Perhaps Eddie Miksis’s greatest claim to Cubs fame is that he loaned Ernie Banks his glove for Banks’s first game at shortstop. The utility infielder was acquired in a seven-player trade on June 15, 1951, between the Cubs and Brooklyn that cost Chicago popular center fielder Andy Pafko. The Dodgers got the better of the deal. Miksis stayed in Chicago from 1951 to 1956, starting at second base when he first arrived before being replaced by Gene Baker. The catcher whom Miksis can’t remember is Rube Walker. Most Cub fans probably can’t recall him, either, but maybe they can laugh as Miksis reminisces.

Let me tell you, I was traded from the Dodgers to the Cubs. The Dodgers were in Chicago for a weekend series and we just changed uniforms and clubhouses. Bruce Edwards, Joe Hatten, Gene Hermanski, and me they traded for Andy Pafko, [Johnny] Schmitz, Wayne Terwilliger, and a catcher. I can never remember his name. They called him “Popeye,” I think.

They said, “We made a trade, you’re a Chicago Cub.” My roommate, Bruce Edwards, took it real hard. We were staying in a hotel in Chicago. He was just gazing out the window. He couldn’t understand it. We had tremendous camaraderie on that Brooklyn Dodgers ballclub. When I was traded, we had a 14 1/2-game lead in the National League. The deadline of the trade was June 15 or whatever. We had such camaraderie, we would’ve won that championship in the National League by at least 20, 25 games. They traded the camaraderie away for Andy Pafko and Johnny Schmitz, but guess what? That’s the year Bobby Thomson hit the home run. You know, “The Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the pennant.” That one. They hit it off one of my roommates, Ralph Branca. And I went from a first-place ballclub to a second-division ballclub.

I never felt the same camaraderie on the Cubs. I guess because the Dodgers were a winning ballclub and the Cubs were a totally different organization. The Dodgers treated you like kings, and I’ll give you an example. We had just come from spring training in Mesa, Arizona, and we’re coming into Chicago for a series with the White Sox prior to opening the season. All the bulletin boards say, “Be at Comiskey Park at 11:30,” but no transportation. So, the players approached me and asked me if I would ask Phil Cavarretta if there was going to be any transportation. If not, we’ll hire a bus. Nobody had cars. Is everybody going to take a cab to Comiskey? That’ll cost a bundle. So I went into Phil’s office and said, “Can I use your phone?”

He said, “What are you doing?”

I said, “I’m calling Greyhound bus lines. We’re going to rent a bus to go to Comiskey Park. I’m just trying to save us some money.” They hire limousines to take them today.

Phil took the phone and hung it up on me. He got hold of the traveling secretary. And I got the handle of being the clubhouse lawyer. It got back to certain writers like Jim Enright. It was a total disgrace. But we got the bus. And guess what? The Cubs didn’t charge us. I was shocked at that. I thought they’d take it out of our meal money.

Every year since I’ve been out of baseball, I received a Christmas card. Guess from who? The Baltimore Orioles. And I only played 30 days with them. The Brooklyn Dodgers sent me cards the last five, six, seven years. The Chicago Cubs? Never.

Phil was a very no-nonsense guy. He was a hard-headed guy. Win under any costs. He was a good, hard-headed ballplayer. When I was with the Cubs, we had the best swearing ballclub in the National League. Profanity. I am not kidding you. We had Cavarretta, Don Hoak, and Dee Fondy. There was an old couple who had box seats right behind the dugout and they couldn’t take it anymore. We ran them right out of the ballpark. Every other word. It was awful.

The first game Ernie Banks ever played in, he used my glove. It’s in his book. He left his glove wherever he came from. Gene Baker was there, too. It became the Banks and Baker combination. I played all positions, I played third, short, second, and one season out in center field. You know what I didn’t like about playing center field? Running back and forth after every inning. When I was with the Cubs, I had Dee Fondy at first base. You might as well have had a statue out there. He’d misplay a throw or something, and he’d say, “E-6” or “E-4.” Not him, though. He was a butcher.

[Roy] Smalley was a mechanical shortstop. When he caught a ball, he had a 1-2-3 throw. He couldn’t throw from the hole. Your second baseman almost got killed on the back of double plays. He had a tremendous arm, one of the best arms in baseball.

Chuck Connors was a hell of an athlete. A big-time basketball player in the NBA—New York Knicks I think he played for. He was in the Dodgers organization. He led that league with Montreal damn near every year in hitting, but when he came up to the major leagues, he couldn’t buy a hit. They traded him to the Cubs and he must have broke a bat every time he went to bat. They jammed him on his fists. One day, during a game, I’m in the outfield and he’s on his knees looking up at the sky. He says, “God, I gave you $5 in the collection. Please God, let me get a base hit.”

He used to quote “Casey at the Bat” on the bus. Tucson to Mesa, Mesa to Tucson. It got to be where he should’ve been an actor before he was a ballplayer. We’d go into a restaurant, four of us together, and if there was an empty mike on the stage, he’d turn around and start quoting “Casey at the Bat.” He was tremendous. He was a good actor. We’d go to the movies and he always had a water gun on him. When he was sitting up in the upper deck, he’d find some bald-headed guy. Hank Sauer was a good, long ball hitter. Can you imagine this outfield? We had Frankie Baumholtz in center, and Ralph Kiner in left, and Sauer in right field. Ground balls that would go through the shortstop’s legs were automatic doubles. Unbelievable. That’s the truth.

I remember one thing about Randy Jackson. We had a 154-game schedule and after the first ballgame, he’d say, “One hundred fifty-three to go.” He wasn’t too enthusiastic.

[Sammy] Sosa’s wearing my number now: 21. I’m surprised Yosh [Kawano] never retired my number. He gave it to a pretty good ballplayer.

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