the recent death of ERNIE BANKS brought back some memories and here's a couple:

 when i was a kid, the one thing that always caused a ruckus was when my brother and i started to "discuss" the relative merits of the two shortstops in town, LUIS APARICIO of the white sox and ERNIE BANKS of the cubs.  my guy with the sox was fast, led the league in stolen bases and was a premier defensive player. banks was mr. personality, a prodigious home run hitter and also good defensively.  after about 5 minutes of "is so" and "is not," the discussion normally deteriorated into a wrestling match in the living room and if dad was home, we both got tossed outside to finish in the back yard. (yes, my brother always won the match)

ERNIE BANKS was one of a kind.  i had the pleasure of talking with him on numerous occasions at baseball card shows and i never saw him in a bad mood and he ALWAYS had time for the fans.  he even remembered that i was a police officer and he would stage whisper "five-oh, five-oh" when i approached his table, all with a big grin on his face. 

sometimes he would pretend like he dropped his pen under the autograph table and disappear just so he could untie somebody's gym shoe. when they knelt down to fix it, ernie would pop up and repeatedly say "who's next? who's next?" and then just crack up at his own joke.

sometime around 2002, bruce bartosz & i were at a show in rosemont to collect some items for his green bay packer collection. i was walking with a cane and when we went to leave and it was pouring so bartosz went across the street to get the car. while i was waiting, ernie walked out and we talked for a minute until bartosz pulled up in the circle drive.  i asked ernie if he wanted a ride to the restaurant across the street so he could stay dry and he accepted.

 he got in and i introduced him to bruce, who shook hands and started to exit the circle drive.  ernie says "oh, i forgot my briefcase. can you go back to the front door?" so bartosz navigates the ONE WAY circle drive at the convention center and when he reaches the front door, ernie suddenly remembers that he gave the briefcase to his agent. "sorry about that, we can go."

bruce heads out again and ernie now declares that he forgot his umbrella. bartosz exhales not-so-quietly and fights the congestion back to the front door. ernie is right next to bartosz in the front seat and he's holding his hands over his mouth to stifle his laughter as bruce concentrated on the city-like traffic. when we reach the door to get the 'forgotten' umbrella, ernie declares that "the rain looks like it's letting up and what's a few raindrops anyway?"

as we depart for the third time, ernie suddenly says "stop!" and bruce damn near sends both of us thru the windshield when he slams the brakes.  "what's wrong?"  ernie pats bruce on the shoulder and says, "if you don't mind, i'll walk because all you do is drive in circles!" ernie then belly laughed and exited the truck. i laughed all the way home and after a few minutes, even bruce laughed.

he loved the game, the fans, the competition and life in general. godspeed, ERNIE.