Let’s Play Two: The Legend of Mr. Cub, the Life of Ernie Banks by Ron Rapoport (review)

As long time Chicago Cub fans, who have a brick commemorating our wedding anniversary in the Ernie Banks section of the Wrigley Field brick plaza, we were delighted to read Ron Rapoport’s book about the life of Mr. Cub. Of course, Ernie Banks is a Hall of Famer known for his big smile and his famous phrases, “Let’s play two!” and “It’s a beautiful day for a ballgame.” Both were his reminders of the beauty and privilege of playing the game of baseball for a living.

These phrases make even more sense after reading Rapoport’s book. The beginning of the book documents Ernie Banks’s humble beginnings, economic hardships, challenging family life, and racism while noting Banks’s aversion to conflict and optimistic outlook on life. Through it all, Banks was hard working, independent in spirit, and conflict averse. Two examples are telling. At sixteen years old, Banks was “hired to mop floors in a hotel, but when the boss began telling him what to do, he quit and went home without collecting his pay. ‘They can keep the money,’ he told his mother. A later job as a bellman in a nearby hotel went more smoothly, perhaps because his superiors left him alone” (27–28). And, Banks certainly wouldn’t confront his mother. She didn’t want him playing football: “‘That game is too rough for you,’ she said. ‘I don’t want you playing anymore.’ Ernie enjoyed football, but he didn’t protest. It was easier to obey his mother than to argue with her. It would not be the last time he would walk away from confrontation” (33).

As Mr. Cub grew older, he experienced increasing hardships with his family. One after another, five of Banks’s brothers died at a young age. In 1962, he sought to help his brother Sammy, trying to convince Sammy to join him at his offseason home in California. There Sammy could “get a new job, meet some new people, start over.” Banks even offered to drive to Dallas so that the two could return to California together, but Sammy declined: “Aw, man, I don’t want to go out there.” A few days later, Banks learned his brother had been at a party where he was shot in the head by someone “playing with a gun, stupidly pointing it at people.” Rather than anger or sadness, Banks described the disappointment he felt: “Some people just get stuck in time and places, Banks thought as he flew home for the funeral” (42–43).

The book also covers some of Banks’s memorable moments in the Negro League, learning and playing with other baseball greats, like legendary Buck O’Neil. Banks would field ground balls “over and over again, in the withering Kansas City heat” (57) Banks also learned tips for turning double plays. “When the runner on first base is coming at you” O’Neil explained, “Just look dead at him and start that ball right at his face. He’s going to get out of the way and it’s a perfect strike to first base” (57). Banks had a passion for those practices more than the Monarchs’ games, “‘I always liked digging for the gold rather than the gold,’ he said. ‘Without Buck, I don’t think I would have made the big leagues so quickly” (57).

When Jackie Robinson took interest in Mr. Cub, Banks “thought he must be living in a dream.” When asked why Robinson took interest in him, Banks replied, “Why, I don’t know, but he really cared about me . . . The most important thing he told me was to listen. Don’t talk, just listen” (64). Banks learned a lot from Robinson, including “tips about making double plays—get rid of the ball faster, make your throws high enough so the second baseman can make...