My friend Tyler called me Friday afternoon with the sad news that Cubs broadcaster and former third baseman Ron Santo had died. It had been such a busy day, I hadn’t heard the news reports.
Tyler lamented, “I wonder now will they induct him in the Hall?”
I don’t think he was insinuating that players should be inducted on the basis of sympathy (although no doubt, others may feel that way). However, it would be a sad irony if he did get his invite to the Hall posthumously. Mr Santo made no secret (though he did it with such humbleness) that he wished to get to Cooperstown.
I’ll be honest… Santo was not my favorite broadcaster behind the mike. I don’t think I’m alone in that. He was entering an modern era that was not his. That said, as a representative of the Cubs, a liaison to the public, a go-between from baseball to Joe and Jane Public, there was no one better. He was as real as it gets in this media-phony world of broadcasting. His love for the Cubs was atypically genuine. For that, I will miss him.