Ron Santo dies

Ron Santo butchered a lot of broadcasts. But I loved listening to him because I knew that he and Pat Hughes would make me bust up laughing at some point.

His love for the Cubs was undeniable on the air. I wish he would have been able to live long enough to see the Cubs win (or at least play in) the WS, and to give his Hall of Fame induction speech. The primal scream he emitted when the Cubs won the division in 2003 is something I'll never forget. Pat Hughes -- who is one of the best, most professional pxp men in the business -- just let Ron have the moment. It was beautiful.

 

What you said. Poor Pat. That team was dynamite to listen to, even though you were just waiting for the "ooohhh" to come out of Ron's mouth on a popup or a lazy ground ball when a rally would be killed. Pat's a totally underrated broadcaster and he looked devastated this morning on WGN.

 

Pat is an incredible broadcaster, but that allowed the banter with the really-erratic Santo, as he could play straight man to Ron's really bizarre commentary, discussions, et al.

You can tell when broadcasters have issues with each other, where the pxp guy feels like he's "carrying" somebody. Pat Hughes & Ron Santo genuinely enjoyed being at the ballpark together and it showed. Being a Cubs fan without cable/satellite TV, Pat & Ron are the voices of summer vacation for me. When you listened to them, you felt like you knew them. Keith Moreland or Dave Otto or whomever replaces Ron in the booth will be a pretty good, polished announcer who will probably be a lot more professional and work really well with Pat. But summer isn't going to be the same without hearing Ron's voice.

In honor of Ron, I *almost* did my pregame interviews on my broadcast today by introducing each coach as "the fine coach of the ...," as he always started his pregame chats "we're here with Lou Piniella, the fine manager of the Chicago Cubs." Didn't do it, but I should have.

 

Santo's offensive punch was considerable for third baseman in and up to his time. His defense was solid to spectacular.

IMO, the main reason he didn't get into the HOF in his lifetime was the Cubs' lack of postseason participation and the fact that Ernie Banks, Fergie Jenkins and Billy Williams did make it to Cooperstown. Thinking more than a few voters put a ceiling on how many HOFers a non-WS team could/should produce.

If you watched him play, you saw him as the star he was. I consider him more deserving of HOF than Williams, accounting for glove work.