Phil Cavaretta, longtime Cubs star, died Saturday at age 94. He was in hospice care and had suffered a stroke several days earlier.
Cavaretta joined the Cubs at age 18 in September 1934, and, in his debut game, smacked a home run for the only tally in a 1-0 Cubs win over the Reds.
He briefly played for the White Sox in 1955, and surfaced in the Majors again during the 1970s as a Mets coach.
He was the NL MVP in 1945, the year the Cubs made their most recent World Series appearance.
Dave Miedema