CHICAGO – Dating back to his early days with the Cubs, Pete Crow-Armstrong always showed a level of respect for the team’s icons when they would visit Spring Training or make a stop by Wrigley Field. One legendary Cub that the current center fielder has loved getting to know over the years is Billy Williams.
“He’s just one of the coolest dudes,” Crow-Armstrong said. “That’s such a lame way to describe it, but it’s so true. He’s just really cool.”
And as Crow-Armstrong has quickly grown into a superstar for the North Siders, there has always been a fun fact hovering around about Sweet Swingin’ Billy. The Hall of Famer was the only left-handed hitter in team history to launch 40 home runs in a season. Crow-Armstrong added his name to that exclusive list earlier this month.
In a 7-3 win over the Braves on Monday night, Crow-Armstrong took things one step further by launching his 42nd home run of the season to back a quality start from David Peterson. By doing so, the Cubs’ MVP candidate is now side-by-side with Williams for the most home runs in a single campaign by a lefty batter in the team’s long, storied history. Williams launched 42 in 1970.
“That says a whole lot,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “It’s a Hall of Famer. It shows how hard it is to do what he’s done this year, in terms of just hitting home runs at Wrigley. And it’s great company. We see Billy a lot. It’s great company to keep.”
“With him being one of the most respected people to ever put this uniform on,” Crow-Armstrong said, “and how much I just enjoy being around him and having him around, when you match that up with accolades and what he’s done, that’s one I’ll buy into when you guys are like, ‘Hey, it’s you and Billy.’
“That’s really cool for me, because I really, really like him and enjoy his time.”
Against the Braves, Crow-Armstrong pieced together the type of game that has vaulted him to the forefront of the MVP debate in the National League, if it even can be called a debate at this point.
Crow-Armstrong roped a two-run double in the second to collect his 99th and 100th RBIs on the season. He singled and stole second base in the fourth, picking up his 37th steal to inch closer to the seventh 40-40 tour in MLB history. Then, in the sixth, Crow-Armstrong attacked an inside fastball from Braves righty AJ Smith-Shawver and sent it into the right-field bleachers for a two-run blast. He added another single in the eighth to cap off his four-hit night.
Peterson was with the Mets back in 2021, when Chicago pulled off the Deadline deal that landed Crow-Armstrong as a prospect. While the lefty only had limited time around the budding star, he could see the potential.
“You could always see that the talent was in there,” said Peterson, who held the Braves to one run over six-plus innings. “You could see the kind of player that he was, just the aggressive nature that he plays [with], going after balls, taking really good at-bats. You saw it from a very young age with him. And I think he’s only flourished.”
The homer was Crow-Armstrong’s 25th at Wrigley Field this season, trailing only Williams (28 in 1970) for the most at home in one year by a Cubs lefty-swinging batter.
The center fielder is also the first Cubs batter since Derrek Lee (2005) with at least 40 homers and 100 RBIs in a season. Within that 40-100 club for the Cubs, Crow-Armstrong is the only player in team history with 30-plus steals. Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg came closest in 1990, when he stole 25 bases.
Crow-Armstrong’s Major League-leading WAR is up to 10.1 (per Fangraphs) and the gap is growing between him and the rest of the pack. Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, who is currently on the injured list, is next with 6.8 WAR. Next in the NL are Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski (6.0), Philadelphia’s Cristopher Sánchez (5.8), Atlanta’s Chris Sale (5.7) and Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz (5.7).
“If I continue to produce at this kind of level,” Crow-Armstrong said, “I feel like it’s just going to help the team that much more. It feels good that I contributed that much more tonight.”
And it felt good to know he would forever be tied to Williams.
“I’ve gotten to know him decently well,” Crow-Armstrong said. “At the same time, I think he’d want me to surpass him and his numbers. So I’ll take that. If that homer’s going to mean anything, I’m glad I could hit that one for Billy. That was 42 for Billy.”