Ernie Banks Quotes

#1. People ask me a lot about the values I got from playing for the Cubs for so many years. The value I got out of it was patience. A lot of people these days are not very patient.

Ernie Banks

#2. Spring training means flowers, people coming outdoors, sunshine, optimism and baseball. Spring training is a time to think about being young again.

Ernie Banks

#3. No, I think the pitching today has more depth.

Ernie Banks

#4. During my time, there might have been one pitcher or two that were top pitchers on a team. Teams that won maybe had three, but today they have a lot of depth. They have a lot of long relievers, short relievers, and the strategy is different.

Ernie Banks

#5. Did you hear that? I didn't hear anything. Put that question another way.

Ernie Banks

#6. It's a kind of philosophy of my own life, to create the energy enough to keep on going.

Ernie Banks

#7. I own stock, and I also insure my car with Geico.

Ernie Banks

#8. You must try to generate happiness within yourself. If you aren't happy in one place, chances are you won't be happy anyplace.

Ernie Banks

#9. Loyalty and friendship, which is to me the same, created all the wealth that I've ever thought I'd have.

Ernie Banks

#10. The Cubs are due in sixty-two.

Ernie Banks

#11. The only way to prove that you're a good sport is to lose.

Ernie Banks

#12. Another friend hired me to open doors for him in the moving and relocation business. I did that for 10 years, am still doing it. And I do some work for the Cubs, in community relations.

Ernie Banks

#13. The Cubs are gonna shine in sixty-nine.

Ernie Banks

#14. I like my players to be married and in debt. That's the way you motivate them.

Ernie Banks

#15. But it all comes down to friendship, treating people right.

Ernie Banks

#16. I was thinking (when he hit his 500th home run) about my mother and dad, about all the people in the Chicago Cubs organization that helped me and about the wonderful Chicago fans who have come out all these years to cheer me on. They've been a great inspiration to me.

Ernie Banks

#17. Work? I never worked a day in my life. I always loved what I was doing, had a passion for it.

Ernie Banks

#18. It's a beautiful day for a ballgame - let's play two!

Ernie Banks

#19. It's a great day for a ball game; let's play two!

Ernie Banks

#20. I learned from Mr. Wrigley, early in my career, that loyalty wins and it creates friendships. I saw it work for him in his business.

Ernie Banks

#21. The measure of a man is in the lives he's touched.

Ernie Banks

#22. That's a real void in my life. I see a lot of people who struggled and went to jail and the dogs were after them. I'd look them in the eyes and say, 'God almighty, I wish I'd have been there.'

Ernie Banks

#23. The riches of the game are in the thrills, not the money.

Ernie Banks

#24. Awards mean a lot, but they don't say it all. The people in baseball mean more to me than statistics.

Ernie Banks

#25. Mr. Wrigley believed in this: Put all your eggs in one basket and watch the basket. They don't do that today. This is the old-fashioned way I'm talking about. He carried it on to his business. Do one thing and stay with it.

Ernie Banks

#26. It would be a lot different for me because there is a lot of information that you need to know about as a player. How pitchers are pitching you, how defenses are playing, certain situations about certain pitchers.

Ernie Banks