American baseball player
Hall of Famer Ernie Banks was the greatest and most popular player in the history of the Chicago Cubs, a man so closely associated with the franchise both during and after his playing days that he was known as Mr. Cub. Over the course of 19 seasons, he played 2528 games in which he got 2583 hits, 512 home runs, and 1636 runs batted in. He turned in such an awesome performance in 1958 (.313, 47 home runs, and 129 RBI) and 1959 (.304, 45 home runs, and 143 RBI) that he was named the National League's Most Valuable Player both years. Banks was the shining star of a team that was mediocre for most of his career, and his one great regret was that he never played in the World Series. Nonetheless losing never dampened his optimism which was so legendary that when he was elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post called
Ernie Banks
him "the only man in baseball history better known for his good spirits than for his achievements."
CONTACT INFORMATION
Address: Ernie Banks International, Inc., 520 Washington Blvd., Suite 284, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292-5442. Online: http://www.letsplaytwo.com/.
Sketch by Mike Pare
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