Celebration of Santo's life, baseball career bittersweet

Local Sports

Related Photos

CSSCD56.jpg Benjamin Patton | The Daily Star

Discussion

COMMENTING ON STORIES:

Welcome to our story comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including the unpopular ones. We only ask that you keep your conversations clean, civil and on the topic of the story you are commenting on.

Coinciding with our websites redesign, we launched our new story comments feature through Disqus.

Disqus gives users the ability to log into our story comments feature so that they may be able to track their conversations, receive emails when their comments get a reply or to even have your comments update onto your Facebook or Twitter accounts.

For the time being, our story comments feature will continue to have the ability to post comments anonymously. We reserve the right to require registration in the future using your name and verified email address.

Not all comments are deemed printable. Some are disqualified at the newspaper’s discretion for a number of different reasons. Please follow our Online Rules of Conduct at all times.

RULES OF CONDUCT:

We reserve the right to remove comments that are unacceptable, to wit:

1. False and inacurate statements.
2. Personal attacks. Explicit name-calling.
3. Harassing, harmful, vulgar, obscene and defamatory language.
4. Threatening statements or statements that suggest violence.
5. Hate speech of any kind.
6. Intolerant comments on religion, race, age, gender, sexual preference or disabilities.
7. Accusations of criminal activity.
8. Content that is harmful to children and minors in any way.
9. References to any type of sexual activity and other private matters.
10. Random and inflammatory statements that are off topic.
11. Advertising of any kind.
12. Typing in all caps.

WE ENCOURAGE REASONABLE AND COURTEOUS COMMENTS THAT:

1. Create conversation on issues of interest and concern to fellow readers and local community members.
2. Express opinions and contrarian views.
3. Stimulate debate with respectful language.
4. Stay within the boundaries of these rules.

WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SUSPEND OR TERMINATE ACCESS FOR:

1. Violating any of these Online Rules of Conduct.
2. Deliberately disrupting discussions with repetitive messages, meaningless messages or spam.
3. Misrepresentation of identity or impersonating another user.

WE WELCOME:

1. Flagging violations of these rules that you observe to our attention.

MONITORING:

We monitor comments regularly Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Approval of comments outside of this time (including weekends) will be sporadic.

comments powered by Disqus

July 23, 2012

Celebration of Santo's life, baseball career bittersweet

By Michelle Miller Staff Writer The Daily Star Mon Jul 23, 2012, 10:51 AM EDT

Dark clouds loomed over Cooperstown on Friday morning, but the skies cleared up just in time for fans to gather and reminisce about the "good old Ron Santo days" during a pre-induction celebration at the Fenimore Art Museum.

A large, white, open-air tent was set up for the hundreds of fans.

The free event was hosted by the Chicago Cubs and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and featured members of Santo's family, former teammates and Cubs representatives. Taking the spotlight as host of the remembrance was the late third baseman's broadcast partner and Chicago Cubs WGN radio play-by-play announcer Pat Hughes.

Hughes spent 15 years working in the broadcast booth with Santo and said he played a key role in his career and considers Santo to be one of the most influential people in his life.

"I know there are mixed feelings for a lot of people here today regarding Ron Santo and the Hall of Fame," Hughes said. "On one hand, we are obviously happy that the name of Ron Santo will forever, after this weekend, have a special place on a plaque at the Hall of Fame forever and ever. And it is long overdue. So on that note, we are all very happy."

However, Hughes said, there are those who feel sadness.

"We all feel like, 'Why couldn't this have happened 5 or 10 years ago so that Ronnie would be right here?' I feel the same way," he said. "So if you feel that way, you are not alone and it is completely understandable. It's exciting, but not as exciting as it might have been."

Hughes went on to say that Santo always wanted to be elected to the Hall.

"In our booth, every day, there would be somebody who would walk in, whether it was an ex-player, an opposing broadcaster or fan. They would say, 'Ron you deserve to be in the Hall of Fame," Hughes said. "And he heard this so very often that he wanted it badly. He didn't really talk about it publicly very much, but I know that it disappointed him greatly every time the voting took place and he would fall just shy."

Having known Santo for years, Hughes said, he knew the five-time Gold Glove winner would have wanted everyone to have fun regardless of how he was elected.

"I want to make you all feel like this is your program, because it is," Hughes said. "That is the way Ron would have wanted it too."

Fans were allowed to grab the microphone and share their favorite memories.

The first fan to speak shared a Little League story. He said his team had invited Santo to speak at an event and one of the children asked if the Cubs would play any night games. Santo's response, according to the fan: "Well Mr. Wrigley said when we learn how to play baseball during the day then we might learn to play at night." That drew laughter from the crowd.

A nurse shared a story about Santo calling a little boy in the hospital battling cancer.

"It made this little boy's life," she said. "It was wonderful and brought tears to all our eyes."

Hughes said he had seen Santo do something similar many times.

"He would be in the broadcast booth reading a letter and I could tell it was getting to him," he said. "He would pick up a phone and literally call a complete stranger, whether it be of a little child missing limbs or someone suffering from diabetes or whatever."

Santo battled juvenile diabetes. He was diagnosed with disease at age 18 when on the brink of his debut with the Cubs. His legs were amputated in 2001 and 2002. Santo, at 70, succumbed to bladder cancer on Dec. 3, 2010.

Ernie Banks said he did not know about his teammate's fight with diabetes until later in his career.

"My relationship with Ronnie was just seeing him as a person who wanted to play and was highly spirited," Banks said. "He did not talk about it."

When the Hall of Famer took the stage to share memories, he said he felt "so empty" that Santo was not there.

"I had a birthday party and my wife invited him and he came," Banks recalled. "So it was the first time, for me, to have a white player that I played with come to the south side of Chicago for my birthday party."

Banks said Santo couldn't wait to meet Banks' family and friends and see the neighborhood.

"I just couldn't talk," Banks said. "I was just so overwhelmed by this young man's interests and love for people."

Fergie Jenkins, also a former teammate of Santo, said No. 10 never wanted to leave the lineup. He added that Santo probably would have acted like a kid Sunday _ much like Jenkins did during his 1991 induction _ and would have loved to play golf in Cooperstown.

Hughes agreed.

"Nobody would have enjoyed themselves more than Ron Santo would have," he said. " I am sure of that."

Santo, who retired in 1974 after 14 years with the Cubs and one season with the White Sox, was passed over by the Baseball Writers' Association of America all 15 years he was on the ballot. He missed the cut on numerous versions of the Veterans Committee before he was elected by 15 of the 16 members of the Golden Era Committee last December.

Santo retired at the age of 35. Hughes said diabetes may have shortened Santo's career and if he had the chance to play longer, he may have hit more than 400 home runs.