Cubs great, Hall of Fame shortstop, and all around loved player Ernie Banks died on Friday:
Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts released the following statement Friday night:
“Words cannot express how important Ernie Banks will always be to the Chicago Cubs, the city of Chicago and Major League Baseball. He was one of the greatest players of all time. He was a pioneer in the major leagues. And more importantly, he was the warmest and most sincere person I’ve ever known. Approachable, ever optimistic and kind-hearted, Ernie Banks is and always will be Mr. Cub. My family and I grieve the loss of such a great and good-hearted man, but we look forward to celebrating Ernie’s life in the days ahead.”
Banks was 83 years old. My thoughts go out to his family and friends, and the many fans who loved him.
Mr. Banks was a power hitting shortstop before that breed proliferated in the 1980s. He led the National League in home runs in 1958 and 1960 as a shortstop, and his power allowed him to move to first base as the position took a toll on him. His peak was impressive and long, starting at age 24 and lasting through age 30. During that time he posted 51.9 WAR or 7.4 per season. Eleven of those wins came from his defense. He also hit .292/.357/.570 during that time. He won two MVP awards and finished in the top five two other times.
Unfortunately, the Cubs did not surround him with decent enough players to bring the team a pennant. In fact, the Cubs did not come close to a winning record during Banks’s peak, a major indictment of the front office.
Others reacted to the death. I suspect there will be a great deal of reminiscing the next few days about one of the most admired players in the game.
I’m not so sure the Cubs failed to surround Banks with great players. Ron Santo, Glenn Beckert, Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins, Don Kessinger, those guys were all great players, most of them Hall of Famers.
I think the problem with the 1960s Cubs was not so much that they weren’t good enough as that the 1960s National League was ten teams that were VERY GOOD. you had the LA Dodgers, the SF Giants, the St Louis Cards, the Milwaukee Braves, all of whom were loaded, and the Philadelphia Phillies were actually pretty good from 1964-68 as well. So it was very competitive within the first division of the NL.
What the Cubs really needed was for the NL to 1) expand and 2) split into divisions, which they did in 1969.
When this happened, the Cubs actually took off, and built up an insurmountable division lead in the NL East. Insurmountable except to the Miracle Mets of 1969.
The sad part of the Mets Miracle is that that Cubs team actually deserved at least one Division title. As good as the Mets were for two months, the Cubs were the team with all the Hall of Famers, not the Mets.
You can actually argue this all you want, but the fact is Ernie Banks had a much better team around him in 1969 than Tom Seaver did over in New York.
–art kyriazis