Ernest "Ernie" Banks (born January 31, 1931 in Dallas, Texas) is an American former Major League baseball player who played his entire career with the Chicago Cubs (1953-1971). Banks is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. His nickname was Mr. Cub. He currently resides in the Los Angeles area.

Banks signed with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League in 1950 and broke into the major leagues in 1953 with the Chicago Cubs as their first black player. He played for the Cubs his entire career, starting at shortstop and moving to first base in 1962. Banks wore number 14 as a Cub, and is one of only four Cubs players who have had their number retired by the organization. He is well known for his catch phrase of, "It's a beautiful day for a ballgame... Let's play two!", expressing his wish to play a double-header every day out of his pure love for the game of baseball, especially in his self-described "friendly confines of Wrigley Field." In 1955, he set the record for grand slams in a single season with 5, a record that stood for over twenty years.

Banks won the National League Most Valuable Player Award twice, in 1958 and 1959 despite the fact that the Cubs were not pennant contenders during the season. Jimmy Dykes reportedly remarked that, "Without Ernie Banks, the Cubs would finish in Albuquerque!"[1]

On September 2, 1965, Banks hit his 400th home run, and five years later, on May 12, 1970 at Chicago's Wrigley Field, hit his 500th home run. Banks finished his career with 512 home runs, the most ever by a shortstop. Ernie Banks also currently holds the record for most extra base hits by a Cub with 1,009.