Let's Play Two

"Rapoport has outdone himself, artfully redefining the Banks most of us think we knew."—Rick Kogan, The Chicago Tribune

"Well told...an extensively researched portrayal of the public figure as well as the lesser-known, private Banks."—The Washington Post

"Growing up, every kid I knew wanted to be Ernie Banks, Chicago's 'Mr. Cub.' But there was much more to Ernie than his MVP seasons or his famously sunny outward demeanor. Let's Play Two captures the best of Banks' playing moments, but also delves deeply into a man who did not seem to want you to know more than you could see. Rapoport, a legendary Chicago sportswriter, has written a fascinating, readable, and impeccably researched book about a man who was a Hall of Famer, but also a decided creature of his times."—Scott Turow

"This is a wonderful book worthy of all the energy and vitality Ernie Banks brought to his remarkable career. But it is also a revealing portrait of the often difficult life of a black ballplayer in America and the often lonely man imprisoned and isolated by his exuberant outer image."—Ken Burns

"Mr. Rapoport works diligently to penetrate the curtain of enthusiasm in which Banks wrapped himself.... [Let's Play Two] thoughtfully examines the role of race as it crossed Banks's life and career."—Wall Street Journal

"One of the better sports biographies of the century."—National Review

"Hooray! Ernie Banks now has the Hall-of-Fame biography he deserves thanks to Ron Rapoport. This well-researched, beautifully written book is everything a baseball fan could want. Cubs fans, of course, will want to buy two."—Jonathan Eig, the author of Luckiest Man: The Lifeand Death of Lou Gehrig and Ali: A Life

"Rapoport, a 20-year veteran sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, delivers what is sure to be the definitive biography of Chicago Cubs baseball player Ernie Banks...This marvelous look at the life of a beloved athlete should be essential reading for baseball fan."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Ernie Banks crossed the bridge from a segregated nation and national pastime to a better place, smiling all the way. Although his smile was real, so were the scarring experiences he smiled through. He was more complicated and interesting than the human sunbeam he chose to resemble. With a reporter's diligence and a historian's sensibility, Ron Rapoport tells Banks's story, and that of the different nations at the two ends of the bridge."—George F. Will

"[An] excellent new biography of Banks."—The Hardball Times

"This is the definitive biography of baseball's Mr. Sunshine, and Ron Rapoport is the one writer who knew him best and could tell it like it was -- including the 'other side of sunshine.'"—Bill Madden, author of Steinbrenner: The Last Lionof Baseball

"Famed sportwriter Ron Rapoport's new biography, Let's Play Two, provides a lot of laugh, a few tears, and helps us better understand the great Ernie Banks."—WBEZ Chicago

"Let's Play Two peels back the complexities of baseball legend Ernie Banks....marvelously brings readers into dugouts and locker rooms....Rapoport meticulously leaves no ball unturned in telling the two stories of Banks' life - as the Legend , and as a very private individual....Let's Play Two is a must read for baseball fans of all ages."—Utica Observer-Dispatch

"Let's Play Two is a great baseball book, ranking with other outstanding contemporary baseball biographies."—Illinois Times

"Ron Rapoport has done a magnificent job lifting the veil and illuminating the shadows in Let's Play Two: The Legend of Mr. Cub, the Life of Ernie Banks....Rapoport goes at his subject with a reporter's eye, filling Let's Play Two with details that should be a revelation to many, though some will merely jog the memories of older die-hard Cubs fans."—Phil Rosenthal, Chicago Tribune

"The dichotomy between Banks's public persona of 'Mr. Cub' and the reality of a man whose career was defined by losing and his later years by loneliness is what's at stake in an engrossing new biography of Banks from the former Chicago sportswriter Ron Rapoport."—Jon Greenberg, The Athletic

"Rapoport's years of rapport with Banks manifests itself in the completion of a previously unfinished project, now much richer than the original intent because of updated perspective. In his acknowledgements, Rapoport, a former L.A. Times and L.A. Daily News columnist, writes that those who helped him finish this knew Banks as a 'joyful, melancholy, humble, complicated, companionable, lonely man...[who] remained imprisoned in an image of one simplistic dimension.'"—Tom Hoffarth, Los Angeles Times

"This bio of Ernie Banks is a must read. Let's Play Two, by Ron Rapoport is a beautifully written book that captures the good and the bad, the happy and the sad, of Ernie's life. Cubs fans of a certain age will love this book. I give it my highest recommendation, it's that good."—Bruce Miles, Arlington (IL) Daily

"An excellent and detailed history of one of baseball's greatest stars and one of the game's most beloved and misunderstood personalities. Let's Pay Two is a great read for baseball fans in general and Cubs fans in particular. The definitive biography of 'Mr. Cub.'"—Andrew Elias, Ft. Myers Magazine

"A refreshing sports biography that punctures common myths about one of baseball's greats."—Kirkus Reviews

"[Banks's] era couldn't have been illustrated any better...Rapoport paints a sobering portrait of a man who was ebullient on the outside -- 'let's play two' -- but suffering on the inside."—Forbes