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This Day In Sports…September 2, 1955, 70 years ago today:
Ernie Banks blasts his 40th home run of the year to propel the Chicago Cubs past the St. Louis Cardinals 12-2 at Wrigley Field. That set the record for most homers by a shortstop in MLB history, which Banks would increase to 44 by season’s end. In 1958, the future Hall of Famer would break that mark by hitting 47 homers. Banks’ record would stand until 2001, when Alex Rodriguez snapped it with 52. (A-Rod then bettered that by clubbing 57 dingers in 2002.)
It’s funny—when you see features on the top five shortstops in baseball history, you might see 10 different names sprinkled among the differing lists. But Banks’ name is always there. Before he was signed out of the Negro Leagues in 1953, “home run” and “shortstop” weren’t synonymous. Beginning in 1955, Banks topped 40 home runs in five of the next six seasons. In 1958 and 1959, he became the only shortstop ever to win back-to-back Most Valuable Player awards. During that breakout campaign 1955, Banks also set a record for most grand slams in a season with five.
‘Mr. Cub’ slugged 512 homers all told—he led the National League in dingers twice: in 1958 and 1960. He was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999 and was the first Cub ever to have his number retired (his iconic No. 14) in 1982. Banks loved the game; you can still hear him saying, “Let’s play two!” He died in January of 2015 and didn’t get to see the Cubbies win the 2016 World Series.
You never hear enough about Banks, as he was sometimes overshadowed by the other superstars of his day—like Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle and Harmon Killebrew. But he was right up there with them. In 2022, Sporting News named Banks to its “Mt. Rushmore of Chicago Sports” along with Michael Jordan, Walter Payton and Bobby Hull.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
