The baseball world lost another legendary figure last week in hall of famer Ernie Banks. Apparently one of the all-time nice guys in baseball and universally loved, Banks of course grew up in Dallas and was the Cubs' first black player. The first big-time power-hitting shortstop and forerunner to people like Cal Ripken and A-Rod.
Banks was only really great for about 7 years, but during that time he punched his ticket to the HOF by playing a premium defensive position and winning 2 MVP's. After that he was fairly average and moved to 1st base but made it to 500 homers. During those 1st 7 years, he finished in the top 6 in MVP voting 5 times, hit over 40 homers 5 times, averaged 110 RBI, and had a .556 slugging % and .910 OPS. His MVP years were big-time:
.313 - 47 - 129
.304 - 45 - 143
All of this playing for very bad teams with little protection in the lineup. Banks was a pioneer and a classic middle of the century hall of famer, peaking at a very high level, lasting long enough to hit a "magic" number, and being a true fan and media favorite.
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