Cubs historical sleuthing: Ernie Banks baseball card error edition

Al Yellon created Bleed Cubbie Blue and has been its managing editor since 2005. He's also written three books about the Cubs, the latest is "Chicago Cubs Firsts."

This looks like an ordinary sleuthing job, an old black and white photo showing a Cubs batter wearing No. 19.

Here’s why it’s not:

That... is emphatically NOT Ernie Banks.

This is from Upper Deck’s Hall of Famers set, released in 2001.

My friend and Cubs By The Numbers co-author Kasey Ignarski sent me this card and asked me who it actually is. Told him I’d look into it and get back to him. This was quite the little sleuthing journey but I can tell you who this is a photo of and what date this photo was taken.

Here’s how I figured it…