May 12, 1970 — Ernie Banks hits his 500th home run
- Mark Potash
- May 12
- 4 min read
Ernie Banks still had it when the 1970 season opened, but he was losing it. Banks hit 23 home runs and had 106 RBIs (fifth in the National League) and made the All-Star team in 1969. But he hit .253 and struck out a career-high 101 times and his .725 OPS (an unrecognized stat at the time) was the second-worst of his career.
That would be the last credible season of Banks' illustrious Cubs career. He wanted to play until Sept. 7, 1973 — giving him 20 full years in the big leagues. But at 39 in 1970, he was running out of time. As it turned out, he had just two seasons and 111 games left.
Coverage of Ernie Banks' 500th home run in the Chicago Tribune on May 13, 1970.
But Banks had enough left for one moment of glory in 1970. On May 12, he hit his 500th home run, a line shot off the Braves' Pat Jarvis before a small crowd on a Tuesday afternoon at Wrigley Field. It was a much bigger accomplishment in those days — Banks was only the ninth player in baseball history to reach that milestone (he's 23rd today). And Banks had long established himself as Chicago sports royalty by then.
The Cubs' trailed 2-0 with two outs and nobody on base in the bottom of the second inning when Banks hit No. 500. He later hit a sacrifice fly to get the Cubs within 3-2 — and both RBIs mattered. Billy Williams tied the game 3-3 with a home run off Hoyt Wilhelm leading off the bottom of the ninth. And Ron Santo — the guy who Cub fans used to say never hit in the clutch — won it with a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 11th. The Cubs were 16-12 and in first place in the NL East.
The day before, Hank Aaron hit his 568th career homer (off Archie Reynolds) to beat the Cubs 7-6 in 10 innings. Aaron went 4-for-5 to give him 2,995 career hits — he was on his way to becoming the first player in baseball history to hit 500 home runs and have 3,000 hits. At 36, Aaron led the NL in home runs (14) and RBIs (35) and was ninth in hitting at .342.
Ernie Banks' 500th home run made the afternoon papers on May 12, 1970.
A later edition of the Chicago Daily News with the Cubs-Braves final score.
Here's a blast from the past — Banks hit his home run early enough to make the afternoon papers. Then Daily News had it in its early edition (with the Cubs-Braves game through four innings) — and updated it for its late edition. Afternoon papers were the internet of that day (with SportsPhone to follow).
Attendance for the game was announced at 5,264 — including my parents, because Tuesday was my dad's only day off. My dad sent the ticket stubs to the Cubs to get them autographed by Ernie Banks and he did it. At least I think he did it. After posting the stubs on social media, I've been told those are stamped autographs. Either way, still a great piece of memorabilia. (One of them is in rougher shape than the other because I took it to school to show off to my friends — probably should have taken better care of the stub, but we weren't thinking about condition, or value, back in those days.)
Ticket stubs from Ernie Banks' 500th home run game, autographed (maybe, maybe not!) by Ernie Banks.
One other note about that event. The following day, the Mets came into town for the first time since the dreadful 1969 season when the took advantage of a Cubs collapse to overcome a 9 1/2-game deficit on Aug. 15 to win the NL East, the NL pennant and the World Series. Gary Gentry had a no-hitter with two outs in the eighth inning before Banks broke it up with a sinking line single to left field.
Banks' homer off Jarvis was his third of the season. He would finished with 12 to get to 509 and hit three more in 1971 to finish his career with 512 — tied with Braves slugger Eddie Mathews for seventh on the all-time list.
The City (early) edition of the Chicago Sun-Times on May 13, 1970.
The Final edition of the Sun-Times on May 13, 1970.
Comments