Don Kessinger
The Cubs never had a better defensive shortstop than Kessinger, whose glove work anchored Wrigley Field's infield for a decade. Those two Gold Gloves barely tell the story — he was the National League's premier shortstop throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, turning double plays with ballet-like precision alongside Glenn Beckert at second base.
His offensive numbers look pedestrian now, but context matters. That .252 career average and 90 OPS+ came during the second deadball era, when pitching dominated and Wrigley's ivy walls swallowed line drives. His peak 1972 season, batting .274 with a 103 OPS+, represented genuinely above-average hitting for a glove-first shortstop.
Kessinger embodied the Cubs' "Boys of Summer" teams that broke hearts in 1969. While those clubs couldn't quite capture a pennant, his steady presence — six All-Star selections across eight seasons — provided the defensive foundation that kept Chicago competitive throughout baseball's pitcher-friendly decade.
Career · Batting
16 seasons| Year | Team | G | AB | HR | RBI | AVG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | CHC | 4 | 12 | 0 | 0 | .167 | .333 | — |
| 1965 | CHC | 106 | 309 | 0 | 14 | .201 | .485 | — |
| 1966 | CHC | 150 | 533 | 1 | 43 | .274 | .608 | — |
| 1967 | CHC | 145 | 580 | 0 | 42 | .231 | .548 | — |
| 1968 | CHC | 160 | 655 | 1 | 32 | .240 | .570 | — |
| 1969 | CHC | 158 | 664 | 4 | 53 | .273 | .698 | — |
| 1970 | CHC | 154 | 631 | 1 | 39 | .266 | .685 | 96 |
| 1971 | CHC | 155 | 617 | 2 | 38 | .258 | .634 | 93 |
| 1972 | CHC | 149 | 577 | 1 | 39 | .274 | .685 | 103 |
| 1973 | CHC | 160 | 577 | 0 | 43 | .262 | .637 | 91 |
| 1974 | CHC | 153 | 599 | 1 | 42 | .259 | .652 | 94 |
| 1975 | CHC | 154 | 601 | 0 | 46 | .243 | .636 | 91 |
| 1976 | STL | 145 | 502 | 1 | 40 | .239 | .633 | 93 |
| 1977 | STL | 98 | 253 | 0 | 18 | .237 | .589 | 81 |
| 1978 | CWS | 131 | 431 | 1 | 31 | .255 | .621 | 88 |
| 1979 | CWS | 56 | 110 | 1 | 7 | .200 | .546 | 75 |
| Career | 2078 | 7651 | 14 | 527 | .252 | — | — | |
Matchups, projections, comps — grounded in Lahman, Retrosheet, and Statcast.