Icons of the Ivy: Heinie Zimmerman
Heinie Zimmerman enjoyed a successful decade-long career with the Cubs in the early 1900s, including serving as the answer to a couple of trivia questions.
He’s the only player in franchise history to win the Triple Crown, accomplishing the feat in 1912 with a .327 batting average, 14 homers and 104 RBI. He was also the first Cub to win a batting title.
In addition to his Triple Crown win, Zimmerman led the league in hits (207), doubles (41), slugging (.571), OPS (.989), OPS+ (170) and total bases (318) in that epic 1912 campaign. Despite all that, he somehow finished 6th in NL MVP voting on a 91-win Cubs team that finished in 3rd place.
That season accounted for the only double-digit year in Zimmerman’s career, but he did lead the league in RBI in 1916 — the year the Cubs traded him to the New York Giants in late August.
Over his 10-year stint in Chicago from 1907-16, Zimmerman saw the Cubs win a pair of World Series, though he only saw action in 1 game in the 1907 Fall Classic.
“‘The Great Zim’ was a versatile super-sub for the 1907 and 1908 World Series Champion Chicago Cubs,” team historian Ed Hartig said.
The infielder hit .304/.343/.444 (.787 OPS) in 1,022 games as a Cub with 513 runs scored, 566 RBI, 48 homers and 131 stolen bases. He racked up 23.9 WAR in that span.