“Let’s play two!” That is the sunny, cheery, and optimistic phrase that will forever be linked to the late great Ernie Banks. Banks, arguably the greatest and most legendary Chicago Cub in history, passed away last Friday at the age of 83. Banks represented the golden age of baseball with a class and attitude that is rare among today’s athletes.
Cheerful Class
Today’s world of baseball was beneath the standard set by Banks, although he was too classy to ever insinuate such a fact. Banks comes from a time in which players would often play their entire career for one team. He also comes from an era in which players, no matter how great, were expected to check their egos at the door and serve as role models. Banks enjoyed a rare marriage with the city of Chicago that endured to his final day on earth. It is the type of a relationship that Major League Baseball would be well served to try and recreate, but that would of course mean standing up to the crass and insatiable greed of the MLB Players Association.
Banks rankled with Bobby Hull, Mike Ditka, Gayle Sayers, Walter Payton and Dick Butkus, and Michael Jordan as the most revered athlete ever in the City of Broad Shoulders. What set Banks apart from the others was his cheery demeanor and pure and utter class.
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Mr. Cub
Banks hit 512 home runs in a Cubs career that spanned from 1953 through 1971. Both during his playing career and into retirement, Banks was the ultimate Cubs ambassador. He was famed for saying, “Welcome to the friendly confines of Wrigley Field,” and “It’s great to be alive and a Cub on this beautiful sun-kissed afternoon.”
Banks somehow remained a loyal Cub despite playing for a team that finished at least 13 games out of first place in 17 out of his 19 seasons. He also went through the heartbreak of the 1969 season in which the Cubs looked like they were finally ready to break through and make the post season. Then a black cat appeared at New York’s Shea Stadium, running into the Cubs dugout, and spooked the Cubs into an epic collapse that will never be forgotten. New York’s Miracle Mets of 1969 emerged as the National League East Division champs by eight games over the shattered Cubs.
Banks made the Hall of Fame in 1977, despite never playing in a postseason game. The All Star shortstop hit 40 home runs in five different seasons and drove in 100 runs eight times. He was the 1958 and 1959 MVP despite playing on losing teams.
However, Banks was much more than about numbers. He was ultimately about what we wish all athletes would be.
