if you're close to ancient, which is to say, born in the '40s as i was, you'll remember ernie banks.
ernie, the home-run hitting shortstop and first baseman for the chicago cubs from 1953 to 1971, died friday (jan. 23) at age 83.
this is what the chicago tribune wrote about him:
"Known worldwide as Mr. Cub, Banks became the Cubs' first African-American player on Sept. 17, 1953, and went on to become an 11-time All-Star and two-time National League Most Valuable Player (1958-59). His boundless enthusiasm and optimism personified what it meant to be a Cubs fan. Banks, who hit 512 home runs and had 1,636 RBIs, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1977. He hit more than 40 homers five times, including 47 in 1958. In 1955 he hit a record five grand slams. Banks played his entire career with the Cubs and is considered one of the greatest players of all time not to play in the postseason."
the fact that this was a really talented player who never made it to the postseason in 2,528 games over 19 years with the cubs can put a catch in a fan's throat. you would think, such talent should be rewarded, at least once, with a trip to the postseason. but the cubs of banks' years were mostly awful, annually finishing last or close to it.
growing up in the '50s in elmira, ny as a yankees', and in particular, a mickey mantle fan. i would see banks from afar, in tv highlights or in headlines, and more than once i thought that i'd enjoy seeing mantle's yanks square off against a good cubs team. which slugger, mantle or banks, would carry the day?
that never happened, of course, but i did find out, which slugger would prevail, on one day at least, in a contest between them. it was actually an eye-opener for me.
in the late '50s or early '60s, one of the networks started a new tv show, in black and white, called "home run derby," pairing two sluggers against each other, using rules much like the derby we see now at the all-star game. one of the contests featured mantle vs. banks. to my great surprise, banks won. i don't recall the exact count, but he won by at least two or three homers.
as a new yorker, i almost never got to see national league hitters (cbs carried the yankees, then, the only game on tv each week), and it was a revelation to see banks, a tall, thin (6'1", 180 pounds) outslug mantle, who would retire from the game in '68, three years before banks, with 536 homers. in the tv show, mantle crushed the ball with his slugger's body and swing, but banks didn't. instead, he took a smooth, quick swing. to a 12-year-old's untrained eye and to mine now as i watch the videos online, banks was a marvel: his swing seemed almost effortless and he appeared to be just snapping the bat at the ball. but again and again the ball rocketed off his bat, line-drive homers.
how'd he do it? the new york times suggested an answer in its obituary today:
"Banks had been using a 34-ounce bat, but toward the end of the 1954 season he switched to a 31-ounce model. That helped him handle outside pitches and enabled him to whip the bat, taking advantage of his strong wrists, which he had developed playing handball."
" 'Everybody believed you had to have a big piece of lumber and then muscle the ball over the fence," Banks told The Austin American-Statesman in 1994." But by the time I, and Hank Aaron, another guy who did it with his wrists, were through, there were a lot of guys ordering light bats and playing handball." (ken griffey ,jr., by the way, used a 32-ounce bat.)
but what i liked best about banks, something that a struggling little leaguer 700 miles away could sense, was the way he never got down, never let his team's play affect his own (he was the first national leaguer to win back-to-back mvps, in '58 and '59, averaging 46 homers a year, hitting .313 in '58 and .304 in '59, beating out willie mays and hank aaron in the process), and above all, never letting the team's, or his, bad days, put a slump his posture.
no bad news could break ernie's upbeat disposition. i suspect growing up poor, one of 12 children his parents raised in dallas, taught him what was really hard. so ernie was perpetually sunny and maintained, year after year, that this season would be the cubs' season. his famous line, of course, was "it's a beautiful day for baseball, let's play two."
the new york times concluded its obit of banks with these paragraphs:
"When Banks was elected to the Hall of Fame in January 1977, he talked about his outlook on life:
"I guess my critics say: He must be crazy. Nothing can be that beautiful. But when you think that there are so many people around the world who have nothing, you realize how lucky you are to be making a living in the big leagues. Theres an unbelievable, indescribable love for baseball in Wrigley Field."
winning isn't everything. but trying to play well and keeping your head up while you do it, now, that's something.
goodbye, mr. cub.
-mike
-- Edited by mhart on Saturday 24th of January 2015 04:00:31 AM
Thanks for that Mike. Ernie Banks and his well known disposition were the reason I became interested in baseball as a kid watching the CUBS on WGN on summer vacations to Illinois. Players became more than bubble gum cards , statistics , and through Banks i could see the joy in the game, despite its outcome. by the time I was a CUB fan in 1964. He had moved over to first to allow Kessinger to play SS and keep Ernie's bat in the order. For another decade. While sad to hear , he leaves a profound legacy centered around his approach to sports. "Lets play two". happy and grateful for the opportunity.
Jreel
If Bill Gallo, the famous Daily News cartoonist were alive today, he'd probably draw a cartoon about the city of Chicago raining tears of sorrow and there would be Ernie Banks in the sky smiling rays of sunshine.
hey john, ralph and mike - thanks for your replies. i'm glad a remembrance of ernie fired up good memories and feelings in you all. (and you're right on target, ralph, that's precisely what bill gallo would do.)
but i need to make a correction. it turns out my memory of that banks-mantle contest in 1960 is as frail as the time is long, 54 years now.
i should have checked before i wrote. i did the other day, and found that in the second episode of home run derby, mantle, who went 4-1 in five appearances, beat banks 5-3. you can watch it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWD9w5PyzCM.
banks did, however, come back and beat gil hodges, 11-7. hank aaron was the overall winner with six victories in six appearances. harmon killebrew was the only one to beat mantle, doing it by a 9-8 score.
still, my reaction was true: i was stunned then that someone with such a quick and seemingly effortless swing as banks had could send a ball so far. his only stimulants, as far as i know, were the diets of the day, a great attitude and very quick wrists. later, i saw that hank aaron had much the same swing.
here's a trivia question for you: who's the top slugging shortstop of the 20th century? if you guessed banks, you're right. even though he was a shortstop for only 9 seasons ('53-61), he out-homered and had a higher slugging percentage during his first nine years at short than a-rod, cal ripken or anybody else did during their years at short in the 20th century.
finally, if you want to read a terrific tribute to ernie, you might check out tom boswell's column in the washington post, which he posted last saturday. to my eye, boswell is one of our best baseball writers, and he doesn't disappoint here. here's the column:
