Ernie Banks

Overview

Respected by his baseball peers and beloved by Chicago fans and teammates, Ernie Banks did everything there was to do in the game he loved. Everything, that is, except play in a World Series. How and why that experience eluded him during one season of particular promise—1969—is a key storyline of this fresh look at one of baseball's legendary players. The life of Banks, who had picked cotton outside Dallas as a youth, ascended from a barnstorming semipro team to the major leagues after Kansas City Monarchs manager Buck O'Neil placed him with the Cubs, is detailed in this biography of Mr. Cub. During his time in Chicago, Banks won two MVPs and received an education far better than the one he received in the segregated schools he'd attended, gaining important life skills while playing the game he was born to play.

Author Biography

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Media

Triblocal.com Batavia says Ernie Banks: Mr. Cub & the Summer of '69 "is a brilliantly researched and well-written profile of one of Chicago’s most beloved sports heroes, combined with a compelling account of the tragic 1969 season."

Phil Rogers stops by WBEZ's Eight Forty-Eight to discuss Ernie Banks.

The Midweek takes a look at Total White Sox, Said In Stone & Ernie Banks.

Phil Rogers joins WJBC to discuss the Cubs and Ernie Banks.

The Chicago Sun-Times reviews Said In Stone and Ernie Banks.

WCFCourier.com takes a look at Said In Stone and Ernie Banks.

WGN-TV takes a closer look at Ernie Banks.

Phil Rogers visits with Greg Jarrett to talk about Ernie Banks: Mr. Cub and the Summer of '69.

Ernie Banks author Phil Rogers stops by Chicago Tonight.

Phil Rogers stops by WXRX to discuss Ernie Banks.

Book Signings

Past Events

Press Releases

Mr. Cub and the Summer of '69

By Phil Rogers/Foreword by Thomas Boswell

Contact: Bill Ames, Triumph Books, 312.252.1248, b.ames@triumphbooks.com

From his days growing up outside Dallas, Texas, to a brilliant baseball career that lead him to the Hall of Fame in 1977, to enjoying a life after baseball as the most beloved ballplayer in the Windy City, Chicago Cubs legend Ernie Banks has devoted much of his life to his love of baseball.  Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune writes of his treasured time as a Cubs player, his favorite teammates and his one regret in life in this brand-new biography, Ernie Banks: Mr. Cub and the Summer of '69.

Rogers shares many of the most memorable stories of his major league career, including:

• His experience picking cotton in north Texas as a youth
• His thoughts on the 1964 trade that sent Lou Brock to St. Louis
• How people like Buck O'Neill, Leo Durocher and Phil Wrigley touched his life
• The incredible highs and difficult lows of the 1969 season
• Becoming a team ambassador after his playing days were over

This endearing story of perseverance and determination in Ernie Banks: Mr. Cub and the Summer of '69 sheds a new light on both the memorable performances he achieved as a ballplayer and the life that Banks faced off the field since his retirement in 1971.  It has been forty years since such a comprehensive Ernie Banks biography was released, and Rogers brings Mr. Cub's life full-circle in this outstanding book on a true Chicago north side legend. 

Banks, with his notable humble and fun-loving personality, lays it all on the line in his interviews with Rogers and shares stories and insights about behind-the-scenes humor in the clubhouses and what goes on between teammates as they played together for months at a time each season.  All Banks needed to live out his dream was to play baseball and do it well.  He accomplished his dreams, fought through the hard times and inspires others to do the same in Ernie Banks: Mr. Cub and the Summer of '69, a must-read for each and every Cubs fan.

About the Author:

Phil Rogers is the national baseball columnist for the Chicago Tribune. As a beat reporter he has covered the Chicago White Sox and Texas Rangers. His work has appeared on ESPN.com and in Baseball America, Sports Illustrated and Inside Sports. He is the author of three books, all on baseball, including Say It's So, a look at the 2005 champion White Sox and how they were put together. He graduated from North Texas State University. Like Ernie Banks, he was born in Dallas, Texas. He lives in Naperville, Illinois, with his wife, Anne McElaney, and two children, Shelby and Dylan. 

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