Thoughts on Ron Santo's passing

Thursday night was a great night for me as a sports fan - it was very exciting watching the Sun Devils beat the Wildcats in football and those who watched know what a thrilling game it was. But like all Cub fans, I was quickly brought down to earth on Friday morning with the news of the passing of Ron Santo.

I've gotten used to going to funerals. I've been to at least 3 this year. It's the kind of thing you do out of respect as an area historian. And when I walk through Payson Pioneer Cemetery, which I've been doing lately taking pictures of all the tombstones, I see a lot of historic names that I recognize - some I talked to, some who passed before I got the chance. So it's not an unusual thing, but Santo's passing definitely struck me.

I did not personally know Ron Santo, though I did get his autograph once. But like most Cub fans, I sure as heck felt like I knew him. You couldn't help but listen to him and Pat Hughes call Cub games and not form a connection with the guy. To many non-Cub fans he's best known as the guy who yelled "oh no!" when outfielder Brant Brown dropped a fly ball in a key game late in the '98 season in Milwaukee. And yet while things just like that are why Cub fans loved him. He was genuine, a former player, a great one at that, who was every bit if not crazier a Cub fan than all of us.

I've listened to Cubs games on the internet for years. It's been extremely relaxing for me and I can get a lot of work done while listening. I'd always smile a lot while listening, no matter the score. You couldn't help but smile listening to Ron and Pat. It was just fun, and so much of that was Ron Santo.

When you look at the bigger picture on this man, he was amazing. Here was a guy who was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 18 years old, in a day and age when diabetes wasn't as common a thing. It was treated the same way then as it is now and he kept it to himself for years. There are some great stories about Santo's battle during his playing diabetes, but even more impressive was how he handled it in his later years. He had parts of both his legs amputated, and yet was a fixture at the ballpark in Spring Training. When I got his autograph it was at Phoenix Muni, he had been on crutches in the tunnel along the third base side before the game, talking up players, and of course signing for everyone who asked. You'd see a line snaking down the aisles when he was in the press box at the ballpark, and after a while they had to cut it off for Ronnie's sake so he could save some energy to do the game.

Santo was heartbroken when did not get into the Hall of Fame a few years ago and his son's documentary, This Old Cub, provides a powerful view of that and Santo's life. Cub fans I think were equally heartbroken - they held off on printing Cubs media guides that year until after the announcement - folks just thought that surely he and Ryno would make and it would be a heckuva Cub celebration at Cooperstown that year.

So that's my taken on Santo, and I'll be watching his funeral come Friday on WGN. That's must see TV in my book and I'm sure I'll make an extra effort to catch all of opening day at Wrigley this year. I remember how powerful it was in '98 after Harry had died and how moving it was when they retired Ron's jersey a few years ago. I'm sure it'll be the same come April.