Ernie Banks Hits His 500th Home Run

On May 12, 1970, Ernie Banks hit his 500th career home run off Pat Jarvis of the Atlanta Braves at Wrigley Field. The ball landed in the left field bleachers. Banks was 39 years old, and the milestone made him the ninth player in major league history to reach 500 home runs.

Banks had been the best player on bad teams for most of his career. The Cubs didn't finish above .500 in any of his first 14 seasons. He won back-to-back National League MVP awards in 1958 and 1959 while playing for a club that finished fifth both years, a testament to how overwhelming his individual production was. He hit 47 home runs in 1958 as a shortstop, a position that wasn't supposed to produce that kind of power.

By 1970, Banks had moved to first base and his body was wearing down. He played only 72 games that season. The 500th home run was a bright spot in a final chapter defined by diminishing returns and a franchise that still couldn't win. The Cubs had collapsed in September 1969, blowing a nine-and-a-half-game lead to the Miracle Mets, and Banks had been part of that heartbreak.

He retired after the 1971 season with 512 home runs and a .274 career average. He never played in a postseason game. Not once in 19 seasons. The phrase "Let's play two," his signature expression of enthusiasm, became a shorthand for everything Banks represented, optimism in the face of relentless losing.

The Hall of Fame inducted him in 1977 on the first ballot. His number 14 flies on a flag above the left field foul pole at Wrigley, near the spot where the 500th home run landed.