\\NEWSERVER\FirstLD\Video_A_L\B\Banks_Ernie\Banks_Ernie_03.mpgF:\The HistoryMakers from sctnserver\Oserver_MAC\HMWebSite_Dev\Individual HistoryMakers\B\Banks, Ernie\Transcript\Banks_Ernie_03.txtTyler BarnettErnie Banks begins by describing his experience playing in the Negro Baseball League. He describes the adjustments he made upon moving to the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball. He discusses his process of learning from experience during his early years with the Chicago Cubs. Banks details his mindset while playing baseball, explaining the solitude he feels on the field of play. He explains why he generally deflected praise from his achievements to those of his teammates. Banks explains the origin of his nickname, "Mr. Cub," and his ambivalence regarding his moniker. He describes his relationship with Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley. Banks closes by describing his experience of being elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.A2000.0032000The HistoryMakers2000-07-18Banks, Ernie, 1931-Julieanna RichardsonChicago, Illinois00:29:28.489794Banks_Ernie_03The HistoryMakers03:00:14:18Ernie Banks interview, tape 3Matthew HickeyErnie Banks describes playing baseball in the Negro Baseball LeagueI played for Kansas City [Missouri] Monarchs [baseball team] before I went in the Army. I missed that.Oh, you didn't say that part.I didn't say that. I missed that, yeah. When I graduated from high school, I went with the Kansas City Monarchs. Buck O'Neil [baseball player and manager] came and signed me up to play with the Kansas City Monarchs. And I played for one year. I came there with Elston Howard [baseball player], and we were roommates and all that. And then, when I went back, then I was drafted into the Army.So, how was that experience, you know, with playing for the--that was the Negro Leagues. What was that experience like?It was a wonderful experience, you know, riding on the bus and stopping and eating peanut butter and sardines and, you know, just guys playing their harps and the guitars. It was just a wonderful kind of experience. And Buck O'Neil was the manager. And we'd get into small towns, get out, change clothes, go play the game, get back on the bus, ride to another town. It was very, very, very wonderful for me. I really liked that, so much so, when I signed with the [Chicago] Cubs [baseball team], I didn't want to come to the Cubs. And my friend, Sherwood Brewer, said, "Man, you're going to the Major Leagues." I said, "what is the Major League?" "It's where you want to be. I mean it's got all these great players, and, you know, you're going to Wrigley Field [Chicago, Illinois]. You're going to be playing with Ralph Kiner." He named all these people. I said, "I don't know them." "Well, you will when you get there. They're nice people." So, they gave me ten dollars and a ticket, and I came to Chicago. But I really enjoyed being with the Monarchs. I'm a type of person that I really enjoy my own comfort area. And I like being with the guys. I like their attitude. We cared about each other. And I was being taken out of that and going to a new dimension, and it was a big adjustment, although I came with another black player named Gene Baker. He and I came together. I didn't know him. He didn't know me. But we connected when we joined the Cubs, and we became real good friends.Did he come out of the Negro Baseball League, too?He played the Negro Baseball League, too.Now, how many teams were there in the league?It was four when I came. It was six, and then it dwindled down to four when I got in the league, and then eventually went out in the ‘60s [1960s].And how long were your seasons?Season was about 124 games. It ended--Wow, that seems a lot. Is that a lot?It ended in September, began in April, ended in September.Okay.But we moved around, you know, traveled quite a bit to other cities and small cities and some of the major cities, as well.00/00/1950-00/00/195300/00/1960-00/00/1969Ability::Athletic abilityAfrican Americans - Social networksAutobiographical::Moving and travels::Road tripsAutobiographical::PersonalityAutobiographical::Work and careerAutobiographical::Work and career::Appointments to officeAutobiographical::Work and career::Work environmentLocations::US::Missouri::Kansas CityBanks, Ernie, 1931-O'Neil, Buck, 1911-Sports::Baseball::African American baseball playersSports::Baseball::ProfessionalSports::Baseball::Professional::Negro Baseball LeagueBaker, Gene, 1925-1999Ernie Banks talks about adjusting from the Negro Leagues to the Major LeaguesWho was your idol at that point? Did you have any idols?When I went to Kansas City [Missouri] Monarchs [baseball team]? I had no idols. I respected Buck O'Neil [baseball player, manager]. He was the manager of the team. But I never really--kind of centered on people that were--I put at a higher level, a higher plane. I just looked at people as human beings trying to better their lives, and most of the guys trying to better their lives to get to the Major Leagues. That's the main thrust of all the players who play baseball, to get to the Major Leagues. And they chose me to go to the Major Leagues. So when I came, it was this, you know, really a surprise. I called my dad [Eddie Banks] and said, "gosh, Dad, I'm going to the Major Leagues." "You are?"-- We're rich"--you know, most people say that. "We're going to be rich." And he laughed, "Yeah." He didn't say it, "Yeah, right," but he was--he didn't get excited about it at all.He didn't.No, he did not. He just didn't get excited. And I'm like that, too. I don't get really excited about things, you know, because I know they go up and down. And, you know, I just try to stay basically the same, you know, the same plane. I mean it's wonderful. "I'm going to enjoy. I'm going to learn something from this experience. I've got to work to get along with people." And many of the media people kind of walked me through. There's a guy named Wendell Smith, used to write for the 'Chicago American [newspaper].' He was a black writer, and he kind of nurtured me through, I mean: "Do this. Do that. Be over here." And Gene Baker [baseball player]: "Do this. Do that and over here. Don't do this. Don't do that." I enjoyed learning, you know, how to deal with it. It's like walking through the unknown, or like living in the dark for me because I didn't play too much minor league ball. Most of them did, so it was all kind of a new step every time I moved someplace. And I just, you know, tried to learn as much as I could.00/00/1953Sports::Baseball::African American baseball playersSports::Baseball::ProfessionalBanks, Ernie, 1931-O'Neil, Buck, 1911-Autobiographical::Work and career::Work environmentAutobiographical::Work and career::Appointments to officeAutobiographical::Work and career::Career changesAutobiographical::Personal philosophyAutobiographical::PersonalityAutobiographical::Family::Parents::FatherAbility::Athletic abilityBaker, Gene, 1925-1999Autobiographical::MentorsErnie Banks discusses learning by experience in the Major LeaguesAbout the whole experience because you came right from the Negro Baseball League to the Major League, what--did you have a lot of coaching that was sort of necessary, you know, because--I mean were people mentoring you a lot?Only Buck O'Neil. He helped me a lot when I was with the Kansas City [Missouri] Monarchs [baseball team]. But when I came to the Major League, you know, I kind of felt nobody really liked me. I kind of looked at that in my life. Nobody really liked me. I mean they might say it, but they don't even know who I am, so they kind of left me to kind of feel my way on, on around the park and so forth. Then the manager, the day I played, he came up to me in the last minute, said, "you're playing today." I wasn't surprised. I just, you know, just "okay." I didn't say anything, just went on out there and played. That was the end of it. "How do you feel about playing," some people: "how do you feel about this? How do you feel about this?" I never knew how to answer that. And some--"how do you feel about doing this? How do you feel about doing that?" I don't know. And sometime, they say, "why? Why did you do this? Why did--?" Some things I don't understand. I didn't understand it. Why were people asking me these kind of things, "how you feel?" You know, I'm just playing a game. That was it. It's nice to be, you know, doing something everybody think is special, but to me, you're just playing the game. That's what I thought I was supposed to do. So, I learned as I went along. I wasn't kind of trained on a day-to-day basis. Gene Baker [baseball player] helped me a lot, "play this way. Do this. Hit this way. Throw this way." I mean they kind of gave it to me, you know. And then, some things he did not give to me. Like one time, when we were playing in Mobile, Alabama, and we couldn't dress with the team so he and I were sitting on the bus, and--just he was talking. I was listening to him. I said, "gee, there's a Greyhound bus station right down there. I'm going to run down and get some candy. You want any?" He kind of paused a little bit. He said, "yeah." So, I got off the bus, went down, walked into the bus station, and everybody stopped. The bus was changing, all whites in there. Everybody stopped. And I look around; I was just, "gosh, what is it?" Finally, a guy came up, white guy came up to me and said: "you're not supposed to be in here. You've got to go around the back." I had no idea about this, so I went out. I went around the back and bought some candy, one said "colored" and "white." Came back and got on the bus, and he was just laughing like--I mean he was just really cracking up. I said, "why didn't you tell me about this, Gene?" And he was that type--the experiences are the best way when I came along. Somebody tell you "don't do something," you think about it. But you have to really experienced it. So my life has always been experiences. I didn't understand any of that. I didn't understand how people could be that way, and I was raised in a black neighborhood, went to school in a black neighborhood. I never could understand why people were the way they were. Why people carry hate in their life and don't know how to release it. These are the things that as I travel through what we're talking about, I never, never understood, still don't, that hate within us, that we can't learn to release it. We don't know how to release. It could be against anything. It could be against a house or anything, and cannot release it. But I didn't understand it, but Gene didn't tell me. I just experienced it. Most of the things in my life I experienced just by doing them.00/00/1953-00/00/1957Baker, Gene, 1925-1999Banks, Ernie, 1931-Ability::Athletic abilityAutobiographical::Personal philosophyAutobiographical::PersonalityAutobiographical::Views::Views on RaceAutobiographical::ValuesAutobiographical::Work and career::Work environmentDiscrimination::Race discrimination in public accommodationsDiscrimination::Race discrimination in municipal servicesSegregation in transportationAutobiographical::Work and careerDiscrimination::Race discrimination in transportationSegregation::Social segregationSports::Baseball::African American baseball playersSports::Baseball::ProfessionalLocations::US::Alabama::MobileAutobiographical::MentorsErnie Banks talks about St. Louis as a special place in his baseball careerI think it was, like, September 23rd that first year that you, you know, you hit a record, or you--what was it?September--I thought I read somewhere September 23rd of your first year, 1953.Three, that I hit a record?You hit your first home run.Yeah, in St. Louis [Missouri].In St. Louis.St. Louis has always been a kind of place where they point to arrow to something special happened in my life. And I hit my first home run there. I hit my fifth grand slam home run. I mean I've had some pretty special days in St. Louis. I can't explain why. Maybe it's because the song they wrote many years ago. (sings) "A St. Louis woman, she wears her diamond rings." I don't know why, but St. Louis has always been (laughs) a very special place and pivotal place in my baseball life. I met some very nice people there. Monte Irvin [baseball player] used to play for the [Chicago] Cubs [baseball team]. I mean he was a few years older. He used to take me around different places over here and over there, and he would say: "well, it's time to go home now. We've got to go back to the hotel." I said, "okay," and we'd go back to the hotel. But for a long while in St. Louis, we could not stay at the white hotel. Jackie Robinson [baseball player] changed that and, you know, I kind of liked that, you know, staying at the black hotel. You know, you had a little more freedom and a little more comfort. And I played well in St. Louis. I really do. I still have good friends there now.00/00/195309/20/1953Locations::US::Missouri::St. LouisAbility::Athletic abilityAutobiographical::Self reliance and successAutobiographical::Work and careerAutobiographical::Work and career::Work environmentDiscrimination::Race discrimination in public accommodationsAutobiographical::Emotions during interview::HappinessBanks, Ernie, 1931-Sports::Baseball::African American baseball playersSports::Baseball::ProfessionalErnie Banks talks about his mindset while playing baseballIn this, you know, early part of your career with the Major Leagues, were there--you know, when I listened to you, everything was, like, it comes so easy, really, you know, everything sort of came so easy. But I'm wondering, one, when did you realize that you had talent? Was it when you were--or did you--Go ahead.I mean when did you realize you were really talented?I never realized I had any talent for anything, for baseball. I feel I never had any talent. People tell me that. They would say that. What's happened?No, I'm just asking [Banks' wife] Liz [Banks] to help me out. But go on. Go on.People would say that to me, "you have great wrists. You have good hands. You--" what Liz is--Liz is supposed to be helping me out here.All she's saying--what she's saying is that how you were able to focus and be in that ballpark and only concentrate on the ball. The connection that you had, even though you weren't a winning team, something in your spirit, 'cause you loved what you did, you did so well, you did it so naturally that you shun people telling you it was great because it was like your breathing. It was what you loved. So I guess that's what she wants to hear from you.Yeah, it's all of that. I mean I actually play the game as if nobody's there but me. I had no conscious effort that people were watching, that these games were televised. You know, the [Chicago] Cubs [baseball team] televised all its home games when I came. I had none of that. It didn't even faze me. I didn't even know it was there. Many times I was walking around the ballpark, I didn't even say "hello" to my own children. I walked right past them. I kinda get into things a little bit more deeper. I think when I was younger, my mind was like, you know, way there. It was there-there. If I was playing a game, I was there playing the game. If I was eating, I was eating. If I was singing, I was singing in the shower. Whatever I was doing, I was in that. My mind was not on something else. I miss that. I loved that. I mean I was always centered into what I was doing. People would say, "well, I was hollering at you at Wrigley Field [Chicago, Illinois]. Didn't you see me?" And I didn't want to embarrass them. I'd be looking at them, but I didn't see 'em because my mind was in what I was doing. And mostly--when I hit a home run, in my mind, I was saying, "I'm this little ball. I'm going to get inside this ball that's coming at me, and I'm going to take a ride in it." So when I hit the home run, I felt like I was inside of that ball going out of the park. And the reason is at times, I always want to be away from where I was. You know what I mean, because everybody's around, talking and all kinds of stuff. For me to get away from that, "I'm going to hit this ball. And if it goes out of the park, it's going to be like me floating out of the ballpark." I was kind of that way for most of my career. And I don't know why people ask me that. I didn't understand it, "do you love what you're doing?" I wouldn't be here if I didn't love what I was doing. I wouldn't have this interest. I'd tell them, "I don't want to be here." It was a place--let me put it another way. Playing the game of baseball to me was like playing the game by myself. Not a selfish player, I didn't think about the crowd. I thought about what I was doing, what I needed to do. When the game was over, people will ask me different things. "We won," you know. "What did you do? What do you hit? Why do you hit it? What do you think about this? What do you think about that?" And I always tried to focus the attention on other folks. I didn't have any answers for that, you know. "Well, what kind of pitches you hit out of the park? What do you think about winning the game?" I mean those were questions I didn't understand. I really didn't understand any of that. But I just played the game.00/00/1953-00/00/1971Ability::Athletic abilityAutobiographical::PersonalityAutobiographical::Personal philosophyAutobiographical::Work and careerAutobiographical::Work and career::Work environmentAutobiographical::Self reliance and successBanks, Ernie, 1931-Sports::Baseball::African American baseball playersSports::Baseball::ProfessionalErnie Banks explains why he deflected discussion away from his baseball accomplishmentsWillie Mays [baseball player], Hank [Aaron, baseball player], we talked this a lot. "Just play the game," that's all. That's all I did, to play the game, love the game, be a student of the game, talk about the game. I talked about the game a lot, me and Gene [Baker, baseball player] did, you know, the strategies of it and what it meant and how to play, what other players feel about the game. And one time, I was playing--we played a game, and after the game, Gene, going home, Gene used to tell--we went to the park together. "So, Ernie, I want to tell you something." I said, "what's that?" He said, "you know, the players on the team are getting angry with you and me because we're--you're running to your position, you know, running out to position, running back in, and they don't like it." And I didn't understand that. My own teammates didn't like the fact that I was hustling and putting out and enjoying it. And they didn't like that. I didn't know how to answer that. I said, "what should I do? Should I be like them?" And then, in my mind, a lot of times I would say--you're talking about talent--in my mind, many games in the middle of the season, when it's over 100 degrees, team is losing, not many people in the ballpark, I would always--I mean I just thought about, you know, so many things. I wanted to slow myself down to keep up with them 'cause a lot of them sometimes didn't want to play, you know. They maybe partied. I don't know what they were doing, partied and had a few drinks the night before, 'cause we were playing all these day games. It's hot. And I just didn't want to show them up, you know, to be way above them. So sometime, I felt I had to hold myself back just to keep from making them feel bad. And that's what they would be, you know. They would feel bad. I mean: "oh, he's hitting all the homeruns. He done this. All the writers are around him, all the--." In other words, what I'm saying, I never really liked attention coming to me. That's what I'm really saying. I never did--for the attention coming to me. I always wanted the attention to go the other way. It has hurt my life many, many times. I mean all my critics, people associated with my life. "Why don't you talk more about yourself? Why don't you praise the things you've done?" I've never been that way. I've learned that from my father. I don't like attention coming my way. It just creates too much havoc. I don't feel comfortable with it. It makes me--00/00/1953-00/00/1971Ability::Athletic abilityAutobiographical::PersonalityAutobiographical::Personal philosophyAutobiographical::Public imageAutobiographical::Self reliance and successAutobiographical::Work and careerAutobiographical::Work and career::Work environmentBanks, Ernie, 1931-Baker, Gene, 1925-1999Sports::Baseball::African American baseball playersSports::Baseball::ProfessionalSports::Baseball::Baseball fansErnie Banks explains the origin of his nickname, "Mr. Cub"How did you get the title "Mr. Cub?"It was given to me by a writer named Jimmy Enright. That's an interesting name.What year?It was 1969. And he traveled with the team year-round. And he came up to me one day on the flight. He said, "well," he said, "you really are doing a wonderful job. You are 'Mr. Cub.'" And I didn't understand what he was saying, "you are 'Mr. Cub.'" So he began to write it in his column. Then, he wrote a book about "Mr. Cub." I says, "you really want to do this?" "Yeah, you're 'Mr. Cub.'" I said, "why don't you do this, whoever have the best year and do the greatest thing, they should be 'Mr. Cub?'" He said, "no. You are 'Mr. Cub.'" And I really shunned that. And it stayed with me. He wrote a book about it. Every time I go somewhere, that's what people refer to me as, "Mr. Cub." "There's 'Mr. Cub.' Here's 'Mr. Cub.' 'Mr. Cub' this. 'Mr. Cub' that." It actually created a tension to come to me, and it took me a long time to kind of deal with it because, you know, sometimes I wanted to be--just be myself with my friends, and people have kind of put me on another level. But Jimmy Enright, he was a writer for the 'Chicago American,' gave me that name in 1969, and it stayed with me always. And Mr. [Philip K.] Wrigley, who owned the team [Chicago Cubs], was--sanctioned that, and the general managers and all of them sanctioned that. "This is 'Mr. Cub.'"00/00/1969Autobiographical::NameAutobiographical::PersonalityBanks, Ernie, 1931-Sports::Baseball::African American baseball playersSports::Baseball::Baseball fansErnie Banks describes his relationship with Chicago Cubs owner Philip K. WrigleyWhat did you think about [Chicago Cubs owner] Mr. [Philip K.] Wrigley?Mr. Wrigley was--he was like a--he was just a smart person. I wasn't around him a lot, but the little time I was around Mr. Wrigley, he'd always say things that I like. It was very short. He said, "where there's smoke, there's fire." I mean he used it. "If you don't like my apples, don't shake my tree," things that just meant right away what he was trying to say, you know. And he praised me a lot. In the papers, he praised me, "I wish we had more people that played like Ernie Banks." And, you know, I don't know why. He did that. He just taken to my attitude 'cause my attitude really is loyalty. I take loyalty over anything, and it kind of generated to him, said, "this guy's a loyal guy." And one time--I had never met him--in spring training when I first went there in 1954, I got a letter from him saying that: "my coach is saying that you're not trying. Where there's smoke, there's fire. I want to hear your side. Meet me at the park at 9:00." I didn't even know him. So I got to the park about 8:45. He drives up in his car, gets out, had a hat and a brown suit, and just he and I were sitting in the stand. He said, "I want to hear your side to the story of what my coaches are saying." And I told him, "Mr. Wrigley, I'm doing all I can." He said, "That's all I want to hear." So he got back in the car and left. Five years later, he told--one of the coaches that were there told me--said, "Mr. Wrigley made all of us look up the word 'loyalty.'" He said, "when you all get the definition of loyalty, you come back and you'll find out what Ernie Banks is. He's a very loyal person. So you all leave him along." And some of us need people like that will stand up for you, that have power. He stood up for me. And then, when I became a Ford [Motors automobile company] dealer, first black Ford dealer in the United States, he was the first one to buy a car from me 'cause he liked cars. He bought a station wagon. In fact, he made the deal happen. He called Henry Ford [owner of Ford Motors]. So from then, I learned that friends of our friends are also our friends. I learned from that that the spirit of friendship is the balance to life. You can have all the money in the world. You can have all the cars in the world. But friendship is the whole balance to life.00/00/1954Sports::Baseball::African American baseball playersSports::Baseball::ProfessionalAutobiographical::PersonalityAutobiographical::Personal philosophyAutobiographical::ValuesAutobiographical::Work and careerAutobiographical::Self reliance and successAutobiographical::Work and career::Work environmentBanks, Ernie, 1931-Wrigley, Philip K., 1894-1977Ernie Banks briefly describes his dismissal from the Chicago CubsHow did your feelings for the [Chicago] Cubs [baseball team] change when the owners changed?It didn't change. I got thrown out, but my feelings didn't change. They threw me out. I got fired watching sports on NBC [National Broadcasting Company]. And one of my friends said: "aren't you angry about this? I mean why did they do it?" Someone said, "why?" I said, "Who knows why?" I said, "But who knows why people do things?" Later on, I let everything settle down. I went in to talk to the general manager, who fired me. I went in with an attorney. And he didn't have any voice. "That's it. We got a new tradition, and we don't want anybody around that's been around for a long time. And all we're going to offer him is just this." So we walked out, and we both said, "that's fine." And nothing else happened. So what I learned from that experience is that kindness always win. Kindness always win, no matter what happened in your life, it will always win over the long haul. And I came back, and they went on, started something else, and they asked me to come back and start all over again.Banks, Ernie, 1931-Sports::Baseball::African American baseball playersSports::Baseball::ProfessionalAutobiographical::Work and career::Career changes::Job lossAutobiographical::Personal philosophyErnie Banks discusses his feelings about his Hall of Fame statusDuring your career, when you hit your 500th home run, it placed you in the [National Baseball] Hall of Fame [Cooperstown, New York]. What is your feeling on that?Being in the Hall of Fame?How did it feel?It was different because everybody kind of came around me and said, "well, you're up for the Hall of Fame." And I knew what that meant, being in the Hall of Fame. So here the, you know, the media coming around and all that. You've got to wait, and then they call you and tell you you've been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. So they called. I was sitting around the phone, the TVs, cameras rolling, and [Chicago Cubs announcer] Jack Brickhouse, Lou Boudreau [baseball player] and all were there. And the phone rang from a guy named Jack Lang and out of New York [New York]. He said, "you've been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame," and how many ballots and all that. So it was different because you don't go into a Hall of Fame 'til you're out of baseball for five years. So I had been out for five years. You know, I kind of said, "now, I can move on to something else," you know, after retiring from baseball. "Now, I can move to something else. I don't have to, you know, to connect myself to the game." I wanted to do many things after I retired, and I had started my own bank and was in the insurance business. I got fascinated with money, who has it, where it come from, how you make it, how you keep it, what you give away. I was fascinated with that when I worked at the bank. So when I went in the Hall of Fame, it brought me back into the baseball arena again. And I went to [Cooperstown] New York, and they have all the big ceremony, the press and all that. I came back to Chicago [Illinois]. They had a press conference, and, you know, I just went back and forth to New York. And then, my life really took a strange turn because in '77 [1977], when I went in the Hall of Fame, [Chicago Cubs owner] Mr. [Philip K.] Wrigley died. The next year, my father [Eddie Banks] died. And I made more appearances in '78 [1978]--the 'New York Times' wrote about this--I made appearances every--I made twenty-six appearances a month all around this city [Chicago], little league banquets, rotary clubs. There's so many organizations. I said, "gosh, I don't believe all the organizations around." You know, they'd ask me to come and speak, sign autographs, do this, do that, do that. Go over here. Go over there. Go here. And Lou Boudreau had told me that, "your life is going to really change; you're going to be real busy." So it was a time when a lot of change was going on socially in this city, and they were using me as a vehicle to express the social change in housing, primarily. Some senator came up with a lot of this. So he would go to a community like Glencoe [Illinois], said, "what do you feel if Ernie Banks moved into your neighborhood?" And a lot of people, "oh, we don't care. He's a great guy, blah-blah-blah-blah." And in some places, you know, they didn't. So he was just doing a research with my name. I didn't even know who he was, but I got letters from the people, said, "you're moving to this city. You're moving to that city," all the suburbs, 'cause they were trying to integrate most of the suburbs around Chicago. So I mean I was just speaking and talking and eating chicken and getting--I got food poisoning. Put myself in the hospital. Seems like nobody was ever around. Nobody was ever around. Told myself, I said: "where are all the people? Where are the people who said they loved me. Ain't nobody around."00/00/197700/00/1978Ability::Athletic abilityAutobiographical::Public imageAutobiographical::Self reliance and successAutobiographical::Work and careerAwardsBanks, Ernie, 1931-Sports::Baseball::African American baseball playersSports::Baseball::ProfessionalSocial integrationLocations::US::Illinois::ChicagoSports::Baseball::Professional::National Baseball Hall of Fame