Ernie Banks, who was...

...a personal hero of mine when growing up in suburban Chicago in the late 1960s, died at age 83. (And that's how I'll always remember him: in that unique batting stance with his right elbow extended outward. We all tried to copy it.)

Banks's obit in the Times summed it up well in one sentence (my emphasis):

“It’s a beautiful day, let’s play two” became the mantra of the man known as Mr. Cub, a fixture in what he called the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. 

And every time I walk out of those dark ramps at Clark and Addison and get my first glimpse of that gleaming field I think the exact same thing as Ernie:

“There’s an unbelievable, indescribable love for baseball in Wrigley Field.”

It's true: there's no place like Wrigley and there was no Cub like Banks.