Recently, we at SB Nation were granted access to a large archive of Getty Images photos for use here. This has been a particular boon to me, for as you know I often write articles about Cubs or baseball history and now I have many choices of photos to illustrate those articles.
It's with that thought that I spent quite a bit of time Friday evening and Saturday morning after the announcement of the passing of Ernie Banks looking through the archive for photos of Ernie to use on various posts here.
14 photos don't do the man justice, of course. 1,400 wouldn't. His life was lived to the fullest, both on and off the ball field. I hope I've chosen a few that make you smile, because that's what Ernie would want you to do -- that's what he was always doing. Smiling, happy, enjoying baseball and everything to do with it as well as enjoying everything that life brought him.
Smile, then, as you look at these photos of a career well played and a life well lived.