A man walked down Addison Street late Saturday morning with a bouquet of flowers, placing it at the makeshift shrine outside Wrigley Field.
A white No. 14 jersey hung from the railing. A Cubs hat, a Cubs helmet, at least one opened Budweiser can and a homemade poster lined the sidewalk. People held up their iPhones to take pictures of the memorial and the name in lights on the marquee:
ERNIE BANKS “MR. CUB” 1931-2015.
Ernie Banks did it his way. That usually implies a bully with a big ego, a loner making enemies while getting ahead. But for Mr. Cub, this always meant killing them with kindness.
That begins to explain the outpouring of emotions in Chicago and all across the country. The team’s official press release on Friday night did not identify a cause of death for Banks, who would have celebrated his 84th birthday on Jan. 31.
“He (meant) so much to Chicago fans,” Hall of Famer Billy Williams said. “He was always that positive guy. And when I got the news, it’s just like somebody shot bullets through my heart.”
READ MORE AT CSNChicago.com
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