One more for the day

Back later. There are a few things that I need to take care of this afternoon. But, here is a good one from bleedcubbieblue.

This off season, they are counting down the top 100 Cubs of all time. Yesterday, the got to #60, one of my favorite Cubs -- here's a secret, I wore #6 because of him -- Keith Moreland.

Moreland's career with the Cubs began within the context of Dallas Green trying -- as [Tribune baseball writer Jerome] Holtzman said -- "to remake the Cubs in one day.".

And for the next six seasons (1982-1987) this "poor-throwing," "below-average defensively," "power-hitting", "rugged player" was a mainstay in the middle of the Cubs line-up as an outfielder, third baseman, or catcher (descriptions all used in the Holtzman article).
...
...Moreland showed up everyday (averaged 150 games per season), played hard (like the former college football player he was), did whatever was asked of him (multiple positions in the field and in the line-up), didn't complain, and produced consistent results (averaged .281, 17 home runs, and 82 runs batted in, decent numbers for the lower-power era in which he played). In six Cub seasons he hit exactly 100 home runs, good for eighteenth place on the all-time Cub list.

And here is an interesting story from the post:

Moreland pondered what to do with an autographed baseball that he failed to deliver to folk singer Steve Goodman prior to Goodman's death. The singer wrote a humorous song, "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request," in which he conjectured that the perfect ending to his funeral at Wrigley Field would be for outfielder Keith Moreland to "drop a routine fly" during the post-funeral game. Moreland, amused, signed the ball after learning that Goodman really was dying, and entrusted it to the writer, who never found time to deliver it. Ironically, Goodman passed away just as the Cubs were about to clinch the Eastern Division championship.