What a damn shame that the people who do selections for Baseball's Hall of Fame have overlooked Ron Santo all these years. Maybe now, he will finally get his due.
Here are just a few reasons why:
- Heart and soul of the Cubs who played a leading role in transforming them from the laughing stock of the National League in 1960 into a consistent contender by the end of that decade.
- Consistent gold glove winner, year after year. Not quite as good as Brooks Robinson, who was probably the best third base gloveman in all baseball history, but Santo more than outshined him on offense.
- Better lifetime batting average than Mike Schmidt, probably the best third basemen offensively in all baseball history. This is quite impressive when you consider that most of Santo's career was during the "pitchers era" and most of Schmidt's was afterward.
- Great ambassador for the game, both in the broadcast booth and in raising money for Juvenile Diabetes research, a disease which Santo suffered but kept quiet about until near the end of his career.