It was fitting during the opening ceremony of a Cubs Convention celebrating the 2016 World Series team that chairman Tom Ricketts announced left-hander Jon Lester would be inducted into the team\u2019s Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
Lester and Jody Davis, a longtime catcher and a key member of the beloved 1984 Cubs, will be the 2026 inductees, the team revealed Friday. The Cubs also posthumously honored former broadcaster Vince Lloyd with a place in their Hall of Fame and a lifetime achievement award.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I think it\u2019s going to take a day or two to kind of really let it soak in and give you a better answer,\u2019\u2019 Lester said after the ceremony, his 2016 World Series ring glinting on the middle finger of his left hand. \u2018\u2018But right now, obviously, I\u2019m honored, I\u2019m excited. I get a cool new jacket. I get to walk on stage with all the great Cubs legends \u2014 some that I grew up watching, some that were a little bit before that time, but still legends that you hear about.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Lester is considered one of the greatest free-agent signings in Cubs history. The Cubs won the Lester sweepstakes in December 2014, selling him on a bright future for the team. It was a turning point.<\/p>\n
In 2015, Lester helped lead the Cubs to their first playoff berth in seven years. And in 2016, he finished second in National League Cy Young Award voting with a 19-5 record and 2.44 ERA. He was even better in the postseason (2.02 ERA) en route to the Cubs winning the World Series title.<\/p>\n
In Lester\u2019s six-year tenure with the Cubs (2015-20), he was 77-44 with a 3.64 ERA.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I want my legacy to be with my teammates,\u2019\u2019 Lester said. \u2018\u2018I wanted them to know that I was doing everything possible every five days to take the ball for them. That\u2019s it.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Lester played one more season after closing his chapter in Chicago and reached the 200-victory threshold in his career. His 2,488 strikeouts put him No. 41 on the all-time list.<\/p>\n
Last week, the Red Sox also announced Lester would be inducted into their team Hall of Fame. He spent the first 8\u00bd seasons of his major-league career with them and helped them win two World Series.<\/p>\n
A call from the Baseball Hall of Fame might be next. Lester will appear on the Baseball Writers\u2019 Association of America ballot for the first time next winter.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Getting this tonight and getting the Red Sox [honor] is \u2014 I don\u2019t want to say more important to me because it\u2019s not,\u2019\u2019 Lester said. \u2018\u2018But it means more to me because this organization [and] the Red Sox\u2019 organization value what I did. You get into the Hall of Fame .\u2009.\u2009. writers vote on that. They never saw me in the clubhouse.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Lester got into the Cubs Hall of Fame four years after his retirement. Davis had to wait longer.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018This is my Hall of Fame,\u2019\u2019 Davis said with a humble smile. \u2018\u2018This is as good as I could do. And just great teammates. My time here was so unbelievable; Cub fans are so unbelievable. And it really hasn\u2019t sunk in yet, but, you know, I\u2019ve been hoping for this for a while.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Davis was a two-time All-Star and the 1986 NL Gold Glove winner in his time with the Cubs (1981-88). When the Cubs ended a nearly four-decade-long playoff drought in 1984, Davis finished 10th in NL MVP voting. His teammate, late Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, took home the award.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was fitting during the opening ceremony of a Cubs Convention celebrating the 2016 World Series team that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-419021","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}