Some people just touch you in your life. Some people just touch millions.
That was the case with “Mr. Cub,” Ernie Banks, who died Friday at 83.
The Hall of Fame shortstop and first baseman for the Chicago Cubs was one of those special people – someone who touched my life and the lives of millions.
Many of his obituaries referenced not only his skill and passion for the game he played, but his kindness and loyalty.
That’s the Ernie Banks I knew.
First you have to talk about his Major League Baseball career: Over 19 seasons, he hit .274/.330/.500 with 2,583 hits, 512 homers, 1,636 RBI and 1,305 runs scored. Those numbers earned Banks 14 All-Star Game selections and two MVP awards, in addition to baseball’s ultimate honor, induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Banks was inducted in his first ballot, receiving 83.8 percent of the vote in 1977.
You didn’t have to live in Chicago or be a Cubs fan to admire his enthusiasm for the game.
And even though I always wanted to be a Major League Baseball player – for the Yankees, of course – Ernie Banks was always one of my favorite players.
What I learned from Ernie Banks was that you should love what you do. And, for me, working in journalism was the next best thing to playing shortstop for the New York Yankees. It has never been a job for me. People wonder how I deal with the stress. Stress? This isn’t a job. It’s the fulfillment of a fantasy!
By the way, I didn’t just learn this lesson from watching Ernie Banks play. I also got to play with him – as a teammate when his Major League career was long over.
[See Ernie Banks slam one out of the park:]
[jwplayer UG47ImGV]
I started the longest-running Hollywood celebrity fast-pitch softball league back in the 1970s. As far as I know, it’s still going strong today – even without me. I left Hollywood never to look back in 1990. But I’ll never forget the opportunity I had to play part of a season with Ernie Banks as my first baseman. I was the player-manager for the Nighthawks in that league for more than a decade. I played shortstop and pitched.
One day, we noticed an older man watching our game in Santa Monica. He had watched more than one game. One of my teammates asked if he liked baseball. He said he did. Turns out it was Ernie Banks!
On a lark, we asked if he’d like to join us. He said sure.
And for the rest of that season, he became my first baseman.
I cannot tell you what a thrill it was every time I had to throw over to first base from shortstop to see Ernie Banks receiving the ball. It was a fulfillment of my first fantasy – to play Major League Baseball.
Ernie Banks was in his late 50s when he was playing for my team in the 1980s.
What an inspirational figure.
I wrote about the experience of playing with and knowing Ernie Banks a few years ago.
A few days later, I got a nice email from him. I wasn’t even sure if he remembered me. But that’s the kind of guy he was. He still acknowledged a column written about him by a guy who knew him so many years earlier.
“Joseph: Suzie Que was kind enough to share your article with me. Wow! Thanks so much for your kind words. I wish you all the best, and you’re right. When you find something that you love, it’s never work, and yes, ‘Let’s Play Two.'”
Suzie Que is an avid WND follower and Ernie Banks fan. She sent him a link to my column. She was sweet enough to add the following in her communication with the baseball great: “I personally wish to thank you so much for helping to encourage this man because he has been so very helpful to so many people and continues to do so amid great danger and pressures. May God Richly Bless you and your family, sir.”
It really was a great day. I felt like playing two.
Some people have jobs to pay the bills.
Nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s admirable. Not enough people have them in the United States today.
But some of us are more fortunate than that.
We are blessed enough to have jobs we love.
Ernie Banks epitomized that during his 19-year Major League Baseball career.
He famously said he would play baseball for the fun of it if he didn’t get paid. Who wouldn’t?
Maybe too many athletes today wouldn’t.
Ernie Banks played before Major League Baseball started paying multi-million-dollar contracts. But he did all right for himself. I’m sure he wouldn’t trade a single season of his career spanning three decades for a free-agency deal. Who could imagine Ernie Banks playing for anyone but the Cubs?
Thank you, again, Ernie Banks, for being such an inspiration to millions. There aren’t many like you in the professional sports culture today – people who have their priorities straight, people who appreciate what God has given them, people who recognize how fortunate they are to be blessed with talent and have the opportunity to use it and demonstrate it every day.
Media wishing to interview Joseph Farah, please contact [email protected].
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