#258 Randy Hundley

Greatly missed by the Cubs….possibly the cause of the Cubs playoff failures post 1969….not even close to an adequate substitute…an innovative player whose contribution is the one hand approach to catching reducing injuries to the throwing arm…started in the Giants farm system…acquired by Cubs blossomed under Leo Durocher….1966 hit19 home runs to show pop in his bat….a bright spot in a rebuilding year…the Cub’s investment in the future paid off with 28 game improvement 1967…Randy improved his BA by 31 pts…after an off year in 1968 was to come back with a .255 and 18 home runs…Randy was named to the All Star team for the only time in his career….1970 started the run of injuries…never obtained solid BA but probably the greatest loss was in defensive skills…hung on with Cubs up to 1975 season…traded to Twins but injuries bug bit in the form of the knee injury from a confrontation with a teammate…traveled on to Padres, hit poorly, but was helpful in Randy Jones effort for 20 wins…in all probability the slowest player in baseball at the time…The Cubs feeling nostalgic brought Randy for a handful of games in next two years…father of Todd Hundley, also a catcher from 1990-2003.