Great Baseball Moments- May 12, 1970- Atlanta Braves vs Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Second inning Pat Jarvis pitching for the Braves- Mr. Cub Ernie Banks- 39 years old and nearing the end of his career- joins the 500 home run club-at the time he was only the 9th member of that exclusive club. Today there are 27 with 500 plus home runs. Ernie Banks would finish his Hall of Fame career in 1971 with 512 home runs- all with the Chicago Cubs.
slicethelife 
Harry Carrey on the call?
I think it was Jack Brickhouse
Definitely Brickhouse. That was his “HEY HEY!”
Harry didn’t come to the Cubs until years later. I think after the Cardinals he served a year in Oakland- then the White Sox- Cubs starting in the 80’s?
1982.
Jack was the announcer for the Cubs from 1948 to 1981 (and for the Sox from 1948 to 1967). Harry was there from 1982 until he died in 1997. Whose statue is outside Wrigley? Harry’s. Who’s the broadcast booth named for? Harry. There’s a statue to Jack outside Tribune Tower (which is no longer Tribune Tower, but is across from the Wrigley Building, both of whom owned the Cubs at one time). I think they should move it up by Wrigley, but they won’t…
A little bitter about it? Yeah…
Harry was at his best in St. Louis.
Agreed. Weird thing was that Bob Elson and Red Rush, who did Sox games in ’70 when Harry was in Oakland, moved to Oakland when Harry came to Chicago. It was like they traded announcers. I think Sox managemnt thought the team would be sold and moved elsewhere, so they didn’t bother to get a radio contract for ’71. Harry arrived and was simulcast on three low-power radio stations (he didn’t do TV until ’73; that was “Mr. Excitement,” Jack Drees…). Depending on which way the wind was blowing, you could sometimes pick up one of them…
recently i listened to some of Harry’s mid 60’s broadcasts with St. Louis- he was terrific. I think its sad that he is remembered for his end with the Cubs.
What a great player…why did Durocher dislike him so much? I’ve read where Ernie was the nicest player ever…well I just answered my own question.
Leo’s autobiography is an interesting read- i think he disliked Ernie because the fans liked Ernie and Leo was going to lose any battle with him. He wrote basically that Ernie was great at the PR- but the guy Leo really liked and said was all that Ernie’s image claimed to be was Billy Williams.
Yea the Mr. Cub nickname probably didn’t set well with Leo.
I was at Wrigley the day BEFORE he hit #500. Every time he came to bat we just KNEW he was going to hit it. His last at bat in the 9th, he hit a triple, and we thought he would go all the way. Nope… they pulled him for a pinch runner. He still got a standing ovation and tipped his cap. Next day, first at bat? BOOM…
So close to seeing it… I saw Schmidt hit 499- the next day he hit 500. It was in Pittsburgh- and he had an at-bat before the end of the game to get 500- I wanted to see 500- my friend who i was with didn’t because he wanted to Pirates to win the game… the Pirates at the time were like 30 games out of first or something- the 500th home run by anyone would be more memorable than a meaningless Pirate win [ i think they lost] oh well… the next day not at the game and he rings up #500.