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I saw most of the games Ron Santo ever played. He came up to the Cubs when I first started following baseball. We lived about three miles from Wrigley Field. It was real cheap for a kid to get into the park, it was all day games, and so like a lot of boys on the north side of the city, I spent every day I could at the ballpark. So I saw hundreds and hundreds of Santo's games in person. The rest I saw on Channel 9, because WGN carried almost all the games, home and away, on TV. So of all the players I've seen play in 50 years of being a baseball fan, I've probably seen more of Ron Santo and Billy Williams than any other players.

There was a special relationship between those Banks-Williams-Santo teams and the fans. The core of the team stayed together a long time. The players were not far removed from the fans, economically and socially, like they are now. Almost all the games were televised on free TV. They were like family. And the players from those teams kept their friendships over 40 plus years--Santo, Beckert, Hundley, and the rest. In all of those respects, the closest parallel I can think of would be the Brooklyn Dodgers teams of the late '40s through mid '50s.

Ron Santo had an emotional connection with the people of Chicago, as a player and broadcaster, more than anyone else. He wore his emotions on his sleeve. His physical struggles, and the struggles of the team--and his upbeat optimism in the face of all of it--made him even more beloved.

As a player, Ron Santo belongs in the Hall of Fame. A long time ago. One of the ten best third basemen of all time. Offensively and defensively, he was the best in his league in his era, an era of significantly lower offensive numbers than later on.

The two guys I'm most upset about not getting in the Hall during their lifetime--when everyone knew that their days were numbered--are Ron Santo and Buck O'Neil, Cub coach (first black coach in the majors) and scout (Banks, Williams, Brock) and champion of the Negro Leagues. Both Santo and O'Neil were GREAT ambassadors for the game with terrific personalities. I've never been to Cooperstown, but I was planning to make my trip when Ron Santo finally got voted in, to see him standing there. Now that will not happen.