Sometimes The Greats Never Win… Ernie Banks Never Won, Cubs at Mets, 23 September, 1962

Classic Baseball Radio

He's probably the greatest first basemen of all time, with a career .273, 2,583 hits, 1,305 runs, and 1,636 RBI; he was called up to the All-Star game fourteen times, and was the ninth player to reach 500 home runs.

Yet Ernie Banks never won a World Series ring.

Why? The simple answer is that he started his Major League career with the Chicago Cubs, played with them for eighteen years, and retired as a Cub. His one-club career earned him the nickname “Mr. Cub,” which he wore with pride and a smile. Unfortunately, the Cubs’ record over a nearly two-decade span is best forgotten (especially the 1969 collapse of 17 losses in the last 25 games of the regular season).

For today's game, we're going back to September 1962. The New York Mets are finishing up their first season in their temporary home of the Polo Fields. The baseball world expected this to be the final game at the hallowed ground (but some fun and games at Shea Stadium meant the Mets would return here in 1963).

The team of Lindsey Nelson, Ralph Kiner, and Bob Murphy calls what they think is the final Polo Ground game. The Cubs are 57-100 and second-last in the league, and the Mets are last. In the head-to-head, the bottom-of-the-table teams are level at 7-7 with four games to play…

You can find the boxscore here:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN196209230.shtml

This game was played on 23 September, 1962.