Tag Archives: balls and strikes

Saving Mr. Banks’ Game

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Ernie Banks, who passed away last Friday, helped build a legacy that former Commissioner Bud Selig pissed away. Recovering from the Selig era will require big changes to the game. [Credit: Gannett]

Ernie Banks, who passed away last Fri­day, helped build a lega­cy that for­mer Com­mis­sion­er Bud Selig pissed away. Recov­er­ing from the Selig era will require big changes to the game. [Cred­it: Gannett]

Hall of Famer Ernie Banks, whose prodi­gious tal­ents were over­shad­owed by his irre­press­ible good cheer, passed away last Fri­day, two days before Bud Selig stepped down as base­ball commissioner.

Mr. Banks will be missed.

He was part of the gen­er­a­tion of African-Amer­i­can play­ers who trans­formed the sport dur­ing the 1950s and 1960s, help­ing build a fan base that dete­ri­o­rat­ed dur­ing Selig’s seem­ing­ly inter­minable 23-year tenure.  The task of restor­ing that fan base and sav­ing Mr. Banks’ game now falls to Selig’s suc­ces­sor. Con­tin­ue read­ing →