Jonathan Eig, the author of Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig and Ali: A Life Written book is everything a baseball fan could want. Hooray! Ernie Banks now has the Hall-of-Fameīiography he deserves thanks to Ron Rapoport. Revealing portrait of the often difficult life of a black ballplayer in AmericaĪnd the often lonely man imprisoned and isolated by his exuberant outer image. Vitality Ernie Banks brought to his remarkable career. This is a wonderful book worthy of all the energy and Rapoport has outdone himself, artfully redefining the Banks Impeccably researched book about a man who was a Hall of Famer, but also a Legendary Chicago sportswriter, has written a fascinating, readable, and Not seem to want you to know more than you could see. The best of Banks' playing moments, but also delves deeply into a man who did Cub.' But there was much more to Ernie than his MVP seasons Growing up, every kid I knew wanted to be Ernie Banks,Ĭhicago's 'Mr. Wrigley, the Bleacher Bums, the doomed pennant race of 1969, and much more from a long-lost baseball era. The book tells of Banks's early life in segregated Dallas, his years in the Negro Leagues, and his difficult life after retirement and features compelling portraits of Buck O'Neil, Philip K. Together, they explain how Banks was so different from the caricature he created for the public. Let's Play Two is based on numerous conversations with Banks and on interviews with more than a hundred of his family members, teammates, friends, and associates as well as oral histories, court records, and thousands of other documents and sources. Yet Banks smiled through it all, enduring the scorn of Cubs manager Leo Durocher as an aging superstar and never uttering a single complaint. At one point, Banks even saw a psychiatrist to see if that would help. Being known as one of the greatest players never to reach the World Series also took its toll. Despite the poverty and racism he endured as a young man, he was among the star players of baseball's early days of integration who were reluctant to speak out about Civil Rights. But Banks's public display of good cheer was a mask that hid a deeply conflicted, melancholy, and often quite lonely man. Today, Banks is remembered best for his signature phrase, "Let's play two," which has entered the American lexicon and exemplifies the enthusiasm that endeared him to fans everywhere. He outslugged Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Mickey Mantle when they were in their prime, but while they made repeated World Series appearances in the 1950s and 60s, Banks spent his entire career with the woebegone Chicago Cubs, who didn't win a pennant in his adult lifetime. Ernie Banks, the first-ballot Hall of Famer and All-Century Team shortstop, played in fourteen All-Star Games, won two MVPs, and twice led the Major Leagues in home runs and runs batted in.
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