Ernie Banks Charity Autograph page

Note: A letter has been sent on April 25, 2008 to this athlete to provide their contact and charity information. Once we receive their response, their information will be entered below. This has been done to ensure that the information is correct and to protect the athlete's privacy in case they do not want their information to be posted on the Internet.

Contact Information (where autograph requests should be mailed to):

Contact Person and/or Name of Organization _____________________________________________

Address: __________________________________________________________________________

Charity Information:

Name of charity or charities the donations go to __________________________________________

Signing Habits:

1) If you sign items for free, what are the maximum number of items you will sign for free? ___________

4) What can fans do to make it easier for you to sign their items? __________________________________________________________________

Donation Charges:

Item	Price	Item	Price
Cards		Flats up to 8x10
Flats up to 16x20		Baseballs/small footballs
Magazines		Flats larger than 16x20
Mini Helmets		Football/Basketball
Large Helmet		Bats
Jerseys		Inscriptions
Other _________		Other _________

Who should the check/money order be made out to: __________________________________________

Ernie Banks's Message to the Fans

Biography

Ernest "Ernie" Banks (born January 31, 1931 in Dallas, Texas) is an American former Major League baseball player who played his entire career with the Chicago Cubs (1953-1971). Banks is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. His nickname is Mr. Cub. He currently resides in the Los Angeles area.

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Shortstop / First Baseman

Born: January 31, 1931 (1931-01-31) (age 77)
Dallas, Texas
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
September 17, 1953
for the Chicago Cubs
Final game
September 26, 1971
for the Chicago Cubs
Career statistics
Batting average .274
Home runs 512
Run batted in 1,636
Teams
Chicago Cubs (1953-1971)

Career highlights and awards
11x All-Star selection (1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1967, 1969)
2x NL MVP (1958, 1959)
1960 Gold Glove Award winner
Chicago Cubs #14 retired

Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Elected 1977
Vote 83.8% (first ballot)

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High school years
Banks was a letterman and standout in football, basketball, baseball, and track.

Playing career
Banks signed with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League in 1950 and broke into the Major Leagues in 1953 with the Chicago Cubs as their first black player. He played for the Cubs his entire career, starting at shortstop and moving to first base in 1962.

Initially Banks' double play partner was Gene Baker, the second black player on the Cubs, and Banks' roommate on road trips. When Steve Bilko would play first base, Cubs' announcer and home-town rooter Bert Wilson would refer to the Banks-Baker-Bilko double play combination as "Bingo to Bango to Bilko". This combination would not last quite as long as "Tinker to Evers to Chance", but Banks would become a Cubs institution.

Banks wore number 14 as a Cub, and is the first of only four Cubs players who have had their number retired by the organization. Other players had worn number 14 previously, of course. Earlier in 1953, Paul Schramka had carried that number. It was originally worn by Guy Bush in 1932, the first year the Cubs wore numbers on their jerseys. [Info from list in current Cubs' media guide]

Banks became well known for his catch phrase of, "It's a beautiful day for a ballgame... Let's play two!", expressing his wish to play a doubleheader every day out of his pure love for the game of baseball, especially in his self-described "friendly confines of Wrigley Field." In 1955, he set the record for grand slams in a single season with five, a record that stood for over twenty years.

Banks won the National League Most Valuable Player Award twice, in 1958 and 1959 despite the fact that the Cubs were not pennant contenders during the season. Jimmy Dykes reportedly remarked that, "Without him, the Cubs would finish in Albuquerque!"[1]

On September 2, 1965, Banks hit his 400th home run, and five years later, on May 12, 1970 at Chicago's Wrigley Field, hit his 500th home run. Banks finished his career with 512 home runs, and his 277 homers as a shortstop were the most ever at the time of his retirement. (Alex Rodriguez now holds the record for most homers as a shortstop with 345.) Ernie Banks also currently holds the record for most extra base hits by a Cub with 1,009. Banks also holds the teams records for games played (2528), at-bats (9421) and total bases (4706).

Coaching career
On December 1, 1971, Banks retired as a player, and the Cubs signed him as a coach.

On May 8, 1973, Cubs manager Whitey Lockman was ejected in the 11th inning of a game against the San Diego Padres. Coach Ernie Banks filled in as manager for the remainder of the game, which the Cubs won 3-2 in 12 innings. Thus, he was technically, if not officially, MLB's first black manager, predating Frank Robinson's hiring by almost two years.

Honors
Banks is regarded as one of the most popular baseball players in Chicago sports history. He was a constant promoter of the Cubs and of daytime play at Wrigley Field. His popularity and positive attitude led to the nicknames "Mr. Cub" and "Mr. Sunshine".

On August 22, 1982, his uniform number 14 became the first to be retired by the Cubs. It had already been de facto retired for nearly 9 years, not having been assigned to anyone else following Banks' retirement from the coaching ranks.

In 1977, in his first year of eligibility, Banks was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

In 1999, he ranked Number 38 on The Sporting News list of Baseball's Greatest Players, and was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

On March 31, 2008, a statue of Banks was unveiled outside Wrigley Field. Upon its unveiling, the base of the statue was revealed to contain a typographical error, reading "Lets play two" rather than the grammatically correct "Let's play two." Two days later Sculptor Lou Cella came down to the ballpark early in the morning and carved the apostrophe.

Other
During Banks' career, the Cubs were rarely in contention despite his brilliance. They failed to finish in the first division every season until late in his career. Consequently, Banks holds the Major League record of most games played without a postseason appearance (2528). [1]

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Ernie Banks operated car dealership Ernie Banks Ford on Stony Island Avenue in Chicago.

In June of 2006, Crain's Chicago Business reported that Ernie Banks was part of a group looking into buying the Chicago Cubs, in case the Tribune Company decides to sell the club.[2]

Banks is the great-uncle of Atlanta Hawks point guard Acie Law IV.[citation needed]

Years led league by statistical category
Shortstop Major League Leader:
Fielding Average - 1 time
Fewest errors - 1 time
National League Leader:
Games played - 6 times
Extra base hits - 4 times
Home runs - 2 times
RBIs - 2 times
Slugging percentage - 1 time
Total bases - 1 time
At bats - 1 time

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References
1 ^ "Ernie Banks", The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
2 ^ "Ernie Banks Eyes Bid for Chicago Cubs", Steven Strahler, Crain's Chicago Business, June 9, 2006.

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Ernie Banks

Contact Information (where autograph requests should be mailed to):

Charity Information:

Signing Habits:

Donation Charges:

Ernie Banks's Message to the Fans

Biography

Send mail to thedigitalauthor@aol.com with questions or comments about this web site. Last modified: 05/09/08

Send mail to thedigitalauthor@aol.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: 05/09/08