"Cubs second baseman Glenn Beckert holds the Gold Glove trophy he won for his defensive play in the 1968 season." Cubs second baseman Glenn Beckert holds the Gold Glove trophy he won for his defensive play in the 1968 season.(Chicago Tribune)

Former Cubs second baseman Glenn Beckert, a four-time All-Star and member of the beloved 1969 team that led the National League East until the final weeks of the season, died Sunday. He was 79.

Beckert played nine of his 11 major-league seasons with the Cubs from 1965 to ’73. He finished with a lifetime .283 batting average, including a career-high .342 average in 1971.

“He was just a really, really fun guy to be around,” former teammate Billy Williams said Sunday. “He and (Ron) Santo and myself liked to do a lot of stuff together. Just enjoy life, man.

“That was a team that spent 10 or 12 years together. You didn’t find that too much. It was a team that was real close, and we stayed close over the years.”

We lost a great one today, Glenn Beckert. Glenn was My friend, my ++@Cubs++ teammate, and the best man at my wedding. He will be greatly missed. My thoughts and prayers are with the Beckert family. ++pic.twitter.com/JYgadyLPK8++
— Fergie Jenkins (@fergieajenkins) April 12, 2020

Ned Colletti, a ++former Wrigley Field “bleacher bum”++ who went on to become a Cubs executive in the 1980s and ’90s, said in a text message. “Beck was the glue that helped meld together four Hall of Famers. He was the prototypical second hitter followed by three straight Hall of Fame hitters (Williams, Santo and Ernie Banks). He rarely struck out. He could move a runner, played the game the right way.

“Now his buddies Ronnie and Ernie have someone to turn a double play.”

Beckert won a Gold Glove Award in 1968 and was selected to the NL All-Star team in 1969, ’70, ’71 and ’72, becoming one of the more popular Cubs of his era for his gritty play.

“Glenn Beckert was a wonderful person who also happened to be an excellent ballplayer,” the Cubs said in a statement Sunday. “He was a mainstay at second base for the Cubs for nine seasons from 1965-73, earning a spot on four All-Star teams and a reputation for one of the toughest at-bats in the league as evidenced by his low strikeout rate. Glenn more than held his own playing alongside future Hall of Famers and won a Gold Glove for defensive excellence at second base in 1968.

“After his playing days concluded, Glenn was a familiar sight at Wrigley Field and numerous Cubs Conventions, and he always had a memory to share of his time on and off the field with his beloved teammates.

“We offer our deepest condolences to Glenn’s daughters, Tracy Seaman and Dana Starck, his longtime partner Marybruce Standley and his many, many friends.”

The Boys of Summer: Beck, Fergie, Ernie, Billy, Ronnie and Randy at Billy Williams statue dedication. ++pic.twitter.com/50oAvOJpbj++
— Paul Sullivan (@PWSullivan) April 12, 2020

Beckert grew up in Pittsburgh and became an all-city baseball and basketball player at Perry High School despite his small build — he said he weighed only 140 pounds as a teenager. But he added muscle while playing at Allegheny College and began to turn heads with his stellar play at shortstop.

The Yankees invited Beckert to New York for a workout during his college years and offered him a signing bonus, but he turned it down after promising his father he would get his degree. However, Beckert was declared ineligible for accepting the all-expenses trip.

Nevertheless, he stayed in college and received a degree in political science in 1961. After he started out in the Red Sox system, the Cubs claimed him in December 1962 for $8,000.

After two seasons in the minors, Beckert got his chance in the big leagues after switching from short to second. The move came after Ken Hubbs, the Cubs’ 22-year-old second baseman who had won the 1962 NL Rookie of the Year award, died in a plane crash on Feb. 13, 1964.

Beckert began the 1965 season in the majors and hit .239 his rookie year. He quickly got the hang of things, though, and when the Cubs called up shortstop prospect Don Kessinger from the minors in June of ’65, manager Leo Durocher paired them.

The double-play combination of Kessinger and Beckert remained together, usually in the top two spots in the lineup, for the next eight years. Both played their 1000th big-league game on the same day, Aug. 21, 1971.

“We’ve played together for six years, and there have been very few times we have disagreed on anything in the field,” Kessinger said of Beckert in 1971. “When a batter comes up, we know almost instinctively where each of us will play.”

Renowned as a contact hitter, Beckert had the fewest strikeouts per at-bat in the NL five times between 1966 and 1972.

He also had a wry sense of humor and wasn’t afraid to poke fun at his manager, who was feared by many players. After the 1965 season, Beckert was invited to the Chicago baseball writers’ annual Diamond Dinner to receive a local Rookie of the Year award.

“It’s very seldom a .240 hitter gets to the speakers table,” Beckert told the crowd. “But Mr. Durocher’s here, so I’m not alone.”

The usually gruff Durocher laughed at the joke and became one of Beckert’s biggest supporters.

“With his playing skills, he became one of Leo’s favorites,” recalled Joey Amalfitano, who played with Beckert from 1965 to ’67 before becoming a coach. “He prepared himself before every game and played every game like it was his last game. He was a grinder. It didn’t come easy to him.”

In Beckert, Durocher saw a hard-nosed player who was much like himself.

“He’ll beat you so many ways,” Durocher once said. “Running, hitting, fielding, stealing a base. He’s a hustler. He battles the heart out of you. You may get him down, but he’ll never stop battling you. Never. He’ll knock down a house to win.”

Williams said Beckert’s playful personality helped keep the Cubs loose during tough times.

“He was a funny guy,” Williams said. “You just mention his name and I start laughing. He was quick-witted too. He could come up with a whole bunch of stuff. He was just fun to be around, and he always wanted to be with the guys.

“He couldn’t stay still for five minutes, and he used to walk up and down the aisles of the plane all the time. He always had to be talking to somebody. And he’d always hit you up for a cigarette and matches. You wouldn’t get your pack back or your matches. We used to call him ‘Bruno,’ like — boom, boom — he’d just walk around and knock you down.

“Glenn Beckert — he was something. The sucker hit .342 one year and only struck out about 20 times a year. He saw the ball and put the ball in play.”

After decades of being an NL doormat, the Cubs finally began to jell in 1967, peaking with the memorable 1969 season in which they led the NL East all year before collapsing in September. The entire Cubs infield — Banks, Beckert, Kessinger and Santo — was chosen for the NL All-Star squad that year along with catcher Randy Hundley.

Beckert was involved in one of the most replayed highlights in Cubs history in 1969, fielding a grounder for the final out of Ken Holtzman’s first no-hitter Aug. 19 at Wrigley Field. Williams recalled that he and teammates got on Beckert afterward for nearly falling on the play while rushing the ground ball.

“He went down and got that ball and started stumbling,” Williams said. “When he went to catch it, everybody went, ‘Oh, (bleep).’ ”

Beckert’s career year was 1971, when he finished third in the NL with a .342 average. But his season was cut short when he ruptured a tendon in his right thumb diving for a ball Sept. 3 in St. Louis, leaving him behind the Cardinals’ Joe Torre (.363) and the Braves’ Ralph Garr (.343) in the batting race.

During that ’71 season, Beckert was nearly unstoppable at Wrigley Field, hitting .370 in 67 home games.

He also inadvertently became involved in a season-defining moment when Durocher berated Santo during a raucous clubhouse meeting. According to Ron Rapoport’s biography of Banks, “Let’s Play Two,” Durocher said to Santo: “You’re not out there for batting practice. Maybe if you came out there and practiced, you wouldn’t get into those slumps. Look at Beckert. He just goes out there and works his ass off.”

Beckert’s Cubs tenure ended after the 1973 season when the 33-year-old was traded to the Padres for outfielder Jerry Morales, opening second base for young prospect Vic Harris.

“They’re breaking up that old gang of ours,” Santo lamented, predicting Beckert “would’ve loved the challenge of beating Harris out of a job here.”

Beckert wasn’t upset about the trade and continued living in Chicago.

“The toughest part will be missing the friendships I made here,” he told the Tribune.

He played one full season in San Diego before the Padres released him in April 1974, ending his career. During his retirement, Beckert often made trips to Wrigley Field and was a fixture at the Cubs Convention and at Hundley’s fantasy camps in Arizona.

“When (Beckert) attended fantasy camps, he was into it,” said Ron Coomer, the Cubs radio analyst. “He loved anything that had to do with the Cubs. He was a stitch. He loved talking to the campers and about the ’69 Cubs.

“He loved giving Randy Hundley a hard time. He would tell Randy he could tell him everything about catching. But when it came to hitting, he would tell Randy to leave the room. He had a big personality.”

Williams said Beckert moved to Florida a few years ago and was injured in a fall at O’Hare Airport in which he hit his head. Beckert had a noticeable scar on his head when he came to Wrigley Field in the spring of 2017 for a ceremony in which Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts handed out World Series rings to players. Beckert received a ring and was proud to be part of the Cubs family.

“He always tried to get me to get someone to get him up here for the convention, but at the end it got kind of tough,” Williams said.

Beckert’s style of play and the enduring love affair between Chicago and the 1969 Cubs ensured he always would have a spot in the hearts of Cubs fans.

Glenn Alfred Beckert