went undrafted out of Arkansas. Same goes for the likes of Joe Jacoby back in the 1980s or the iconic Lou Groza.
Joseph knows the draft is notorious for not getting everything right and he was willing to sit down with Sports Mockery to explain why Chicago was smart to sign him.
Getting to know Bears rookie Dieugot Joseph
Joseph stands a rangy 6’6″ and 293 lbs. His tape reveals a big athlete who moves well in space, which explains why he made such an effective left tackle at FIU. The team itself wasn’t able to win many games, but during that time coaches saw how dedicated he was to changing that. He worked constantly on his game and played through some tough injuries.
Somebody must’ve been watching. Even though he went undrafted, the Bears made him a pretty substantial offer to sign as a free agent.
Bears rookie tackle Dieugot Joseph (FIU) got $17,500 total guaranteed in his signing bonus and guaranteed money in his first-year salary
That may not sound like much in wider context to NFL contracts but this was a vote of confidence from GM Ryan Pace and the team that they wanted him on the roster. He in turn wanted to play for them. Why? Well that’s a fascinating story we’re going to get to. I had the chance to chat with Dieugot about everything from football, to his family and his future.
It’s quite a tale.
Is it true you’re from Haiti?
“No sir I’m Haitian but I’m from Orlando. My mom came to the U.S I think 30 years ago.”
Did she just want a chance at greater opportunities?
“That’s exactly what it was, she wanted a different life for her children.”
How is it you got into football?
“Well I started playing both basketball and football at the same time in high school. I became an athlete and just never looked back. It was a choice that took time, but I always knew my passion was on the football field.”
What made you choose to attend Florida International?
“There were others that were in play, it really came down to FIU and Middle Tennessee but at the end of the day FIU was close to home & with TY Hilton the program was rising. I just knew that it would be a good fit for me. My experiences at FIU led me to be the man I am today.”
What sort of man is that?
“A hard-working man who loves competition! I come to work every day and I intend make an impact and help the team win.”
What strengths do you offer and was any one person crucial to helping you develop them?
“My biggest strengths are my quickness, foot speed and strike. Definitely my O-line coach in college Steve Shankweiler. I was at first a defensive end coming in. After making the change and working relentlessly we knew we started something special.”
Who suggested the change?
“Well I think it was a group decision by our coaches including Ron Turner and Andre Patterson who both have NFL ties. They knew I had the tools needed to be successful at the position for a long time.”
Is there a particular play or game that sticks out as your favorite from college?
“Honestly there is one game that I will always remember in college. It was 2015 vs. Indiana. A close game but we didn’t come out on top. I just loved the atmosphere, the pressure, the tension in the air. I remembered every second. Just love that feeling like it was war and everyone is against you. It was the second play of the game. I said to myself, “I want to send everybody home mad.” So I came off the line and just clean ran through one of their linebackers.”
FUN FACT: Jordan Howard, whom Dieugot might be blocking for in the future, ran for 159 yards in that same game for Indiana.
Did you expect to go undrafted? It couldn’t have been easy.
“I knew there was a chance but no I didn’t expect to be undrafted. I knew I was projected rounds 4-7 but I also knew you cannot predict how it would go. Honestly there was a lot of teams that I knew it was possible, including the Bengals, Giants, and Texans. All needed tackles, especially left tackles.”
Did those teams try to sign you after the draft ended? Why choose the Bears?
“All of those teams offered and a few more. I chose the Bears because I knew they just drafted Trubisky in the first round and they were going to need someone to protect him.”
Who would you consider your football inspiration?
“Well I look up to a lot of great players in the NFL but I am my own inspiration. I hope one day to reach the same greatness. I believe that no one is the same so I don’t model my game after theirs but I take tools and techniques from guys like Trent Williams and Tyron Smith and try to add them to my arsenal.”
Do you have long-term plans for whenever football is done?
“Well I hope to start a business after with my brother. We have different ideas but my ultimate goal is to start a family and be a father to many children one day.”
Okay, time for a gear shift. Is there a certain celebrity you have a crush on?
“Well there’s a lot of beautiful celebrities but I’ve always thought Kaylin Garcia was A1.”
What would you consider your big hobby?
“I do consider myself to be an avid 2K sports and Call of Duty player. I also do like to draw and paint.”
Last question. Do you have a favorite TV show and/or musician?
“Game of Thrones is the best show ever invented and there is no competition. I think it would have to be Future at the moment.”
Dieugot Joseph is a humble, confident, down-to-earth and competitive young man. He has all the trappings of a future starting tackle in NFL. He’s got the size. He’s got the athleticism. Above all? He’s got the attitude. The young man knows where he wants to go and is willing to pay the price to get there. Charles Leno, Bobbie Massie and the other tackles better watch out. This guy may be their new teammate, but he came to Chicago with one purpose.
To the be the man, when the dust settles, guarding the blind side of their new franchise quarterback. It should be loads of fun watching him.
As speculation swirls around Ryan Pace’s decision to take UNC quarterback Mitchell Trubisky with the second overall pick, reports are starting to leak about the level of interest he was truly generating on the market.
It has already been reported that the Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs were interested in trading with San Francisco for the number two pick. That’s the very reason why fans are justifying Pace’s choice to trade up and fork over multiple draft picks to the 49ers for the number two spot.
Titans General Manager Jon Robinson said on SiriusXM NFL Radio that Tennessee was fielding calls at No. 5 from teams that wanted to trade up. But when the Bears moved up from No. 3 to No. 2 and took Trubisky, everyone stopped calling the Titans.
“We had some calls about pick No. 5,” Robinson said. “When the trade happened between San Francisco and Chicago, it kinda threw water on anything in that spot.”
These comments suggest the the Chicago Bears, and Pace, were not alone having Trubisky ranked number one on their draft boards.
Cleveland’s interest was obvious, Trubisky is from Ohio and reports leaked that he almost went number one overall.
Kansas City’s need for a quarterback is well known, their move to trade up for Patrick Mahomes proves they were in the market. The rumor of their interest at number two would make you believe Trubisky was also higher on their board.
Now, the Titans GM is on record saying Tennessee was getting calls from even more teams and they all stopped after the Bears made their move.
The widespread criticism of Pace’s decision to trade up for Trubisky has plagued the national media. Piecing this together gives you insight on what other NFL GMs were thinking. It’s clear Trubisky was considered a coveted asset, think twice before you criticize Chicago for winning the race to get him.
Reports out of Buffalo today indicate that the Bills will not be picking up the fifth-year option for veteran wide receiver Sammy Watkins. This announcement came in the eleventh hour as today was the very last day teams had to decide on the extended options for members of the 2014 draft class. The news makes Watkins a potential free agent heading into the off-season next year.
After getting drafted fourth overall, Watkins has had an up and down career and that’s primarily due to injuries. His rookie season he played in all 16 games, then sat out three in 2015 and missed half the season last year. That’s likely why Buffalo isn’t picking up his option.
This #Bills-Sammy Watkins situation feels a bit like what #Bears’ new regime dealt with in Alshon.
The Bears could be a suitor for Watkins considering their depth at the wide receiver position and the departure of Alshon Jeffery.
Kevin White is unproven. Cameron Meredith is emerging but still raw. Kendall Wright needs to stay healthy. Markus Wheaton has never been anything more than a serviceable number two.
The addition of a dynamic play-maker like Watkins could be the perfect ingredient to mix with White…. assuming both of them can stay healthy. Pace has made it a point to bring more speed, and youth, to the Bears and Watkins checks both of those boxes if, again, he stays healthy. Considering the one-year contract for Wright, Watkins could easily be his replacement next year… and that would be considered an upgrade.
Obviously this is looking a bit into the future, but Mitchell Trubisky is going to need help and Watkins will be sitting near the top of the 2018 wide receiver free agent market. Looks like something worth keeping an eye on.
NOTE: The Bears declined to pick up Kyle Fuller’s option, their 2014 first-round selection.
I’m sure David Ross has seen and heard a lot of things in clubhouses during his 15-year career in baseball. There’s something about grown men sitting in the same room with nothing to do that somehow always leads to either a farting or belching contest. So if a story came out that David Ross got crop dusted by one of his teammates, it probably wouldn’t be that funny.
However, as we all know, Ross retired from baseball last year so his time spent in the clubhouse has been very rare these days. Instead of hanging out with the guys, Ross has been spending his time on the dance floor with his smoke show of a partner, Lindsay Arnold. The pair’s hard work has paid off as they just advanced to the quarter finals of ABC’s show “Dancing With The Stars.”
The two have developed a great working relationship that was put to the test during rehearsal recently. Ross accidentally dropped Arnold trying to do a weird flip move so of course, Arnold felt the need to payback Ross by the only way she knew how.
The Chicago Bears trade for Mitch Trubisky has remained a lightning rod of controversy. By and large the national pundits panned the move. Many felt the young North Carolina quarterback wasn’t worth a pick that high. Others couldn’t understand for the life of them why GM Ryan Pace felt the need to trade up from #3 overall to #2 in order to get him.
Some even went so far as to say that is the pick that gets Pace and everybody else fired. Seems a little harsh (and premature) to make such statements, doesn’t it? Since then local Bears columnists have clarified the situation to a degree. There were other teams vying for that #2 pick. Given their unclear intentions, Pace was faced with a choice. Stay put and risk his favorite QB in the draft getting swiped or pay the price to move up.
He chose the latter, and it’s a decision earning the admiration of another former GM, one who was recently inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Ron Wolf loved the Bears trade for Mitch Trubisky
If anybody knows about being aggressive in his pursuit of solutions at the quarterback position, it’s Ron Wolf. The longtime NFL executive made a career out of it. In 1978 he did the unthinkable when he took a black quarterback named Doug Williams in the first round out of Grambling State. Many thought he was nuts. A year later his team was in the NFC championship game.
His far more high profile stroke of daring though didn’t come until 1992. He’d just become GM of the Green Bay Packers. Desiring a new quarterback, he explored the possibility of a trade with Atlanta for their young backup named Brett Favre. To that point he’d seen the field just twice, thrown four passes and seen two of them intercepted. The Falcons demanded a first round pick in return.
To their surprise, and that of many (many) others, Wolf agreed. He’d in fact been a fan of Favre’s since he came out of college and didn’t intend to lose his chance to get the young. So one can understand why Wolf wouldn’t even flinch upon hearing what Pace did when he spoke with the Chicago Sun-Times.
“I admire anyone with the gumption to [do that],” said former Packers GM Ron Wolf. “If you have the conviction, which they obviously do, that this is their savior . . . you go and get him. It takes intestinal fortitude and he displayed that. He has a belief in the player. And not only Pace, but the other people must be in line with that, too. If that’s your guy, you go do it.
“You’ve got to give credit where credit is due. They thought enough of [Trubisky] and got him. Lord knows they needed a quarterback, so they got one.”
No more messing around
Wolf had a front-row seat for watching how Chicago has mismanaged the quarterback position for decades. It’s a huge reason why his Packer teams were able to dominate Chicago during the 1990s. The Bears never had a quarterback even remotely close to Favre’s level. Part of the reason for that is simple lack of aggression. Every Bears draft pick at the position during that time could be considered “cheap.”
They just never really made a power play to get a guy they wanted. They were content to settle for whomever fell their way. That led to picks like Cade McNown and Rex Grossman. Now Pace is the first GM to take an active approach in fixing the position. He aggressively pursues Mike Glennon in free agency and then trades up for Trubisky and is shredded for it. Wolf understands what that’s like.
He also knows no expense can be spared to get the QB position right. Pace may not be popular now, but if either Glennon or Trubisky pan out it won’t matter.
It’s the job of every college coach to give a ringing (and biased) endorsement of players they see get drafted right? Well after watching Brian Kelly give a frank and unflattering opinion of DeShone Kizer, it makes you wonder. None the less Chicago fans aren’t sure what to make of one particular new face in the Bears fold. Is the Adam Shaheen draft steal narrative to be believed or is it mostly just wishful thinking?
Sure his highlights are impressive but one should be realistic. He’s a former basketball standout who did his damage against Division II competition. Why should anybody believe he’ll end up being the same dominant force when he runs into NFL defenders? Well his former college coach at Ashland gives a pretty eye-opening reason.
Lee Owens spoke with Adam Hoge of WGN Radio shortly after his prized tight end was selected by the Bears with the 45th pick overall. Like any good coach he was positive in his support, but then uncorked something that completely changed the picture.
Adam Shaheen draft steal idea gains steam
Understand that Shaheen switched from basketball to football shortly after leaving high school. He actually transferred schools to do it. For him to catch on so fast that he delivered 1,600 yards and 26 touchdowns across his final two years? That’s impressive. Owens though didn’t give the usual platitudes. He gave much more.
“He’s the real deal. I was blessed, I had a chance to coach a Hall-of-Famer when I was at Ohio State, Orlando Pace. I had a chance to coach a Hall-of-Famer when I was at Akron, Jason Taylor, who is going in this year. I know this is a bold statement and I don’t want to put this on Adam’s shoulders, but he’s that kind of guy. I mean, I think he can be that kind of pro.”
Pace is one of the all-time great left tackles in NFL history. Taylor had 139.5 sacks in his career. For Shaheen to be so willingly placed in that same category is more than surprising. It’s gutsy. It also makes one wonder if the Bears knew exactly what they were doing when they drafted him. GM Ryan Pace is known for doing his homework on draft prospects. One can be assured he knows who the young man is and what he can become.
How bad do you want it?
The early nickname for him is “Baby Gronk.” Indeed Shaheen does reflect many of the same qualities as the New England Patriots superstar. Of course the Bears expect him to carve out his own legacy in the NFL. One thing is for sure. If he’s even close to being that good, then the offense just got a shot in the arm it hasn’t had at the tight end position since Greg Olsen left back in 2011. No doubt still a sore subject for many fans.
Everything about his success though comes down to how bad he wants it. Considering what he’s already put himself through from the sport change to the radical diet alterations, it’s safe to say he’s got the right mind set.
