R.I.P Ernie Banks
- Thread starter mabrowndog
- Start date
Fuck, that's incredibly depressing to hear. Hope there is an afterlife and he plays two every day. Godspeed to one of the best ballplayers and class acts of all time.
When you start getting into baseball, hes one of the first guys you learn about, and for good reason. Sad he never got to see the Cubs win, but had an amazing life.
RIP
RIP
Well put JtB
He was one of game's first superstars that I became aware of in the late '50s.
Just a great player and he seemed a nice human being
RIP Mr. Cub
He was one of game's first superstars that I became aware of in the late '50s.
Just a great player and he seemed a nice human being
RIP Mr. Cub
My friend just posted this on FB, the cold call part is pretty amazing:
"A tremendously sad day, as the great Ernie Banks has died. I was incredibly fortunate to get the chance to interview him for a story I was writing for Major League Baseball several years ago. We spoke on the phone and when I asked him about his career with the Cubs, he instead started out by telling me about playing baseball while stationed at a US Army base in Bremerhaven, Germany. He recalled how the local community had come to see him off on his last day before returning to the States, and then sang for me, in German, the song they had sung for him more than half a century earlier. Our interview went incredibly well from there, and unlike most of my interviews with great ballplayers he acted like I was doing him the favor by talking to him. He was happy to answer all my questions. In fact, at the end of the interview, when he heard that my cousin was a huge Cubs fan, he insisted that I get him his phone number at work. Ernie then proceeded to cold-call my cousin at his office, and when he was understandably too nervous to even utter a word to his hero, Ernie guided him along by asking him about how he would improve the Cubs, who at the time were playing their typically inept brand of baseball. Soon they were talking about the 1908 Chicago Cubs starting rotation, and after the conversation ended Ernie insisted that I send him all the information on that team so that he could bother the current Cubs players and ask them why they weren't as good as Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown and Johnny Evers!
Working for the Hall of Fame and Major League Baseball over the years, I've come to learn that quite often, great athletes are not great people. Ernie Banks was an emphatic exception to this trend, one of the nicest men I've ever met. I remember when I asked him if it bothered him that he never won a pennant during his playing career, he told me a story about how after his retirement, he had to go to the hospital with an infection that could have been life-threatening, but was treated in time because one of the doctors had grown up rooting for him and recognized him in the emergency room. He then told me, "That's winning." Ernie Banks did a lot of winning in his life, and now that he's gone, I feel a tremendous sense of sadness. This is what losing really feels like."
"A tremendously sad day, as the great Ernie Banks has died. I was incredibly fortunate to get the chance to interview him for a story I was writing for Major League Baseball several years ago. We spoke on the phone and when I asked him about his career with the Cubs, he instead started out by telling me about playing baseball while stationed at a US Army base in Bremerhaven, Germany. He recalled how the local community had come to see him off on his last day before returning to the States, and then sang for me, in German, the song they had sung for him more than half a century earlier. Our interview went incredibly well from there, and unlike most of my interviews with great ballplayers he acted like I was doing him the favor by talking to him. He was happy to answer all my questions. In fact, at the end of the interview, when he heard that my cousin was a huge Cubs fan, he insisted that I get him his phone number at work. Ernie then proceeded to cold-call my cousin at his office, and when he was understandably too nervous to even utter a word to his hero, Ernie guided him along by asking him about how he would improve the Cubs, who at the time were playing their typically inept brand of baseball. Soon they were talking about the 1908 Chicago Cubs starting rotation, and after the conversation ended Ernie insisted that I send him all the information on that team so that he could bother the current Cubs players and ask them why they weren't as good as Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown and Johnny Evers!
Working for the Hall of Fame and Major League Baseball over the years, I've come to learn that quite often, great athletes are not great people. Ernie Banks was an emphatic exception to this trend, one of the nicest men I've ever met. I remember when I asked him if it bothered him that he never won a pennant during his playing career, he told me a story about how after his retirement, he had to go to the hospital with an infection that could have been life-threatening, but was treated in time because one of the doctors had grown up rooting for him and recognized him in the emergency room. He then told me, "That's winning." Ernie Banks did a lot of winning in his life, and now that he's gone, I feel a tremendous sense of sadness. This is what losing really feels like."
Thanks for your post, JonAbbey. On another web site that I visit it's set up so that if you read a post and like it you click on a little symbol and give that post a tip of the hat and running total of the number of hat tips that post has received is displayed. I think your post would be way way up there.
Nice post Jon.
Yes. It's somewhat ironic in that we generally feel that it's sad that he never got a chance to win it all, but in reading posts like Jon, it seems like he felt blessed just being able to play.
A true hero of the game.
May the road rise to meet you Mr. Cub.
Yes. It's somewhat ironic in that we generally feel that it's sad that he never got a chance to win it all, but in reading posts like Jon, it seems like he felt blessed just being able to play.
A true hero of the game.
May the road rise to meet you Mr. Cub.
Great post, Yankee fan. 
Ernie Banks is a legend and the real thing at the same time. One of my most cherished baseball cards was a 68 Topps card of Ernie Banks--just because my grandpa said, "Hey that's Mr. Cub!"
Ernie Banks is a legend and the real thing at the same time. One of my most cherished baseball cards was a 68 Topps card of Ernie Banks--just because my grandpa said, "Hey that's Mr. Cub!"
I have to second that... and compelled to pass it on to others...thanks jon.teddywingman said:Great post, Yankee fan.
I once flew sitting next to Ernie Banks from Chicago to Montego Bay. It was basically me and Ernie's family in the first class cabin. My story seems to be the most basic story of Ernie Banks. He was gracious to all, loved to talk about baseball endlessly, and accommodated every request for autographs from the flight crew and other passengers. I don't have any specifics to mention other than this seems to be the general story of ernie banks. Gracious, generous, enthusiastic, and genuinely warm. An amazing ballplayer and better human. Cheers to a life well lived.
Two fun facts:
1) He integrated the Cubs. He was the first black Ford dealer too.
2) he was the first superstar to swing the lightest bat possible so he could whip it through the strike zone as hard as possible. Bats had been getting lighter since Joe Jackson swung a 48-oz club, but Banks was the first to swing a really light bat and whip his wrists through the strike zone to generate power.
Great ballplayer and a great man, hope he's manning short with Ron Santo beside him. A doubleheader, naturally.
1) He integrated the Cubs. He was the first black Ford dealer too.
2) he was the first superstar to swing the lightest bat possible so he could whip it through the strike zone as hard as possible. Bats had been getting lighter since Joe Jackson swung a 48-oz club, but Banks was the first to swing a really light bat and whip his wrists through the strike zone to generate power.
Great ballplayer and a great man, hope he's manning short with Ron Santo beside him. A doubleheader, naturally.
Great post and I was ok when I read it myself but had a tough time reading out loud to my wife.jon abbey said:
RIP Ernie, you will be missed but always Mr Cub
I think it gets overlooked a little bit just what a great ballplayer he was. Yes, HoF and 500-hr club, but Ernie wasn't just a compiler. He won back-to-back mvp awards in a league that included Mays/Aaron/F.Robinson/Clemente/Musial/Mathews. You could argue that Mays was a bit more deserving in '58, but Banks still put up 9.4 WAR (BR) and a 155 OPS+ that year.