Replies

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:
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.

I'm as strong an advocate of Ron Santo for the Hall of Fame as anyone. I enunciated why in my original essay. But let's not exaggerate, shall we?

* He wasn't a consistent Gold Glove winner "year after year"---he won only five and, I say again, he'd have won four less if either Brooks Robinson or Clete Boyer had been playing in the National League in those seasons.

* Brooks Robinson actually wasn't the best third base glove in baseball history---Clete Boyer may have been. Boyer actually has slightly better defencive statistics than Robinson, and he was at least as spectacular at third base as Robinson was. (I saw them both play, and when Boyer died my piece about him was called "The Alba Acrobat," named for his hometown, and I wasn't just being rhetorical---I saw Boyer make plays that would have calcified the spines of mortal men, just as I saw The Hoover make such plays.) The main reason you don't hear much about Clete Boyer is because, in a nutshell, Boyer couldn't hit with a garage door. The main reason he was able to play major league baseball as long as he did play (and for a few Yankee pennant winners and World Series champions) is because he was saving a truckload of runs with his play at third base.

* It might surprise you to discover that Mike Schmidt hit in damn near the same conditions in which Ron Santo hit, and Schmidt's home park was slightly tougher to hit in than Santo's. From the following tabulation, I eliminated both Santo's final major league season, because he spent it in the American League; and, Schmidt's final major league season (1989), because he retired 42 games into the season saying, essentially, he wasn't the player he used to be (even though he was either leading the National League in runs batted in or within the top three at the time). Now, hear (well, see) this:

The National League's ERA during Ron Santo's career in the league: 3.59.
The National League's ERA during Mike Schmidt's career in the league: 3.63.

Think about that. Santo's career included the Year of the Pitcher in 1968, when the National League's ERA fell to 2.99 for the season, dropping 39 points from the 1967 league ERA; Schmidt's career included a bigger drop in the league's ERA from season to season, a 63 point drop from 1987 to 1988. This one might surprise you, too: only once did the National League's ERA go over 4.00 during Schmidt's career . . . but it happened twice during Santo's.

I'm not convinced that a four point difference in the league ERA weighs that favourably in Santo's favour or against Schmidt's favour.

Mike Schmidt wasn't just the best-hitting third baseman in baseball history---he also earned ten Gold Gloves. (You could clean up if you get a bet down that that's the stat people are most likely to forget about Schmidt.) Mike Schmidt produced 208 runs per 162 games lifetime (Santo: 178) while playing one of the two or three most physically demanding positions on the field and winning ten Gold Gloves at the position, and he wasn't even close to winning them with his bat the way many Gloves are, alas, awarded. His fielding average was well enough above his league; his range factors per nine innings and his range factors per game were also above league average by decent margins. Santo's factors also came in above league average, though not exactly as far above as Schmidts. On the other hand, both Schmidt and Santo led their leagues in double plays at their position six times. This actually bodes well for Santo considering he didn't play on artificial turf. On the other hand, it's arguable that Schmidt had a tougher field condition to work with because he played on the artificial turf, which a) tends to speed up the sharp grounders spinning your way, challenging your reflexes just that much more acutely; and b) isn't even close to being as forgiving on the body (just ask Vladimir Guerrero) as grass.

Santo may have a better lifetime batting average than Schmidt . . . but not by all that much. (Ten points above Schmidt, to be precise.) And Schmidt gave his teams more bang for the buck than Santo did while hitting in a tougher home park in which to hit. Ron Santo averaged 80 walks per 162 games lifetime . . . but Mike Schmidt averaged 102 per 162. Given the choice between facing either man, I'm pretty sure pitchers would rather face Ron Santo than Mike Schmidt. Santo averaged 26 doubles per 162 games . . . but Schmidt averaged 27. Schmidt averaged four triples per 162 to Santo's five. However, Santo's lifetime stolen base percentage (.460) is way below Schmidt's: .654. And Santo's on-base percentage (.362) is well enough below Schmit's .380, and Schmidt wasn't just reaching base with those conversation piece home runs of his. Pitchers feared him far more than they ever feared Ron Santo. Come to think of it, hitters feared their rips up the third base line finding Schmidt's glove far more than they ever feared them finding Santo's.

None of which means Santo doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame. He does. It's an absolute scandal that he isn't in the Hall of Fame yet, it's an absolute scandal that he wasn't elected in his lifetime. He was the best all-around third baseman of his era. If you had to take him strictly as a hitter, Eddie Mathews and Ken Boyer (who also deserves the honour, by the way) would have left him behind. If you had to take him strictly as a fielder, Brooks Robinson and Clete Boyer would have left him in the previous county. But if you take him all-around, he was the best of the 1960s. That counts for Cooperstown just as much as it counts that you might be the best at your position all-around, all-time.

4. 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.

I'm also as big an admirer of Santo's "ambassadorship for the game" and work on behalf of diabetes as anyone. And for the Hall of Fame it means three things: jack, diddley, and squat.

There have been boatloads of players who've been great ambassadors for the game who've also done great work on behalf of grave illness or other suffering deep of life's hardships. And none of that got a lot of players into the Hall of Fame whose performance on the field didn't justify putting them there. Curt Schilling isn't going to the Hall of Fame because he's a major mover in the battle against Lou Gehrig's disease. Ted Williams didn't get into the Hall of Fame because he helped salvage the Jimmy Fund and remained a faithful supporter for life. Jamie Moyer (assuming he retires any time before he's of Social Security age) isn't going to the Hall of Fame, period---and he won't be omitted because of his work with a network of camps for children who have suffered parental bereavement before they turn to the end of their teen years, he'll be omitted because he was a good pitcher, sometimes an excellent pitcher, but he wasn't even close to being a great pitcher.

I'd love to see one of the diabetes foundations renamed for Ron Santo. I'd love to see them rename the Wrigley Field radio booth for him, the way I think they renamed the television booth for Harry Caray, the way the Dodgers renamed the Dodger Stadium press room for Vin Scully.

But that's not what makes Ron Santo's Hall of Fame case. He belongs in the Hall of Fame strictly on his own merit as a baseball player, strictly for having been the best all-around third baseman of his time.