Ebook Let Play Two The Legend of Mr Cub the Life of Ernie Banks eBook Ron Rapoport
Download As PDF : Let Play Two The Legend of Mr Cub the Life of Ernie Banks eBook Ron Rapoport
Ebook Let Play Two The Legend of Mr Cub the Life of Ernie Banks eBook Ron Rapoport
"Ron Rapoport has written a brilliant biography of an important man, Ernie Banks. Rapoport captures the essence of Mr. Cub, a complicated, self-made star who touched a generation of baseball fans."
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Let Play Two The Legend of Mr Cub the Life of Ernie Banks eBook Ron Rapoport Reviews :
Let Play Two The Legend of Mr Cub the Life of Ernie Banks eBook Ron Rapoport Reviews
- Ron Rapoport has written a brilliant biography of an important man, Ernie Banks. Rapoport captures the essence of Mr. Cub, a complicated, self-made star who touched a generation of baseball fans.
- Got it for a gift. I’ll read it after the recipient.
- Pleasant read.
- Until the Braves moved to Milwaukee, the Cubs were "my" team and Ernie Banks was my hero. I kept all of his stats and is some way he helped instill in me a deep commitment to Civil Rights.
"I kept my mouth shut but tried to make a difference. My whole life, I've just wanted to make people better".
Later I went to Mississippi to do legal work in behalf of the movement, and some of my associates felt he should have been more outspoken. I disagreed -- he led for me by quiet example.
These words capture a great deal about the man that I admired, not only as a Cubbie, but as a man
"My philosophy about race relations is that I'm the man and I'll set my own patterns in life. I don't rely on anyone else's opinions. I look at a man as a human being; I don't care about his color. Some people feel that because you are black you will never be treated fairly, and that you should voice your opinions, be militant about them. I don't feel this way. You can't convince a fool against his will ... If a man doesn't like me because I'm black, that's fine. I'll just go elsewhere, but I'm not going to let him change my life."
This well written, deeply researched book is a real pleasure to read. It brought back many memories, and it taught me a great deal about a boyhood hero -- a hero even now that I am 82.
Robert C. Ross
March 2019 - Ernie Banks had an oddly-timed career and was an unlikely success. He didn't start playing ball until his mid-teens, had very little formal instruction, spent a bit of time playing for the dying Negro Leagues, and then found himself -- boom! -- in 1953, one of the first generation of black major leaguers. Thus, we have someone with exceptional athletic abilities who was a sponge (he learned while doing.) And he was green! And rural! (He spent a year picking cotton instead of going to school.)
Rapoport does a brilliant job explaining why Banks naturally became the ideal "company man" for the Cubs franchise -- a talent for the ages, yes, but also an unflagging booster, devoted to the idea of team, ever-smiling and never-problematic. Not exactly a superstar for the 1960's and 70's.
The prose here is lean. The research is sold. We get it all the glory years as a dominant shortstop who hit for power, the rise and fall of the late 1960's Cubs, his transition into glad-handing ex-player, his troubled personal relationships, and, yes, his disappointments and bitterness and personal weaknesses. It is shame that Banks didn't live long into old age. He would have been a compelling elder statesman whose ideas about color and fame and achievement and business could have creeped out a bit in his later years. - Maybe the years have rolled by and nowadays there might be many who don’t know who said those words and the impact they had on baseball and the nation. To me, they epitomized the character of a fantastic ballplayer, one I thoroughly enjoyed as I spent my youth in the suburbs of Chicago. I still remember my father telling me that even if the rest of the team wasn’t hitting, you could count on Ernie Banks regularly swatting balls out of the park.
Author Ron Rapoport hits a grand slam with his book on Ernie. “Let’s Play Two†is a revealing look at not only a talented athlete, but the man who quietly gave so many years to the Chicago Cubs, a team that spent most of his career out of contention. The book is amazing, and the extensive list of sources – interviews and publications -- explains why.
Along the way, Mr. Rapoport fleshes out the story in many directions. Ernie Banks was brought to the Cubs in the early days when most players were white and fans were still not used to black players on the roster. The author does not shy away from the racism, and recounts numerous stories that are hard to believe 55-65 years later. Players like Banks quietly took the abuse and internalized it.
The glory and the pain of 1969 is relived, bringing back the memories that evince flashes of a rollercoaster ride that climbed to such heights and then swiftly rocketed back down to the bottom. While we see Ernie on this trip, there are plenty of moments that help us to understand the make-up of Cubs roster as well as the rest of the league.
Overall, an informative book that provides plenty of backdrop to help explain the central character. Ernie Banks was a hometown hero and the player that every team in the league wanted to have. Mr. Rapoport artfully explains this in what is probably the best sports biography I have ever read. Five stars.
My thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Books for an advance complimentary copy of this book. - Although I am not a Cubs fan, I can't resist a good baseball bio. Ron Rappoprt gives us a great story in Let's Play Two The Legend of Mr. Cub, the Life of Ernie Banks. Banks grew up in Texas and seemed to fall almost accidentally into baseball as a profession. In fact, his whole life seems rather passive, letting things happen and seeming not to mind when they go badly. On the surface, he seemed like the epitome of an easy going guy who went with the flow. But after a while, you realize he was angry. It's a surprise because Banks never displayed his angry side to the public, but it's also not a surprise, because he had to put up with a lot and it would make anyone angry. In addition to learning about Banks the man and the baseball player, there's plenty of interesting background about the evolution of baseball in the second half of the 20th century and life in Chicago and on the road for a Major Leaguer.
