• Card series: Pilgrims
• City: Chicago
• Team: Cubs
• League: National League

Henry Zimmerman (1887-1969) found it tough to break into the Tinker/Evers/Chance infield in Chicago, but once Johnny Evers went out with an injury in 1910, Zimmerman’s bat proved too valuable to deny. Another loss at third in 1912 opened further opportunities for the talented New Yorker. Recent research supports the restoration of Heinie’s career-year Triple Crown, long withheld due to the era’s dodgy stats for RBI, coupled with an even dodgier reputation for a player eventually banned from the game on testimony of John McGraw. Always a lightning rod, The Great Zimbasked in celebrity and lived large. Parlaying the “strongest pair of hands and arms…ever seen on a human being” he swung with blithe disregard for the strike zone. Leaving the Cubs for his hometown Giants in 1916 proved fateful. Branded the goat of the ‘17 Series, Zim never overcame suspicions of shady dealings, resulting in a 1921 banishment by Judge Landis.

• Career .295 average, with 58 HRs and 796 RBI
• Played for the last Cub championship in 1908 and three other pennant-winners
• For decades Honus Wagner’s 102 RBI had been deemed to exceed Heinie’s 99 until SABR’s exhaustive study validated 104