Ernie banks number

There isn’t, I don’t believe, any doubt among Cubs fans as to who the greatest Cubs player of all time is.

It’s obviously Ernie Banks — he even bears the honorary title “Mr. Cub.” Even if you never saw him play in person, or if you’re too young to have watched him live on TV, that ramrod-straight bat in his batting stance pictured above is something all Cubs fans know.

Ernie’s 512 home runs are a number seared into the memories of Cubs fans, even though that’s no longer the franchise record. That’s 545, held by Sammy Sosa.

But Ernie’s 512 homers were hit in a lower-offense era than the steroid-fueled times Sammy played in, and that’s part of what I want to take a close look at here.

In many ways, Banks was the prototype of today’s power-hitting middle infielder. When Ernie debuted, middle infielders were expected to produce great defense. If they hit, so much the better, but some didn’t. Even Don Kessinger and Glenn Beckert, All-Stars for many years as the Cubs’ shortstop and second baseman, weren’t great hitters, and many of that time were far worse.

But Banks, installed as

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