Bill Hands (1940-2017) Won 20 games for the cubs in 1969.

[philliesfiend55]

Former Cubs starting pitcher Bill Hands has passed away at age 76 (he would have turned 77 in less than two months).
Overall Hands eeked over the .500 mark at 111-110, but he had several good seasons as a Cub. At 6'2 1/2", 185 lbs. the righthander from New Jersey appeared lanky, but was a bulldog who could finish what he started. Hands had 72 Complete Games, with 17 Shut Outs. He went 92-86 in seven seasons as a Cub (1966-1972) and pitched 11 years in the major leagues overall (1965-1975). He had a three year period at the peak of his career (1968 to 1970), where he averaged 274 Innings Pitched per year and averaged 18 wins and 13 losses with an earned run average of 2.95 over those three years. During that time the Cubs had a 1-2-3 combination at the top of their rotation that was among the best in the majors (Ferguson Jenkins-Hands-Ken Holtzman) The workhorse had his best season in 1969 where he won 20 games, lost 14 and pitched exactly 300 innings.

[Calif_Eagle]

Some quick Bill Hands trivia.... starting in the minor leagues, he pitched for 5 different teams named "the Giants", Hastings, Fresno, Springfield, Tacoma and San Francisco in the majors. Don't know if that's a record or not but I noticed it in looking at his BB Ref page after seeing he was on the In Memoriam section. He also pitched for the Eugene Emeralds in MiL ball.

Good pitcher with some good Cub teams late 60's and early 70's. Sad to see players I recall from childhood passing on.

[Jar of Flies]

Bruce markerson does a great job of honoring fallen greats, his article on hands doesn't disappoint: http://www.hardballtimes.com/card-co...-topps-cards/: