MLB / Players

Ernie Banks

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 1 in · 180 lb

BornJanuary 31, 1931 · Dallas, TX, USA

MLB debutSeptember 17, 1953

Final gameSeptember 26, 1971

Seasons19 (1953–1971)

Chicago Cubs 1953–1971

Percentile snapshot

1969 season — qualified batters

155

73.3

629

60.8

565

24.2

143

47.5

30.8

16.7

72.5

RBI

106

91.7

23.3

101

16.7

95.8

.253

17.5

OBP

.309

SLG

.416

50.8

OPS

.725

39.2

wRC+

88.5

18.3

OPS+

92.2

21.7

wOBA

.328

31.7

sWAR

-0.2

5.8

of 121 qualified 1969 batters (min 505 PA)

Career, era-adjusted

wRC+

117.9

76.1

OPS+

121.1

80.8

sWAR

51.0

98.9

wRC+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 of them; OPS+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1953	10	39	35	3	11	1	1	2	6	4	5	0	0	.314	.385	.571	.956	142.1	141.8	.414	0.4
1954	154	649	593	70	163	19	7	19	79	40	50	6	10	.275	.326	.427	.753	90.9	93.1	.335	2.2
1955	154	646	596	98	176	29	9	44	117	45	72	9	3	.295	.345	.596	.941	142.1	142.6	.402	6.4
1956	139	593	538	82	160	25	8	28	85	52	62	6	9	.297	.358	.530	.887	132.2	135.3	.378	5.0
1957	156	674	594	113	169	34	6	43	102	70	85	8	4	.285	.360	.579	.939	146.7	147.5	.400	6.7
1958	154	682	617	119	193	23	11	47	129	52	87	4	4	.313	.366	.614	.980	153.9	155.2	.415	7.6
1959	155	671	589	97	179	25	6	45	143	64	72	2	4	.304	.374	.596	.970	149.0	153.6	.409	7.0
1960	156	678	597	94	162	32	7	41	117	71	69	1	3	.271	.350	.554	.904	135.7	143.3	.381	5.9
1961	138	573	511	75	142	22	4	29	80	54	75	1	2	.278	.346	.507	.852	112.6	120.1	.360	3.1
1962	154	657	610	87	164	20	6	37	104	30	71	5	1	.269	.306	.503	.809	105.7	109.6	.352	1.4
1963	130	484	432	41	98	20	1	18	64	39	73	0	3	.227	.292	.403	.695	82.9	93.4	.300	-0.6
1964	157	637	591	67	156	29	6	23	95	36	84	1	2	.264	.307	.450	.757	102.6	106.7	.330	0.9
1965	163	680	612	79	162	25	3	28	106	55	64	3	5	.265	.328	.453	.781	109.1	114.2	.340	1.5
1966	141	554	511	52	139	23	7	15	75	29	59	0	1	.272	.315	.432	.747	99.9	103.7	.326	0.7
1967	151	615	573	68	158	26	4	23	95	27	93	2	2	.276	.310	.455	.765	110.9	112.1	.342	1.5
1968	150	595	552	71	136	27	0	32	83	27	67	2	0	.246	.287	.469	.756	120.0	118.6	.344	1.9
1969	155	629	565	60	143	19	2	23	106	42	101	0	0	.253	.309	.416	.725	88.5	92.2	.328	-0.2
1970	72	247	222	25	56	6	2	12	44	20	33	0	0	.252	.313	.459	.772	91.6	95.8	.341	0.0
1971	39	92	83	4	16	2	0	3	6	6	14	0	0	.193	.247	.325	.572	42.8	52.9	.262	-0.5

Career totals

2,528

53rd-most career G

10,395

63rd-most career PA

9,421

50th-most career AB

1,305

126th-most career R

2,583

90th-most career H

407

184th-most career 2B

215th-most career 3B

512

23rd-most career HR

RBI

1,636

33rd-most career RBI

763

305th-most career BB

1,236

208th-most career SO

.2742

OBP

.3300

SLG

.4995

126th-highest career slugging percentage

OPS

.8295

287th-highest career OPS

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	TB
1962-05-29	ATL @ CHC Gameday	5	3	4	1	3	4	0	14
1955-08-04	PIT @ CHC Gameday	5	4	4	0	3	7	0	13
1963-06-09	LAD @ CHC Gameday	5	3	3	0	3	4	0	12
1957-09-14	PIT @ CHC Gameday	3	4	3	0	3	3	1	12
1967-06-25	HOU @ CHC Gameday	4	2	4	0	2	4	0	10

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1953-04-16	CHC @ STL Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1953-04-26	STL @ CHC Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1953-04-28	CHC @ PIT Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1953-04-29	CHC @ PIT Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1953-05-10	CHC @ ATL Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

Hall of Fame, 1977 (BBWAA)

2× Most Valuable Player1× Gold Glove11× All-Star

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.