(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Perusing this site today, I happened upon a recent interview with Ernie Banks.  I conducted an interview with him at Wrigley Field back in 2004. I thought fans of the team along with "Mr. Cub" might enjoy it.

   Before there was Sammy and Ryno, there was Ernie Banks, who will always be remembered as “Mr. Cub.”  He brought a joy to the game unlike anyone I have ever witnessed.  I had a chance to catch up with him recently at Wrigley when he was the guest singer for the seventh inning stretch.

The Heckler:  What did it mean to you having a chance to play for the Cubs and in beautiful Wrigley Field?

Ernie Banks:  It just meant so much… it’s a part of me, like my family.  People who come out here are like my friends; people that play here are like my brothers.  It’s just a total picture of my whole life, being at Wrigley Field, and being around the players and the fans.

TH:  You played on some great Cub’s teams during your career, especially in the late sixties and early seventies.  What do you think kept the team from ever winning the World Series?

EB:  Mr. Wrigley told me many years ago that the World Series is really not the World Series because you’re not playing everybody in the world.  So he believed in truth in advertising.  He said when we start playing everybody in the world, then we’ll get a World Series.  It’s just wonderful now to see this team, the way they have come together and the leadership here with the Cubs.  It’s just all there.  Through the years, and not making excuses for anyone, we just didn’t have that nucleus, and we didn’t have the chemistry it takes to stay in contention and to win a championship. 

TH:  When Leo Durocher came here to manage the team, there was talk that Leo didn’t really like you and respect your accomplishments as a ballplayer.  What was your relationship with him like?

EB:  It was fine as far as my side of it.  He was the manager and I respect that.  I was 35, 36 years old, and I don’t blame him for looking at my career as being at the end when he came on.  I can understand his side, and I went along with it and enjoyed it.   I kind of perked up and got a new life when he came because he inspired me a lot.  After we both retired, they had an old-timers game in Denver and I called him up to manage the team and he said, “Oh, I don’t want to come back.”  But I told him we needed him to come and manage, and he came and managed and had a wonderful time.  Through the years after we retired, I really enjoyed being around him.  I missed him a lot.  Randy Hundley had his fantasy camp.  Leo came, and he made a nice speech about me saying that he had been a little bit tough on me during my playing career and that he apologized.  In my life playing here, I just learned to forgive and forget and go on and enjoy each day and each person that I’m with.

TH:  While playing in the fifties, you were one of baseball’s most prodigious home run hitters, and actually ahead of Hank Aaron at that time in your career.  You suffered an eye injury in the early sixties and you’re power numbers were never the same after that.  Do you think that affected your home run production?

EB:  Somewhat.  They made a big issue out of it.  It was a depth perception problem I had and some players do have depth perception problems.  I couldn’t pick the ball up as well.   I didn’t know that, but it could have been true that my career began to slip after I had that problem.

TH:  What was your biggest thrill in your career as a Cub?

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?