Ernie Banks is perhaps the most popular ballplayer in the history of the Chicago Cubs--a man as famous for his personality and trademark phrases as for his accomplishments on the field. Nicknamed "Mr. Cub," Banks won two National League Most Valuable Player awards and slugged 512 home runs, all while battling discrimination and poverty. His conduct away from the field was so exemplary he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Based on extensive research and personal interviews conducted by the author, this biography details the life of the Texas-born shortstop and first baseman, from his childhood playing softball to his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame to his death in 2015.

With his boundless optimism and enthusiasm for the game of baseball, Ernie Banks embodied what it meant to be a Cubs fan. Celebrate the magnificent, ground-breaking career of "Mr. Cub," a Chicago icon who touched the lives of millions, with this collection of stories and photographs from the staff of the Chicago Tribune.

Since Babe Ruth joined the New York Yankees in the 1920s, America has been intrigued with baseball sluggers and teams that stuff the middle of their batting order with power. Even today, sports fans flip to ESPN to see who hit the dingers of the day. Yes, we like to see great catches and outstanding pitching performances, but its the home runs we live for. The 1960s was a decade of some of the greatest slugging combinations in baseball history. From Maris and Mantle to McCovey and Mays, the decades memories will live forever!

Everything you ever wanted to know about first base, but were too afraid to ask

Ernie Banks, named for the legendary Chicago Cubs shortstop, is a troubled, thirteen-year-old juvenile delinquent. Abandoned on the doorstep of the Lakeside Home for Boys when he was three years old, he's now considered a "lifer," a permanent ward of the state. As a last reprieve before being sent to a juvenile detention facility, Ernie is allowed to spend three weeks on a working farm. When Ernie arrives at the home of Russ Frazier, he learns that the widower's baby was kidnapped years before, leaving behind a red quilt as the single piece of evidence.

This reference work, updated since the 1997 edition, provides comprehensive information on the major professional leagues in North America--baseball, basketball, football, hockey and soccer. Arranged chronologically, the entries for each league in each sport include individual statistical leaders, championship results, major rules changes, winners of major awards, and hall of fame inductees.

The Cubs have called Wrigley their home since 1916 and have treated their loyal followers with memories that have lasted for generations. From the legend of Babe Ruth's called shot to Kerry Wood's dominant twenty-strikeout performance, great games, notable names and a multitude of memorable moments have played out at Clark and Addison to create baseball's most recognizable relationship: the Cubs and Wrigley Field. The authors of Wrigley Field: 100 Stories for 100 Years return to celebrate this grand anniversary with Cubs 100: A Century at Wrigley, a new collection of baseball tales, including highlights from the exciting 2015 season, from storytellers such as Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, Len Kasper and many others who know the symbiotic connection between the historic franchise and its iconic home.

When Bill James published his original Historical Baseball Abstract in 1985, he produced an immediate classic, hailed by the Chicago Tribune as the “holy book of baseball.” Now, baseball's beloved “Sultan of Stats” (The Boston Globe) is back with a fully revised and updated edition for the new millennium. Like the original, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract is really several books in one. The Game provides a century's worth of American baseball history, told one decade at a time, with energetic facts and figures about How, Where, and by Whom the game was played. In The Players, you'll find listings of the top 100 players at each position in the major leagues, along with James's signature stats-based ratings method called “Win Shares,” a way of quantifying individual performance and calculating the offensive and defensive contributions of catchers, pitchers, infielders, and outfielders. And there's more: the Reference section covers Win Shares for each season and each player, and even offers a Win Share team comparison. A must-have for baseball fans and historians alike, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract is as essential, entertaining, and enlightening as the sport itself.

Was Abner Doubleday the architect of baseball? What exactly did it mean to be a “professional” baseball player in the 1870s? What goes on in the front office? What exactly is the Eephus pitch? What are “the tools of ignorance”? Readers will find the answers to these questions – and many others – in the pages of this remarkable baseball reference that's essential reading for fans of the game. Part history book, part instructional guide, and part reference manual, Baseball FAQ covers all the bases – from the rules of the game to the ballparks of yesterday and today, from the minors to the major league, from the stats to the food. This engaging, compulsively readable tome offers baseball fans of all ages a wealth of fun facts and anecdotes on America's favorite pastime, including sections on the All-American Girls Professional Ball League, the Negro Leagues, the basic skills of baseball, baseball in the movies, the scandals, and the Hall of Famers.

Open this book and explore the life and times of one of the most storied franchises in all of professional sports, the Chicago Cubs. Pairing historical black-and-white images with contemporary photographs of the modern game, Chicago Cubs Yesterday & Today celebrates more than a century of ups and downs in the history of the team and its legions of rabid fans. The book examines the ballparks, the teams, the players, and the colorful characters that have defined Cubs baseball and earned the loyalty of fans nationwide. Photos and text trace the history of the ball club from its origins in the 1870s to the latest accomplishments on the field, comparing the diamond heroes of today with those of yesteryear. In these pages you will encounter legendary batsmen from the Cubs roster, hitters like Cap Anson, Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Ryne Sandberg, Sammy Sosa, and Derrek Lee. Youll see the dominating pitchers, from Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown to Carlos Zambrano. And youll meet the stars of the broadcast booth---Jack Brickhouse, Ronald Reagan, Harry Caray---and other behind-the-scenes figures who have played a revolutionary role in the development of the team and the game of baseball. A feast for Cubs fans and baseball aficionados, this journey through more than a hundred years of Chicago baseball encapsulates our national pastime at its best. It is the next best thing to a seat at Wrigley Field on a sunny summer afternoon.