Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks!

Ernie Banks

*Ernie Banks was born on this date in 1931. He was an African-American baseball player.

Growing up in Dallas, Banks had to be bribed with nickels and dimes by his father to play catch. Banks, more interested in softball than baseball, was a high school star in both football and basketball, and once ran a 52-second quarter mile. At 17, he signed on to play baseball with a Negro barnstorming team for $15 a game. Cool Papa Bell later signed him for the Kansas City Monarchs.

He returned to them after two years in the army, where the Cubs discovered him at the end of the 1953 season. The 22-year-old went right to the Chicago and hit his first homer on September 20, 1953 in St. Louis. He quickly replaced Roy Smalley, Sr., as the regular Cub shortstop in 1954. Starting with his first game in 1953, he played 424 consecutive games until fracturing his hand midway through the 1956 season.

From 1955 to 1960, Ernie Banks hit more homers than anyone in the majors, including Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, and he finished his career with five seasons of forty or more home runs. In 1959 he became the first player in National League history to win consecutive Most Valuable Player trophies, a year removed from setting an NL record for homers by a shortstop with forty-seven.

After retiring from the major leagues as a career Cub in 1971, Banks became the first Cub to have his uniform number retired. In 1977, Banks was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Chicago fans will always remember him as the ballplayer who said, "What a great day for baseball! Let's play two!" He will always be "Mr. Cub," the most popular player the team ever had. His sunny personality is legend.

The first Black player on the Cubs, Banks came up as a shortstop, where he won consecutive MVP awards, but actually played more games at first base. He is also one of a handful of Hall of Famers never to get into postseason play.

Reference:
20th Century Baseball Chronicle
Year-By-Year History of major league Baseball
Copyright 1999, Publications International Ltd.
ISBN 0-7853-4074-2

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