Ernie Banks Interview.
 

I'm putting this here because it's not really about sports.

I was surfing around the car radio while out running some errands yesterday and came across two spots where I found an interesting, if not particularly surprising dualism.

First...local Chicago long-time sports idiot Chet Coppock on right-wing gasbag WLS-Chicago who stated that Ernie had (this is a bit paraphrased) done more for race relations in the City of Chicago than any other public figure in the history of the city. Maybe so...Chet, maybe so.

Then...just an hour or so later on the local NPR an interview of Ernie by local NPR radio show host Steve Edwards (not the talk-show guy from LA), back in 2010. Good interview. So at first it's a lot about Ernie's early years and his surprising disinterest in sports as an adolescent. He didn't really play any ball until he was in his mid-teens, and was recruited by Buck O'Neil to play on the Kansas City Monarchs.

Anyway, Edwards asked some questions about his first years in the majors, and Ernie said he took Jackie Robinson's advice, spent more time listening and learning than talking. So at one point Edwards asks about his relationships with white teammates, and Ernie talked about how he felt generally accepted on the field and as a team member, particularly after he started hitting over 4 HR's and driving in over 100 runs year after year.

Edwards then asks, when did you find yourself more socially accepted away from the ballpark? Ernie says, (again paraphrased) "Never." Edwards is taken aback. "Never? In all the years with the team you were never included socially by any of the white players?" "Never." says Ernie.

So it seems to me that all that race relations goodwill generated by Ernie, may have done a lot for the city of Chicago, but it didn't do much in the way of opening up white players to the possibility of having a guy like Ernie Banks as an actual personal friend.

Then I started thinking, reckon if it's really all that much more different now? Ya think Dez and Illyne are over at Tony and Candice's place for dinner parties and such?

As this set of mentions suggested to me, turns out Mr. Earnie Banks died Jan 24, aged 83. Respect.

And not for the reasons conservatives like him.... :(

I bet their respective Dallas cribs aren't even within twenty miles of each other.

Oh yes...you are absolutely correct. The right loves Ernie.

Ernie was not Hank Aaron, who at some point decided he was not going to mute himself about how he was treated when he was a player or how he has been treated since he retired as well. Ernie was not Curt Flood who refused to back down to ownership about his rights as a human being, or speak out about the ridiculous circumstances he, Bob Gibson, and Bill White were exposed to when they were the only actual star players on the St. Louis Cardinals, outside of Stan the Man.

That does not make Ernie a bad guy...it probably makes him a smart guy, who used his reputation among white Americans as a good nigger to support himself after his playing days were over. Good for him...it's just too bad this country remains what it really is.

http://thedailybanter.com/2014/04/ha...ist-hate-mail/
PS - Congratulations to Daily Banter reporter Tommy Christopher for referring to Hank Aaron as the "true" MLB home run king.

http://thedailybanter.com/2014/04/ha...ist-hate-mail/

No doubt Edward is a liberal Dem. After all, they are the real racists.:rolleyes:

One of the things I find most interesting about Henry Aaron is that when his record was eclipsed by Barry Bonds...it was applause all around and nary a peep out of anybody about how Bonds just cheated his fucking way into the record book. I'm sure it was mostly because white America was so happy to see the uppity jungle-bunny who moved Ruth out of the top spot finally surpassed.

It's a sick country...on the top of the heap in a barbarous world.

Henry Aaron is still the legit lifetime HR king.

Most of us felt no need to protest Bonds; it was obvious due to his 70+ pounds of muscle added. Hammering bank had no need nor use for drugs of any sort.

I agree that Bonds cheated, as do all of these "better living through chemistry" freaks that dominate so many sports today. But I still gotta give the Babe credit for hammering out 60 in a shorter 154 game season and 729 lifetime, especially considering he did it on Booze and cigars. I put him above any of these modern day roid heads

My only argument is your stats. He hit 714. With the most remarkably beautiful swing I have ever seen. As Buck O'Neil once said, "It was poetry in motion when Babe Ruth swung a bat." And you don't give him enough credit, it was booze, cigars, hot dogs, and hookers.

Henry Aaron hit 755.

I always thought it was 729, but I just googled it and it was 714 regular season. The 729 figure includes 15 that he hit in World Series games.