Such a shame he never made the playoffs with the Cubs. Most out there probably don't know him, but for those who do....

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back in the '90s I was driving on the 101 freeway near los angeles and I saw a Cadillac with a license plate that said "Mr. Cub"...I looked over and it was Ernie Banks....a great and well respected player and person....2 mvps for losing Cub teams...was the first power hitting shortstop...great wrist hitter

248 hr's in 5 years..incredible.

"Its a beautiful day for a ballgame...lets play two"

Last year Vin Scully mentioned that Troy Tulowitzki broke the rookie home run record for shortstops held "by the great Ernie Banks." It was gratifying to hear Ernie remembered. But Vinnie very well knew having witnessed Ernie play firsthand. Growing up in Chicago I would come home from school to watch the last innings of the Cubs game (Jack Brickhouse anyone?). Ernie Banks was my hero. I was so young I do not think I realized he was black. He would twitch his fingers on the bat that he held upright. He had a wristy snap swing that really drove the ball. In 1960 we took that down trip down Route 66 and moved to Los Angeles. My baseball hero then became Sandy Koufax. Looking back on it those were two great picks by me.

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pmk251
Last year Vin Scully mentioned that Troy Tulowitzki broke the rookie home run record for shortstops held "by the great Ernie Banks." It was gratifying to hear Ernie remembered. But Vinnie very well knew having witnessed Ernie play firsthand. Growing up in Chicago I would come home from school to watch the last innings of the Cubs game (Jack Brickhouse anyone?). Ernie Banks was my hero. I was so young I do not think I realized he was black. He would twitch his fingers on the bat that he held upright. He had a wristy snap swing that really drove the ball. In 1960 we took that down trip down Route 66 and moved to Los Angeles. My baseball hero then became Sandy Koufax. Looking back on it those were two great picks by me.

I grew up in Chicago in the 60's. Hey! Hey! I know Jack Brickhouse well. Lloyd Pettit too. I live in the Los Angeles area now, but I'm still a Cub season ticket holder. When he won his two MVP's, he did it playing shortstop for a losing team while Mays and Aaron were in their prime. THAT'S how good Ernie was.

There is no Mr. Dodger or Mr. Met or Mr. Seahawk or Mr. Maple Leaf, but there IS a Mr. Cub. He embodied everything great about baseball and what's more, was an even better human being. Rest in peace, Ernie Banks.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-01-25 17:48 by Long John Stoner.

Hmmm.... only a .274 lifetime hitter and only two seasons (barely) above .300. Hmmm.... not one of baseball's great hitters. Was it because he was a shortstop who hit so many home runs? At 6 foot 1, he should have been playing the outfield. Perhaps if he'd been an outfielder, his .274 average with those home runs would seem more ordinary than anything else. Never a 200-hit season, and with all those home runs he should have had loads more RBIs--but perhaps he was wasted with a leadoff hitter's position. Solid stats, to be sure, but that batting average speaks of something, well, average--when you consider that the average major league baseball batting average is .260.

So sad to hear this news! I saw Mr.Cub play many times when I was a child!

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stonehearted
Hmmm.... only a .274 lifetime hitter and only two seasons (barely) above .300. Hmmm.... not one of baseball's great hitters. Was it because he was a shortstop who hit so many home runs? At 6 foot 1, he should have been playing the outfield. Perhaps if he'd been an outfielder, his .274 average with those home runs would seem more ordinary than anything else. Never a 200-hit season, and with all those home runs he should have had loads more RBIs--but perhaps he was wasted with a leadoff hitter's position. Solid stats, to be sure, but that batting average speaks of something, well, average--when you consider that the average major league baseball batting average is .260.

The Cubs finished with a winning percentage BELOW .500 his first 10 seasons and BELOW .500 in 13 of his 19 seasons overall. It's so tough to string together a Hall of Fame career, let alone Hall of Fame stats playing for a perennial loser. Mr. Cub certainly did. If he had been a Yankee...



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2015-01-25 16:26 by StonedInTokyo.

One of the great guys in baseball. I was priveledged to see him play many times while growing up in the Chicago area. Lets play two!

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shadooby
248 hr's in 5 years..incredible.

I think those #s are a little off, from checking his stats.

Still the dude was a monster player, and consider he was a regular 40+ HR guy at SS, at a time when SS's only hit about 5 per year.

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stonehearted
Hmmm.... only a .274 lifetime hitter and only two seasons (barely) above .300. Hmmm.... not one of baseball's great hitters. Was it because he was a shortstop who hit so many home runs? At 6 foot 1, he should have been playing the outfield. Perhaps if he'd been an outfielder, his .274 average with those home runs would seem more ordinary than anything else. Never a 200-hit season, and with all those home runs he should have had loads more RBIs--but perhaps he was wasted with a leadoff hitter's position. Solid stats, to be sure, but that batting average speaks of something, well, average--when you consider that the average major league baseball batting average is .260.

If you're going to dwell on his batting average, you really don't know much about how baseball players are evaluated. I don't want to get into it much more than that, because this is really an off topic thread.



Five times he hit over 40 homers in a season. As a shortstop. He won the MVP TWICE, 58-59, over peak years from Mays and Aaron, while on a losing team. He was one of the top fielders at shortstop, ever. In one of baseball's peak eras, he was one of the best players. THAT gets you into the Hall as a first timer.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-01-25 17:49 by Long John Stoner.

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Long John Stoner

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stonehearted
Hmmm.... only a .274 lifetime hitter and only two seasons (barely) above .300. Hmmm.... not one of baseball's great hitters. Was it because he was a shortstop who hit so many home runs? At 6 foot 1, he should have been playing the outfield. Perhaps if he'd been an outfielder, his .274 average with those home runs would seem more ordinary than anything else. Never a 200-hit season, and with all those home runs he should have had loads more RBIs--but perhaps he was wasted with a leadoff hitter's position. Solid stats, to be sure, but that batting average speaks of something, well, average--when you consider that the average major league baseball batting average is .260.

If you're going to dwell on his batting average, you really don't know much about how baseball players are evaluated...

Eggzactly ... Banks was a monster slugger, 40+ HRs and well over 100+ RBIs was the norm. Many sluggers, like Harmon Killebrew and Willie McCovey, considered greats, did not bat as high as Banks for average.

Banks played earlier for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League. I had the pleasure of meeting him at an event about 20 years ago.

Banks was a great and revered player. Batting average certainly does not distinguish ones entire career. I could really stir up some crap by bringing up some other great players averages but that is getting off topic.

Let's play two!! RIP Ernie

one of the best of all time .mr. it's a nice day let's play two

Selling off baseball cards as well from that era including Ernie Banks. Santo and Ernie at first and third.

Mr. Cub

From Chicago, living in LA in the early 90s, I picked up the LA Times that said Mr Cub was working for an investment firm in Pasadena and I was 5 miles away working in Arcadia.

I called the company, left him a message and he called me back. I invited him to a Clipper playoff game and he asked me to come by his office and I did. We talked for an hour about Chicago and the Cubs, the crummy Pizza in LA, and he agreed to meet us at the game that night.

When he showed up midway through Q1, everyone within a couple sections stood up and clapped. He sat with my wife and I, seen here, and he was a wonderful guest, and it was like we'd known him for years.

Twelve years later we've had a couple kids and I take my son to a Spring Training game and we were surprised to see Ernie was in the dugout. My son was about 6-7 and he knew him from this picture on the wall and the story of us meeting him that he'd heard too many times.

We went down after the game because my son insisted we try and get his autograph, and "because you know him" I explained it was one night years back and he meets thousands of people and would never remember me.

You know where this is going...

There's a large group gathered around him and he picks us out of the crowd and motions us to come to the field, where he grabs and signs my sons glove, bends down and talks to him about baseball for a few minutes and then, to my shock, he says "How's Perla?". He remembered me, called us over and then remembered my wife's name. I was blown away and my son says afterwards, "see Papi, he knows you".

It was an amazing night and a life changing moment for my son a dozen years later.

My son was really small and wanted to play baseball but his size really held him back, and Ernie told him he could do anything he wanted. He spent time with my son when he didn't need to, but did because he cared and thats who he was. My son never forgot that, and while he was too small to compete at Football or Basketball like his friends, he remembered that lesson and last year he represented the USA in Hamburg at the Junior World Rowing Championships as a Coxswain; Keith Richards Lewis representing the United States, and in a way, it had something to do with the fact that years earlier Ernie Banks took a few minutes and told him dont let anything get in the way of his dreams.

RIP Mr Cub. You we're my favorite athlete growing up and they threw away the mold with you.



Chelskeith



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-01-26 23:51 by MizzAmandaJonez.