This is an entertaining biography of the great Ernie Banks, the HOFamer for who played 19 major league years, all with the Chicago Cubs. He was Mr. Cub. He was a great ambassador for baseball. He always had a smile on his face and a word for everyone. His signature in promoting the glory of baseball was "Let's Play Two." I did not know this was his identifying statement before reading this book. Certainly I did not know anything much about him at all except the few statements above.
He was tall and rangy for a shortstop. He did not fit the physical stereotype for a shortstop. Shortstops were supposed to be short and move like they were on a scooter. Banks played that position until late in his career when he had to switch to first base due to knee problems. He didn't have the greatest range or a rifle arm, but he usually caught any ball that he could reach.
He grew up in Dallas, one of twelve children, in the old segregation days. When he left Dallas to play baseball in Kansas City, he never returned to Dallas to live.
He has the misfortune of playing for the Cubs during long, dismal years. He never played in a World Series.
He retired with 512 home runs and was elected to the Hall in his first year of eligibility. He never hit for a high average for some reason.
The author starts with a prologue with Banks in Omaha on September 11, 2001, driving back to Chicago (airlines weren't flying) with a state legislator named William Marovitz. It was not the style of Ernie Banks to open up to anybody, but he did to Marovitz in this instance. Perhaps it was the unusual circumstances of the attack on NYC and the chill in the country. P, 1
The reader is told that even though Banks played in Wrigley Field on the northside of Chicago, he had to live on the black southside.
Married and divorced for times, needless to say, Banks did not have a happy family life.
Though he may have had strong feelings, he was not at front in the civil rights struggles of the 50's and 60's. He was no Jackie Robinson.
His personality was to take things as they came, to stand outside it all, observing. P, 67
Banks refused to speak out during the civil rights years. P. 218
Durocher attacked Banks. Cub players were flabbergasted. P. 247
Jack Bickhouse would come to detest Durocher. P. 248
Banks would steal Durocher's thunder, and Leo couldn't allow that. P. 249
Mention of Lodi, California. P. 287
"Chicago, Chicago, that toddlin' town." P. 290
Banks had a good time in '69 until it ended badly. P. 291
The summer of '69 created unprecedented enthusiasm at Wrigley. P. 294
The author devotes consider time to the '69 collapse of the Cubs, one of the greatest in MLB history, and the come from nowhere NY Mets. He blames the collapse of the Cubs on manager Leo Durocher, his managerial style of riding his players, especially Banks, and the fact that he never rested his players, which must have had an adverse impact of the team's collapse down the stretch. Conversely, Gil Hodges, Mets manager, comes across like a saint, much beloved by his players. Is Hodges in the HOF? Met names like Ron Swoboda comes up. Yuck! I have never care for the Mets.
The physical demise of Ernie Banks in his latter years is tragic. He was a kleptomaniac, routinely taking things that didn't belong to him. He was careless with his memorabilia before the days when sports memorabilia became a hot ticket. Whatever ever happened to his two MVP trophies? Apparently no one knows.
I have to laugh reading about how Banks would talk to everybody he met. How's your wife, he would ask? Was he sincere in talking to people or superficial? I understand because I am the same way. I understand how he/I cannot help it, talking to everybody.
"He had a persona in this town like nobody else," says William Marovitz. "There was Mayor Daley, maybe, but some people didn't like his politics. But it was impossible not to like Ernie. He always had a smile on his face. He never said anything negative about anybody. He made us feel good about the Cubs and Chicago and ourselves. How could you not like a guy like that." P. 413
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