Remember that thrilling, NL-East-winning 1989 Cubs team? Rookie Dwight Smith would have won the NL Rookie of the Year but for his own teammate, leadoff hitter and centerfielder Jerome Walton. Walton was fast, he was exciting, and he captured the interest of Chicago when he strung together a thirty-game hitting streak. He played a solid centerfield and had a strong arm. Picture what Corey Patterson was supposed to be, only minus the power and the wild swinging. He was also one of the few Cubs to bring his bat to the 1989 NLCS.

So why is he on the Bottom 126? Because his career didn’t end in 1989. Remember that one Seinfeld when George realized he always made one comment too many in meetings, so he decided to “go out on a high note” by leaving in the middle of his meetings right after he made a funny comment? That episode aired too late for Walton to heed its important message.

Walton was great as a rookie, and Cubs fans in Chicago expected they had found their leadoff man and centerfielder for years to come. Then, his numbers dropped, and dropped, and dropped. He stopped stealing bases, which was partly due to the fact that he stopped getting on base. What little power he had “up and vanished like a fart in the wind,” to quote evil Warden Norton from The Shawshank Redemption. Walton’s stock dropped so fast that the Cubs were forced to go with Chico Walker, and later, Doug Dascenzo in centerfield. And no one could blame them for it.

The Cubs had little choice but to grant Walton free agency at the end of the 1992 season. Walton rewarded them by stringing together his best year in 1995. With the Cincinnati Reds.

Walton gets further negative points added into his Bottom 126 score for showing up at the Cubs Convention this year with bodyguards. Ha ha! He has a big posse. What? I said “posse.”

Low Point: What happened to the power, Jerome? In part-time action in 1992, his last as a Cub, Walton collected only one extra-base hit, a triple, in 55 at-bats for a .164 SLG.

Did You Know? In 1990, Walton was part of a set of 11 lithographs of “superstar players” given away in a sweepstakes put together by Bowman. I’d be more interested in seeing a lithograph of his posse. What? I said “posse.”