Ernie Banks
Ernie Banks has career totals of 512 home runs, good for 12th on the all-time
list, with 1636 RBI, 1305 runs scored, 2583 hits with a .274 lifetime average.
Banks came to the majors directly from the Negro Leagues, appearing late
in the 1953 season, starting full-time in 1954. Banks hit 40 or more home
runs five times in his career, winning two MVP awards in the process. His
first MVP came in 1958, as he hit .313, with league-leading totals of 47
homers and 129 RBI.
He won the award again in 1959, leading the league in RBI again, as well as fielding percentage. Banks was named to 11 All-Star teams in his career.
Following his retirement in 1971, Ernie Banks was active as a minor league
instructor in the Cubs system. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1977.
His uniform No. 14 was the first retired by the Cubs organization and currently
flies on game days from the leftfield foul pole.
Truly a goodwill ambasador, Ernie Banks founded the Live Above
and Beyond foundation, which provides educational scholarships,
and promotes social welfare through programs that lessen neighborhood tensions,
eliminate
prejudice and discrimination among various age groups and races,
and improve and develop the capabilities of children who are underprivileged
and reside
in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
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