Let's play two!!

In the sports world, you always hear the catch phrase, "for the love of the game". Chicago Cub Hall-of-Fame shortstop Ernie Banks, who died this past Friday at the age of 83, said it a different way:  "It's a beautiful day for a ballgame... Let's play two!", meaning he wanted to play a double header every day.

For the love of the game.

In fact, Banks still holds the team records for games played (2,528) and at-bats (9,421). While a member of the 500 home run club, he hit 277 as a shortstop. Only Cal Ripken has more homeruns at that position with 345. The eleven time All-Star, who was the first African-American to play for the Cubs, also won back to back MVP awards and became a member of both the Hall-of-Fame (1977) and the All-Century Team. He also is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

His love for the game goes all the way back to his Negro League baseball days when he played for Buck O'Neill's Kansas City Monarchs. O'Neill would yell to the quiet, soft-spoken Banks, "... “You gotta love this game to play it!” The actor Joe Mantegna, would remember as a kid just watching the way Ernie Banks went out to his shortstop position at Wrigley Field. He said that Banks ran to shortstop the way a child runs to a parent at the end of summer camp. He could not wait to get out there, could not wait to dig his cleats into the dirt and make his first throw across the infield to first base.

While not the first African-American player to break the color barrier, "Mr. Cub" was one of the early players to help keep the door open for others.