Quote:
The preeminent advocate of two-for-the-price-of-one baseball, the former shortstop who hit hundreds of home runs at a time when shortstops seldom hit home runs and the man as readily associated with one team as anyone in the history of American sports has died. Mr. Cub is gone. The game has lost Ernie Banks, the most popular baseball figure ever in Chicago.
Banks, who stands alongside Michael Jordan, Dick Butkus, Walter Payton, Bobby Hull, George Halas, Harry Caray, Bill Veeck and Ryne Sandberg in the Windy City's sports pantheon, died Friday at age 83, leaving the Second City without its No. 1 baseball ambassador.
The first black player in Cubs history stands as the franchise's all-time leader in games and extra-base hits and as the runner-up -- to Sammy Sosa -- in home runs. Forty-four years after his retirement, Banks holds franchise records for hits, intentional walks and sacrifice flies and in RBIs since 1900. He likely holds club records for smiles and handshakes as well.
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An excellent recap of his life at
http://www.sportsonearth.com/article...s-83-years-old
A true ambassador for the national pastime, and a pioneer who responded to the adversities he faced beautifully. He always had a smile on his face. Rest in peace.
