Let's play two today

I loved Ernie Banks

     I didn't know him  Only had a brief autograph encounter once, years ago.
     But I loved him.  (If you haven't heard, Ernie died late Friday night.  He was 83.)
     He taught me a lot.
     As a young kid, I watched him play shortstop on the North Side.  I remember the year he won MVP on a sixth place team.  And again the following year, when he won MVP again, on a closer to last than first team.
     He had 512 home runs, 1,636 runs batted in.
     Yet, it wasn't his baseball ability so much as it was him.
     He seemed to be an eternal optimist.  The friendly confines, let's play two, I think were said in dark days of losses and frustration.
     You never say him argue a call.  I don't think he ever questioned a strike call.
     He played for the same team, even during the free agency years when he could have gone to a better ball club that would gladly have paid him more money.
     He came to the park, day after day, game after game.  Uncomplaining.  Performing his best.  Sore bones, aching arms, nothing prevented him from taking the field.
     And when they moved him to left, he tried.  He really did.  But he was a terrible left fielder.  The move to first extended his career, I think, and he developed into a good first baseman.
     A black ball player in 1953 may not have had the same experience a black ball player today does.  Restaurants still discriminated, even in the north.  Hotels discriminated, even in the north.  Yet he never complained, never used that as an excuse...he just showed up and played his best, proving the bigots wrong.
     The 1969 Cubs will always be my favorite team.  Ron Santo and Ernie were cornerstones, as were Billy Williams and Fergie Jenkins.
     At the recent Cubs convention I had hoped to get a glimpse of him, maybe an autograph.  But he was suffering from a minor health issue, according to the announcement at the convention.
     I always thought I would write him a letter, telling him how much I appreciated his contributions to the Cubs, on the field and off.
     I just wish he had a chance to see his Cubbies in the World Series.
     And I wish I had taken the time to tell him, "Well done, Mr. Cub.  Well done."