I hope some of you checked out the three columns that I had automatically added in my absence.
The passing of former Cub,Ron Santo brings us a guest columnist in Ryan with some thoughts on this former superstar.
Chicago Cubs Legend Ron Santo passed away Thursday evening at the age of 70.
Santo is widely recognized one of the best Third Basemen of his era, and is considered by many to be among the best players not inducted into Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame. A nine-time National League All-Star, Santo hit 342 career home runs- a lofty total for a player for who spent the majority of his career in the pitching-dominant 1960's. Santo was also a defensive stalwart, winning five consecutive Gold Glove awards from 1964-1968.
Santo spent 14 seasons with the Chicago Cubs, and, along with Hall of Famers Billy Williams, Ernie Banks, and Ferguson Jenkins, was part of some of the best Cubs teams of the 20th century.
That is really I can say for Mr. Santo as a player. Of course I never had the pleasure of seeing him play, so my impressions are based on statistics and the occasional grainy video footage.
To me Ron Santo was an ambassador for the Chicago Cubs and the game of baseball. He spent nearly twenty years on the Cubs radio broadcast team, and was always notable for his blatant but lovable homerism (his "OH NO!" on Brant Brown's dropped fly ball in Milwaukee in the late nineties is a favorite) Most of you know of his struggles with diabetes that would eventually cost him his legs, and of his public disappointment of his lack of induction in the Hall of Fame (I have a strong opinion on this matter as well. I ask you to simply compare Santo's career statistics with that of Brooks Robinson, who spent eight more seasons in the majors)
To me personally, Ron Santo was and will remain the face of the Chicago Cubs, and will be missed.
R.I.P. Ronald Edward Santo (1940-2010)
No comments:
Post a Comment