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Cubs fans pay tribute to Ernie Banks

MLB, Chicago Cubs

CHICAGO -- Chicago CubsĀ fans got their first chance to pay their respects to Ernie Banks after the statue of the beloved Hall of Fame player was placed in a downtown plaza Wednesday.

One after another, fans stopped in Daley Plaza to take photos of the statue that normally stands at Wrigley Field. The city and the Cubs took the unprecedented step of taking the statue out of storage -- where it was being held while the ballpark is renovated -- and putting it on public display away from its usual home.

The 83-year-old BanksĀ died Friday of a heart attack. A visitation will be held this coming Friday, followed by a memorial service Saturday.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, accompanied by Banks' widow, placed a wreath at the statue on Wednesday, saying that while Banks has long been known as Mr. Cub, he "always will be and always has been Mr. Chicago."

By 7:30 a.m., the plaza was growing crowded with fans admiring the statue of Banks, frozen in the batting stance that kids in Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s grew up imitating. They told stories about their own connections to Banks, whether it was watching him play or meeting him.

"My family and my brothers were always watching him on TV and there was nobody like Ernie Banks," said McKenzie Holmes, 51, his postal worker uniform topped off with a Cubs hat. "My brother just passed and I was thinking he's up there playing catch with Ernie now."

Trudi Burns took pictures for her son. Though he's 23 and has seen Banks in action only in clips of games played long before he was born, Burns said he insisted that she take a photo.

"It's his birthday this month and he said, 'Mom, I don't want anything else. I just want a picture of Ernie,'" she said, adding that the day Banks died her son named his new puppy Banks.

Jim Kosik, 54, told of how Banks signed a ball for him in the '60s -- a ball he has since lost. He, too, took pictures, for himself and his family.

"I will send a photo to relatives who left Chicago so they can share the moment," he said.

The statue will remain at the plaza through Saturday just a few feet away from the famed Picasso sculpture.

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