Sammy Sosa, the most prolific home run hitter in Cubs history, hit a homer in what turned out to be his last game as a Cub.
Ernie Banks, runnerup to Sosa, did not homer in his final game.
Neither did any of the 7 other sluggers who homered at least 200 times as a Cub: Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Ryne Sandberg, Anthony Rizzo, Aramis Ramirez, Gabby Hartnett or Bill Nicholson.
But Don Young did. So did Eric Karros, Lou Brock, Mark DeRosa, Jerry Morales and Moises Alou.
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3 DOZEN PLUS 1
According to my research, using tools at baseball-reference.com, 37 Cubs homered during their last game with the team since 1901, when the Modern Era began.
Those 37 exclude David Bote and Zach McKinstry, still under contract, who hit homers in last year's final contest.
They do include Franmil Reyes, who also homered in that game, and Willson Contreras, who homered the previous day and did not play in the finale.
The 37 are 4 fewer than the 41 who have homered in their first game as a Cub.
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'WILDFIRE' LED THE WAY
The first to hit a homer in his final game was Frank Schulte, whose solo shot in the second inning provided the Cubs' only run in a 1-4 loss in Game 2 of a doubleheader at Philadelphia on July 29, 1916.
Later that day, Schulte was traded to the Pirates, ending his 13-season, 1,564-game tenure as a Cub, in which he hit 91 homers.
Joe Kelly and Steve Yerkes homered in the final game of that season, on Oct. 1, then never again for the Cubs.
Kelly's homer was his second as a Cub; Yerkes', his first.
Chuck Wortman joined the club when he smacked the last of his 3 homers as a Cub on Aug. 29, 1918.
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LONG GAP
Then no one duplicated the feat for nearly a third of a century, until May 18, 1949. Clarence Maddern blasted his fifth career homer, all with the Cubs.
Just 2 others turned the trick prior to the Expansion Era: Dave Cole, the lone pitcher to do so, on Sept. 22, 1954, and Steve Bilko, 4 days later.
Cole's homer was his only 1 as a Cub among 3 in his career; Bilko's, his fourth among 76.
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LOU-DICROUS DEAL
On June 14, 1964, Lou Brock became the first player since Schulte who had hit more than 5 homers as a Cub, with the last coming in his final game.
The future Hall of Famer homered for the 20th time, a 2-run drive in the seventh inning, to complete the scoring in a 5-0 win at home against the Pirates.
The next day, he was sent to the Cardinals in the infamous trade, usually referenced as "Brock for Broglio," in which the Cubs also gave up Jack Spring and Paul Toth, and also got Doug Clemens and Bobby Shantz.
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FIRST WITH 100 HOMERS
Keith Moreland hit his 100th homer as a Cub in the final game of the 1987 season, then was dealt to the Padres the following February.
5 years later, the record for most homers, capped by 1 in a final game, was claimed by Andre Dawson, who launched his 174th at home against the Expos on Oct. 4, 1992. It turned an 0-2 deficit into a 3-2 lead, and neither team scored again.
Dawson held the mark until Sosa delivered his final homer, No. 545, leading off the fourth inning at home against the Braves on Oct. 2, 2004.
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Since then, 2 more Cubs with at least 100 homers for the team have homered in their last game.
On Aug. 15, 2010, at St. Louis, Derrek Lee hit his 178th homer in the first inning and his 179th in the third, both with 2 out and nobody on base.
3 days later, he was on his way to the Braves, in exchange for 3 minor leaguers.
Lee is the only 1 of the 37 who homered more than once in his final game.
Willson Contreras' homer on the next-to-last day of 2022 was his 117th as a Cub.
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TOTAL AND AVERAGE
The 37 players who hit a last-game homer hit a total of 1,783 as a Cub, for an average of 48. In their big league careers, those players homered 4,716 times, an average of 127.
16 of the 37 Cubs hit fewer than 10 homers for the team.
3 of them hit exactly 1: Yerkes, in 1916, and Cole, in 1954, as mentioned previously, and Billy Hamilton, in 2020.
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HOMERS IN LAST GAME AS CUB
Here is the list of all 37, in chronological order, with the year in which each did it, his name and, in parentheses, the number of homers he hit as a Cub and in his entire career:
1916: Frank Schulte (91 of 92)
1916: Joe Kelly (2 of 6)
1916: Steve Yerkes (1 of 6)
1918: Chuck Wortman (3 of 3)
1949: Clarence Maddern (5 of 5)
1954: Dave Cole (1 of 3)
1954: Steve Bilko (4 of 76)
1964: Lou Brock (20 of 164)
1969: Don Young (7 of 7)
1971: Johnny Callison (27 of 226)
...
1977: Jerry Morales (59 of 95)
1983: Carmen Martinez (6 of 108)
1987: Keith Moreland (100 of 121)
1989: Vance Law (18 of 71)
1992: Andre Dawson (174 of 438)
1994: Derrick May (28 of 52)
1995: Kevin Roberson (17 of 20)
1996: Ozzie Timmons (15 of 20)
1997: Brian McRae (35 of 103)
1999: Jose Hernandez (71 of 168)
...
2000: Glenallen Hill (59 of 186)
2003: Damian Miller (9 of 87)
2003: Eric Karros (12 of 284)
2004: Sammy Sosa (545 of 609)
2004: Moises Alou (76 of 332)
2004: Mark Grudzielanek (9 of 90)
2008: Mark DeRosa (31 of 100)
2008: Jim Edmonds (19 of 393)
2008: Daryle Ward (7 of 90)
2010: Derrek Lee (179 of 331)
...
2012: Bryan LaHair (18 of 21)
2013: Scott Hairston (8 of 106)
2014: Emilio Bonifacio (2 of 13)
2017: Rene Rivera (2 of 43)
2020: Billy Hamilton (1 of 24)
2022: Wilson Contreras (117 of 117)
2022: Franmil Reyes (5 of 106)
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Note that Contreras, Young and Wortman are the only 3 who hit all their career homers as a Cub, the last in their final game.
Contreras will lose that distinction when he hits his first homer for the Cardinals, his new team.
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HOMERS IN LAST GAME OF CAREER
The homers by LaHair, Ward, Wortman, Yerkes and Young came not only in their last game as a Cub, but the last game of their big league career.
According to data at baseball-reference,129 players on all teams in the Modern Era homered in a game and never played in another.
Among the best known: Mickey Cochrane (1935), Jackie Robinson (1956), Ted Williams (1960), Don Mattingly (1995) and Will Clark (2000).
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HOMER IN LAST PLATE APPEARANCE
Williams famously homered in his final trip to the plate, a solo shot in the eighth inning on Sept. 28, 1960.
11 Cubs have hit homers in their last plate appearance as a Cub, less than half the 24 who have homered in their first PA with the team.
Only 1 of the 11 hit a homer in the final PA of his career: Chuck Wortman, who was only 26 years old when he appeared in the last of his 161 games at home against the Reds on Aug. 29, 1918.
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The Reds had given pitcher Jimmy Ring a 4-2 lead by scoring 3 runs in the sixth, then added a run in the seventh.
"Ring could not hold the lead, however," the Cincinnati Enquirer explained the next day, "and a piece of tough luck hurt him in the last half of the round.
"He walked [Bob] O'Farrell, the first man up, a sure sign of weakness. [Pitcher Claude] Hendrix forced his catcher, but [Max] Flack singled.
"Wortman drove a single over second and [Edd] Roush, in attempting to field it, sat down on the grass and the ball bounded over him for a home run, giving the Cubs a total of three for the round."
The Cubs won the game, 6-4.
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OTHERS WITH LAST-PA HOMER
Here, in chronological order, are the 10 subsequent players who homered in their last trip to the plate as a Cub:
June 14, 1964: Lou Brock, 2-run homer in seventh at Pittsburgh to make score 5-0; Cubs won, 5-2
Oct. 2, 1983: Carmelo Martinez, solo in 8th at St. Louis to make score 5-9; Cubs lost, 6-9
Oct. 4, 1987: Keith Moreland, solo in 7th at Montreal that made score 7-3; Cubs won, 7-5
Aug. 10, 1994: Derrick May, solo in 8th vs. Giants that made score 2-5; Cubs lost, 2-5
June 27, 1995: Kevin Roberson, 2-run as pinch hitter with 2 out in ninth vs. Pirates that made score 5-6; next batter grounded out
Sept. 28, 1996: Ozzie timmons, 2-run in 9th vs. Pirates that tied score at 7; Cubs lost, 7-8, in 10th
Aug. 7, 1997: Brian McRae, solo in 8th vs. Giants that made score 6-2; Cubs won, 6-3
Sept. 28, 2003: Eric Karros, solo in 4th vs. Pirates that made score 2-0; Cubs lost, 2-3
July 7, 2013: Scott Hairston, solo in 7th vs. Pirates that made score 3-2; Cubs won, 4-3, in 10th
Sept. 30, 2017: Rene Rivera, solo in 7th vs. Reds that made score 9-0; Cubs won, 9-0
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HOMER IN NEXT-TO-LAST PA
9 more players homered in their penultimate PA as a Cub:
May 18, 1949: Clarence Maddern, solo in 6th, single in 8th
Sept. 22, 1954: Dave Cole, 2-run in 5th, out in 7th
Sept. 26, 1954: Steve Bilko, 2-run in 6th, single in 8th
Sept. 15, 1977: Jerry Morales, solo in 6th, groundout in 8th
Sept. 30, 1989: Vance Law, solo in 6th, single in 8th
July 31, 1999: Jose Hernandez, 3-run in 6th, RBI single in 8th
July 20, 2000: Glenallen Hill, solo in 6th, walk in 7th
Sept. 27, 2003: Damian Miller, solo in 5th, strikeout in 7th
Aug. 15, 2010: Derrek Lee, solo in 3rd, strikeout in 4th
