Happy 82nd birthday to Mr. Cub
 

Hey all you Cub fans, it's Ernie Banks 82nd birthday today. Let's see some Banks cards and memorabilia.

Let's play two
 

I always loved that one!


john d. guzze

Here's Ernie

Jackie Robinson
 

Today would also have been Jackie Robinson's 94th birthday. Google dedicated their doodle to him today.

I saw that today. Great stuff in the world of baseball.

Good day for the negro leagues

Nolan Ryan's big day too. Not a bad day to be a ball player.

He was on the same plane as me twenty years ago. Easy to pick out - he was wearing a baseball cap that said "Mr Cub" on it.

Very friendly, pleasant guy - smiling and talking with anyone who wanted to.

As Ernie said, "let's play two."

Pic was from Cubs Fantasy camp in 2007. We were in the camp photographers hotel room looking at the days pics and Ernie came in. We had cocktails and chatted with Ernie for probably an hour. He even had me call home so he could talk with my wife. He told her she was the boss and needed to keep me in line. Very cool to spend an evening with Mr. Cub. Met Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam fame at the same camp.

Nolan, too? Aw hell, let's play three!

I've got some memorabilia, his rookie card and some autos, but none that are scanned. I do have this shot though...

It was taken about a year ago while I was in Chicago on business. He was eating dinner with a group a few tables from our group. I really didn't want to bother him, but felt like I had to at least shake his hand before leaving, so walked over as we were closing our tab. I introduced myself and he immediately starting asking about me, where I was from, what I did for a living, did I play ball. He then politely said "excuse me" to his group, walked over to our table and sat down for 15-20 minutes! The highlight was when he asked us "you know where it comes from?", then rolled his wrists over as if swinging a bat.. still very quick and smooth, and then said "you see that, you see that? That's where it comes from". It was awesome. Happy Birthday Mr Cub.

Ernie has a saying for every year. The first one I remember is "the Cubs will shine in 69". Also said "Let's play 2 today". This years is"the Cubs are keen in 2013". That was a time when the players played for the love of the game, not just the dollar signs.

Typical Ernie Banks story. Love it.

Found a scan of my card..
 

The original eBay scan from when I bought it in the late '90s.. never minded the top bottom MC. Again, happy bday Mr Banks and Mr Ryan.

Nice card Ian.

What that restaurant Harry Caray's? Looks like it from what I remember of it.

Thanks, that was one of my childhood dream cards and felt awesome when I got it. I later upgraded with a well centered one, and don't think I paid more than $170
for either... Still have both. Miss those early years of eBay.

Yeah, I think it was Harry Caray's... Some of my trips (especially in a place like Chicago) can get pretty blurry :p

my lone "Mr. Cub"
 

Thanks for the thread, Ken...

I pulled this from a box over a decade ago and was ecstatic over a pull like this. Nowadays you get a crazy hit in most boxes...it was fun to pull ones like this years ago.

I almost sold it a few times just to grab a few extra bucks, but glad I didn't.