# 1972 Chicago Cubs season

The 1972 Chicago Cubs season was the 101st season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 97th in the National League and the 57th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished second in the National League East with a record of 85–70.

## Offseason

* November 29, 1971: Ken Holtzman was traded by the Cubs to the Oakland Athletics for Rick Monday.
* December 1, 1971: Ernie Banks was released by the Cubs.
* January 20, 1972: Johnny Callison was traded by the Cubs to the New York Yankees for a player to be named later. The Yankees completed the deal by sending Jack Aker to the Cubs on May 17.
* February 14, 1972: Julio González was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cubs.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 96 | 59 | .619 | — | 49‍–‍29 | 47‍–‍30 |
| Chicago Cubs | 85 | 70 | .548 | 11 | 46‍–‍31 | 39‍–‍39 |
| New York Mets | 83 | 73 | .532 | 13½ | 41‍–‍37 | 42‍–‍36 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 75 | 81 | .481 | 21½ | 40‍–‍37 | 35‍–‍44 |
| Montreal Expos | 70 | 86 | .449 | 26½ | 35‍–‍43 | 35‍–‍43 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 59 | 97 | .378 | 37½ | 28‍–‍51 | 31‍–‍46 |

### Record vs. opponents

1972 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 5–7–1 | 9–9 | 7–7 | 7–8 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 6–11 | 7–11 | 6–6 |
| Chicago | 7–5–1 | — | 8–4 | 3–9 | 8–4 | 10–5 | 10–8 | 10–7 | 3–12 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 10–8 |
| Cincinnati | 9–9 | 4–8 | — | 11–6 | 9–5 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 10–2 | 8–4 | 8–10 | 10–5 | 10–2 |
| Houston | 7–7 | 9–3 | 6–11 | — | 7–11 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 3–9 | 12–2 | 13–5 | 4–8 |
| Los Angeles | 8–7 | 4–8 | 5–9 | 11–7 | — | 6–6 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 13–5 | 9–9 | 8–4 |
| Montreal | 8–4 | 5–10 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 6–6 | — | 6–12 | 10–6 | 6–12 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 9–8 |
| New York | 5–7 | 8–10 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 12–6 | — | 13–5 | 8–6 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 7–9 |
| Philadelphia | 6-6 | 7–10 | 2–10 | 3–9 | 5–7 | 6–10 | 5–13 | — | 5–13 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 8–7 |
| Pittsburgh | 6–6 | 12–3 | 4–8 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 12–6 | 6–8 | 13–5 | — | 10–2 | 9–3 | 10–8 |
| San Diego | 11–6 | 3–9 | 10–8 | 2–12 | 5–13 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 2–10 | — | 4–10 | 4–8 |
| San Francisco | 11–7 | 5–7 | 5–10 | 5–13 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 3–9 | 10–4 | — | 5–7 |
| St. Louis | 6–6 | 8–10 | 2–10 | 8–4 | 4–8 | 8–9 | 9–7 | 7–8 | 8–10 | 8–4 | 7–5 | — |

### Notable transactions

* August 18, 1972: Tommy Davis was traded by the Cubs to the Baltimore Orioles for Elrod Hendricks.

#### Draft picks

* June 6, 1972: 1972 Major League Baseball draft
** Buddy Schultz was drafted by the Cubs in the 6th round.
** Ray Burris was drafted by the Cubs in the 17th round. Player signed June 11, 1972.

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Randy Hundley | 114 | 357 | 78 | .218 | 5 | 30 |
| 1B | Jim Hickman | 115 | 368 | 100 | .272 | 17 | 64 |
| 2B | Glenn Beckert | 120 | 474 | 128 | .270 | 3 | 43 |
| SS | Don Kessinger | 149 | 577 | 158 | .274 | 1 | 39 |
| 3B | Ron Santo | 133 | 464 | 140 | .302 | 17 | 74 |
| LF | Billy Williams | 150 | 574 | 191 | .333 | 37 | 122 |
| CF | Rick Monday | 138 | 434 | 108 | .249 | 11 | 42 |
| RF | José Cardenal | 143 | 533 | 155 | .291 | 17 | 70 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Carmen Fanzone | 86 | 222 | 50 | .225 | 8 | 42 |
| Joe Pepitone | 66 | 214 | 56 | .262 | 8 | 21 |
| Paul Popovich | 58 | 129 | 25 | .194 | 1 | 11 |
| Bill North | 66 | 127 | 23 | .181 | 0 | 4 |
| Ken Rudolph | 42 | 106 | 25 | .236 | 2 | 9 |
| J.C. Martin | 25 | 50 | 12 | .240 | 0 | 7 |
| Gene Hiser | 32 | 46 | 9 | .196 | 0 | 4 |
| Elrod Hendricks | 17 | 43 | 5 | .116 | 2 | 6 |
| Pat Bourque | 11 | 27 | 7 | .259 | 0 | 5 |
| Tommy Davis | 15 | 26 | 7 | .269 | 0 | 6 |
| Art Shamsky | 15 | 16 | 2 | .125 | 0 | 1 |
| Dave Rosello | 5 | 12 | 3 | .250 | 1 | 3 |
| Al Montreuil | 5 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 0 | 0 |
| Jim Tyrone | 13 | 8 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Pete LaCock | 5 | 6 | 3 | .500 | 0 | 4 |
| Frank Fernández | 3 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Frank Coggins | 6 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Chris Ward | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Ferguson Jenkins | 36 | 289.1 | 20 | 12 | 3.20 | 184 |
| Burt Hooton | 33 | 218.1 | 11 | 14 | 2.80 | 132 |
| Milt Pappas | 29 | 195.0 | 17 | 7 | 2.77 | 80 |
| Bill Hands | 32 | 189.0 | 11 | 8 | 3.00 | 96 |
| Rick Reuschel | 31 | 129.0 | 10 | 8 | 2.93 | 87 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Juan Pizarro | 16 | 59.1 | 4 | 5 | 3.94 | 24 |
| Bill Bonham | 19 | 57.2 | 1 | 1 | 3.12 | 49 |
| Joe Decker | 5 | 12.2 | 1 | 0 | 2.13 | 7 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Jack Aker | 48 | 6 | 6 | 17 | 2.96 | 36 |
| Dan McGinn | 42 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 5.89 | 42 |
| Tom Phoebus | 37 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3.78 | 59 |
| Steve Hamilton | 22 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.76 | 13 |
| Larry Gura | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.65 | 13 |
| Phil Regan | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.25 | 2 |
| Clint Compton | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Wichita Aeros | American Association | Jim Marshall |
| AA | Midland Cubs | Texas League | Al Spangler |
| A | Quincy Cubs | Midwest League | Dick LeMay |
| Rookie | GCL Cubs | Gulf Coast League | Walt Dixon |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: GCL Cubs