Chicago Cubs legend Ernie Banks passed away Friday night from a heart attack, his wife and attorney announced Sunday afternoon.
“Ernie passed away on Friday evening, January 23, after suffering from a heart attack. It was seven days before his 84th birthday,” Mark Bogen, Banks’ attorney, said at a news conference in Chicago.
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A public memorial for Banks will held from Wednesday morning through Saturday at Daley Plaza. A bronze statue of Ernie Banks that usually stands outside Wrigley Field, but was temporarily removed during the Wrigley Field bleacher renovations, will be placed in the Plaza for fans to honor and remember "Mr. Cub."
“We are bringing Ernie’s statue to Daley Plaza to honor not just one of the best ballplayers of all time, but a great man who made our city proud from the day we first met him in 1953,” mayor Rahm Emanuel said Sunday.
Banks quickly became one of the top bats in baseball, crushing 44 home runs and batting .295/.345/.596 in 1955, his second full season with the Cubs. His MVP seasons came in 1958 and 1959, when he hit a combined 92 home runs and drove in 272 combined runs. Banks was also named NL Player of the Year by The Sporting News in those two seasons.
Banks’ 512 home runs is tied for 22nd all-time. His 277 homers as a shortstop are second only to Cal Ripken Jr.’s 345.
Before beginning his major league career in 1953, Banks, a Dallas native, played for the Negro League Kansas City Monarchs in 1950 and served two years in the military. He was the Cubs’ first black player.
Banks holds Cubs record for games played (2,528), extra-base hits (1,009), at-bats (9,421) and total bases (4,706). He was inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1977.
Funeral arrangements were being finalized, but have not been announced at this time. It's rumored that his funeral will be a "double-header" for the man who famously said, "Let's play two."