Love Letters From Pronk is an ongoing series where Pronk shares his love for somebody connected to the Cubs. Sometimes funny, sometimes weird, sometimes touching, Pronk likes to make 100% sure people know that they are loved, and best expresses that through gushing letters. Today's recipient: former Cubs Outfielder Alfonso Soriano
Alfonso Soriano was a huge free agent signing before the 2007 season. He helped take a last place club to a division title that year. Soriano hit 181 HRs for the cubs. His OPS for the cubs was .812, just shy of .819 for his career. In his 7 seasons as a Cub, he averaged 27 long balls per year and was an offensive leader on the Cubs during the runs of 2007-2008.
While he was signed to a very long term deal that paid him a lot for his later career numbers, Soriano does have the 12th most home runs in Cubs history. For many years, he was a big time slugger for the Cubs.
Dear Alfonso,
Thank you for being a key contributor to some great Cubs teams. For a while, seeing the back-to-back NL Central Champion Cubs of '07 and '08 was the highlight of my Cubs fandom, and you were smack dab in the middle of the success of those teams. While 2016 is obviously the best Cubs season of all time, 2007 and 2008 are high up on my personal favorites list. 2007 was a huge surprise. 2008 was nice to just see the team dominate the opposition all year round. You were a huge part of so many of those wins.
You had tons of homers in a Cubs uniform. You could go deep at any moment, and it made your at-bats must see TV. After Sammy Sosa left the team, I missed the Cubs not having a pure slugger who could drop home runs consistently. Your presence helped scratch that itch.
Thank you again for the great memories!
XOXO,
Pronk