Ernie Banks, one of the premier baseball players of his era who was for years the personification of the Chicago Cubs, died Friday night. He was 83.
Banks, inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977, his first year of eligibility, managed to maintain his celebrated sunny disposition despite the team’s legendary lack of success.
Nicknamed “Mr. Cub,” Banks played his entire 19-year career for Chicago’s “Lovable Losers” and was a hero in his city and among baseball fans throughout the world.
A two-time Most Valuable Player in the National League, Banks hit 512 home runs, and batted in 1,636 runs but never played in the postseason.
Not only was he a standout at the plate, but he was highly regarded as an infielder, winning a Gold Glove in 1960 at shortstop. He later switched to first base.
Beyond those statistics, however, Banks held a place in the history of his time, and of baseball and the nation. In 2013, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
After attending a Dallas high school that did not have a baseball team, he played for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues before serving two years in the Army. He made his Chicago debut in 1953, becoming the first African-American to play for the Cubs, one of baseball’s most storied franchises.
A statue of him stands outside Wrigley Field. Although his feats afield and at the plate could not singlehandedly carry his team to a pennant, he seemed never to abandon his optimistic spirit.
He coined the phrase “Let’s play two!” as a symbol for his love of the game.
The oldest of 11 children, Banks was born in 1931 in Dallas, where his father encouraged his boyhood interest in baseball.
