Ernie Banks a shortstop?

Ok, I get quite a bit of flack from time to time because I don't include Ernie Banks in my top five shortstops list. But there is a logical and sound reason why he isn't on my list of all-time great shortstops. The first reason is his career numbers aren't all that spectacular. However, that is actually not the reason why he doesn't make my list. He doesn't make my list because he didn't spend his entire career as a shortstop. He didn't even spend HALF of his career as a shortstop. Ernie Banks gets publicity as the only shortstop in the 500 club, but frankly, this publicity is 100% not deserved. Not because he didn't hit 500 homers, that's not in question of course, but because he spent more of his career as a first basemen then he did as a shortstop. Here is the breakdown of Ernie Banks career by position:

As a 1st Basemen:
Games played: 1238
PA: 5091
AB: 4658
R: 565
Hits: 1209
2B: 195
3B: 31
HR: 207
RBI: 758
BB: 305
SO: 659
BA: .260
OBP: .308
SLG: .448
OPS: .756
As a Shortstop:
Games Played: 955
PA: 4083
AB: 3670
R: 609
Hits: 1066
2B: 174
3B: 41
HR: 248
RBI: 691
BB: 348
SO: 450
BA: .290
OBP: 353
SLG: .564
OPS: .916
There is no question that Banks was a much better player as a shortstop, but the problem is he stopped being a shortstop by the age of 29. And when he stopped being a shortstop he really stopped being a shortstop, he never played a game there again, and he played until he was 40. He played 140 games or more at shortstop in his career only six seasons, and in a career that lasted 19 seasons I don’t think its fair to identify him with that position. It’s not fair to the other shortstops that legitimately played that position their entire career. Looking at the stats it’s easy to see which position he spent the most time at. He had more at bats, hits, and RBI’s playing first base than he did at short. He did hit more homers at short than he did at 1st but not by a wide margin. He is pretty close to half and half there. So what in the hell do we give him credit as being a shortstop in the 500 club? Especially since he only hit 248 homers as a shortstop. There is no question that he should be associated with first basemen, not with shortstops. This is a situation in which propaganda and media has affected our perception of a player. Ernie Banks was well liked, especially by the writers. They had to press the issue with the shortstop part of his career because he looks like a much better player, a top ten or top five players because of his home run total. If he was compared as a first-basemen he just doesn’t stack up. His numbers probably wouldn’t crack the top 15. Of course this blog doesn’t even go into the fact that for half of his career Banks was actually not a very good player at all, or that when he was a shortstop it was a stretch to say he was average defensively, but I am not denying that he should be a Hall of Famer, just that he should not be considered a shortstop, because that is misleading. This is the reason why Banks is not on my top five list, and this is the reason why he shouldn’t be on ANYBODIES top five list at short. Because he just isn’t a shortstop.