Mr. Cub

Ernie Banks, a star shortstop for eighteen years with the Chicago Cubs, who never made a playoff but it never dampened his enthusiasm for the game. Our current president, who was probably a White Sox fan, bestowed the Freedom Medal on Ernie in 2013. Not to take from Ernie's legacy but he was the pivot man in the double-play combination of Baker - Banks and Bilko. (To be distinguished from that Philadelphia jeweler Bailey, Banks and Biddle.) In a day when teams traveled by train they were returning from a game in Canada and had to pass thru Customs at the border. Steve Bilko was a hunk of a man- clever with his feet around the bag - but not too swift above the neck. When asked for his place of birth he wrote "Car 8 - lower" - you wouldn't want to make him climb to an upper. But he never got a statue as Ernie did outside Wrigley Field.
tjs