“Mr. Cub” Never Played in World Series

Playing in his first full season for the Chicago Cubs, a skinny shortstop from Texas drove in the winning run with an 11th inning double on May 23, 1954 to beat the Dodgers.

Halfway through the twentieth century baseball had yet to live up to its national pastime boast. There was not a single major league franchise west of the Mississippi, and the sport was still essentially segregated six years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier.

In the final month of the 1953 season, the Chicago Cubs became the fourth national league club to put black players in uniform. Gene Baker was a product of their farm system, but they bought Ernie Banks from the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro League for $10,000.

The unassuming Dallasite made an immediate impression on the veterans. “Ernie Banks was a good hitter even at the beginning,” marveled Ralph Kiner. “He would lightly rap his fingers on the bat. He looked like he was playing the flute.” “He was a beautiful person and added enthusiasm to the team,” Hank Sauer remembered in admiration, “but we didn’t go anywhere despite his contributions.”

That was a classic understatement. The hard-luck Cubs had last won the NL pennant in 1945 and would finish no higher than second place during Banks’ 18 years in the Windy City.

The talented Texan could not, of course, foretell the future, and besides he had come to play. As proof of his quiet determination to make it in the majors, he stayed in the Cub line-up for a record 424 consecutive games before finally taking a day off. Though overshadowed in 1954 by the 47 home runs and 103 runs batted in of resident slugger Sauer, Banks drove in 79 runs with 19 round-trippers in his first full season. But the Cubs managed only a measly 64 victories, one less than the previous year, and finished in the same spot – seventh.

Banks blossomed in 1955 boosting his average from .275 to .295 and HR and RBI totals to 44, the most ever by a shortstop, and 117. He led the team in all three categories and set a major league mark on Sep. 19, 1954 with his fifth bases loaded blast of the year. The Cubs improved their record by eight games and climbed into sixth place.

Hobbled by injuries in 1956, Banks slumped to 28 homers and 85 runs batted in. But even in an off-year, his output was the best on a team that ended up dead last with 94 defeats.

Banks bounced back in 1957 with 43 HR’s and 102 RBI’s on a roster full of new faces but cursed by the same futility. Eleven different Cubs took a turn at third base and only a tie saved Chicago’s hapless heroes from the National League cellar.

The 1958 crew gave their long suffering fans fresh hope by playing .500 ball well into July and staying within striking distance of the leagueleading Milwaukee Braves. A dreaded home-stretch collapse dropped them to fifth, a moral victory of sorts for the perennial patsies.

Banks had career highs at the plate with 47 home runs and a .313 batting average, while accounting for more RBI’s that any other National League batter. He was voted the Most Valuable Player, the first member of a team with a losing record ever to receive the coveted award. The skipper of the rival Reds paid him the highest compliment with the quip, “If the Cubs didn’t have Banks, they would have finished in Albuquerque.”

Proving his 1958 performance was no fluke, Banks earned an unprecedented second straight MVP in 1959 with 45 HR’s and 143 RBI’s, the most since 1937. A stronger supporting cast would have made Chicago a serious contender, but the Cubs mustered only two more triumphs and had to settle for another fifthplace showing.

The 1960’s brought more of the same for Banks and his lackluster teammates. The superstar’s modest concessions to the ravages of time were his move from shortstop to first base in 1962 and a batting average that dipped into the .270’s. The Cubs rose no higher than seventh between 1960 and 1967, and their 59 wins in 1966 were the fewest in five decades.

Leo “Nice Guys Finish Last” Durocher took over as manager and remolded the doormats in his own scrappy image. After moving up to third place in 1967 and again the next year, the Cubs pulled away from the pack in 1969 and had a seven game cushion on July 1. It looked like Ernie Banks’ World Series dream would come true at last.

But 1969 was the year of the Miracle Mets. The Cubs were five games ahead of New York as late as Labor Day but blew the pennant by eight. Even for a ball club with a rich tradition of disappointment, it was a bitter pill to swallow.

On May 12, 1970, Ernie Banks hit his 500th home run and 1,600th RBI. He gave the fans, who had recently saluted him as the “Greatest Cub Ever,” credit for his accomplishments. The modest Texan called it a career the following year with 512 round-trippers and the undying gratitude of the Wrigley Field faithful.

Bartee welcomes your comments and questions at barteehaile@ gmail.com or P.O. Box 130011, Spring, TX 77393.