Cubs, White Sox Will Honor Ernie Banks And Minnie Minoso During Crosstown Series

The White Sox and Cubs both lost franchise icons this past winter when Ernie Banks and Minnie Minoso passed away.

The teams will be honoring those two great players during both series they'll play, starting this weekend at Wrigley Field, wearing throwback jerseys from the eras in which Banks and Minoso played.

On Sunday, July 12, the Cubs will wear home uniforms from 1958, Ernie's first MVP season, and every Cubs player will be wearing Ernie's No. 14. The White Sox will wear 1959 road jerseys. When the Cubs visit the Cell on August 14, every player on the White Sox will wear Minoso’s No. 9 and the Cubs will wear a road uniform from the 1950s.

That's a fitting tribute to players who meant so much not only to fans of both teams, but to the city of Chicago.

Now, if the teams would just adopt the idea Bruce Miles put forward in the Daily Herald in March:

As you know, the Cubs and the White Sox have been playing interleague series against each other since 1997. At some point, a marketer came up with the idea of the teams playing for a "cup" each year. It's been called the Crosstown Cup or the BP Cup, when the trophy had a corporate sponsor.

My proposal is to rename the trophy the Banks-Minoso Cup in honor of these legendary figures. And let's do it this year.

This should be a relatively simple thing to get done. The team's ownerships and/or marketing people can get together, hold a joint news conference and make the announcement.

If there comes a time when a corporate sponsor wants to get involved, that's fine, too. The trophy can be called the XYZ Corp. Banks-Minoso Cup or the Banks-Minoso Cup presented by XYZ Corp.

I like the uniform idea and it'll look great. Renaming the cup would bring some real meaning to it.