Ron Santo Dies, Cubs Fans Remember The Player And The Man

Legendary Chicago Cubs third baseman Ron Santo passed away Thursday night at the age of 70, and Cubs fans around the globe have taken the opportunity to reflect on how good he was as a player. Santo was among the game’s very best players for a few years in the 60s, and while he has not yet been inducted into the Hall of Fame, many feel that this is a slight, as Santo built a worthy career despite struggling with diabetes.

However, while Santo’s career is impressive enough on its own, the sentiment today isn’t just that the Cubs have lost one of their greatest all-time players - it’s also that the Cubs have lost one of their greatest all-time fans, and greatest all-time people. As Al Yellon writes at Bleed Cubbie Blue about the former player and broadcaster:

Sixteen years later, [Santo] became the Cubs radio color commentator, first with Thom Brennaman and then Pat Hughes. His style was unique -- it wasn’t for everyone, but you could tell with every game that his passion for the Cubs as a broadcaster and fan was the same as it is for every one of us. He exulted in victory, was crushed in defeat. And during this time, he suffered health problems including the amputation of both his legs. As shown in his son Jeff’s fine documentary “This Old Cub”, he faced these things with unfailing good spirits. I say with no hesitation that I admired Ron Santo for his play when I was young, and then again for the way he faced life’s adversities. The Yiddish word for this kind of person is “mensch.” Ron Santo was, without a doubt, a mensch, a wonderful human being. I finally did meet him briefly in the press box in Mesa last March, when I was speaking to Pat Hughes about the article he wrote for last year’s Maple Street Press annual. Ron was kind and gracious, as was Pat, who always had gentle good humor with Ron. It was a broadcast team that felt like family.

Click through for the entire post, and scroll through the comments to get an idea of just how all Cubs fans are feeling on this Friday. Sometimes, when a city’s icon dies, it can be difficult for people in another city to understand and sympathize. But Santo is about as difficult a loss for the people of Chicago as any that they could imagine.