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player ready...At times in the past few weeks, it seemed as if almost everyone had a story to tell about Chicago Cubs legend Ernie Banks or White Sox star Minnie Minoso.
Their deaths touched thousands of baseball fans for a simple reason. They were kind to strangers.
Sure, both of them were very good ballplayers (Banks is a member of the Hall of Fame), but there have been a lot of great athletes who have played in this city who never touched the hearts of the fans the way those two did.
Part of it, a very large part of it, was the fact that they seemed to understand how lucky they were.
During their playing days, neither man made the millions of dollars, or in some cases hundreds of millions of dollars, earned by today’s professional sports stars.
They broke the color barrier for the two teams and likely encountered racial bias on a level that would make many men bitter.
And, as we all know, Banks never got a chance to play in the World Series, yet not only remained a Cub his entire career but loved being a Cub.
That love, of life and baseball, is what came through to anyone who ever met the two men and even to many who never got the opportunity.
They signed autographs. Smiled. Played the game hard. And seemed to understand that the fans cared as much about the outcome of the game they played as they did.
Banks and Minoso allowed us to share that passion with them, while most professional athletes let us know that it’s all about them and we’re simply the folks who buy a ticket.
I realize not everyone has an outgoing personality. Some people have a difficult time forcing a smile. Hey, I’m a grumpy guy myself, so I certainly understand the personality type.
But that doesn’t mean you have to be unkind to strangers. It doesn’t mean you have to demean them or make it clear that you feel superior because you’re famous and make more money. That sort of behavior isn’t unique to sports, of course. You see it every day in the workplace or on display when movie stars or musicians pitch a brat-like fit.
Even reality show stars, people with no special talent, seem unable to enjoy their good fortune in life. They’ve won the lottery, but they appear to be miserable.
When ordinary people talk about Banks and Minoso, they often bring up the name of another Chicago sports legend, Walter Payton. “Sweetness” was the nickname of the guy who played one of the toughest competitive sports on the planet and chose to run into opponents attempting to tackle him rather than run out of bounds.
Payton played for a lot of lousy Chicago Bears football teams, but he always gave maximum effort and always seemed to enjoy playing football. Like Banks and Minoso, he spent a lot of time in Chicago away from the game. And when he attended public events in retirement as a fan, crowds stood and cheered.
I don’t know if Jay Cutler could ever evoke the same sort of emotion from Chicagoans, even if he some day managed to lead the team to a Super Bowl. Cutler seems perpetually perturbed, like a guy stuck in expressway traffic constantly changing lanes and looking for the next exit to make his escape.
Jim McMahon, another Bears quarterback, did lead the team to the only Super Bowl victory in Bears history and certainly seemed to enjoy every moment of his celebrity. But you got the feeling he couldn’t wait to leave Chicago and head for the nearest golf course.
No one embraced celebrity more than Michael Jordan, who brought more sports championships to Chicago than any other professional athlete in our history. And it was clear that he loved playing basketball.
Yet Jordan, especially near the end of his career and in retirement, seemed more concerned about how much money he could make than with relating to the fans who loved him and bought his shoes, underwear and favorite sports drinks with their hard-earned money.
He’s idolized and recognized by people throughout the world but will never touch the hearts of Chicagoans the way that Banks and Minoso did. He’s just that not that kind of guy.
Kindness and caring, the sort of things that make other people feel important, the ability to make them feel special because you shook their hand or patted their child on the head, is a rare and underappreciated thing.
Nobody has ever given a baseball player a pay raise because he’s a nice guy or handed out a long-term contract to a running back because he relates well to people. It’s all about performance and results on the playing field. I get that, and so do most professional athletes. It’s a business, as they say.
But Banks and Minoso reminded us with no apparent effort that their business was fun. I’m not talking baseball now, which sure ought to be fun to play, but the way they approached public life.
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Due to the legal battle over Banks’ estate and the fact that the Cubs had to come up with the money to pay for his funeral, we know Banks had his share of misfortune in his private life. Maybe he gave more of himself to his fans than he did to his family.
Minoso had to leave his native Cuba to play baseball in the U.S. That was a great opportunity for him, but leaving your homeland for the hope of a better future is a decision that always comes with a heavy price.
Despite their personal troubles, they made the effort to make other people feel better about themselves. Fans who never saw either man play a single game felt a sense of loss when they died.
Few have the talent to hit a baseball at the Major League level, throw a touchdown pass in an NFL game or hit a jump shot in the NBA. But all of us can aspire to kindness, which in the end, is what made Minoso and Banks so special.