I heard the announcement on ESPN radio this morning on the way to work..........and cried like a baby. Cubs legend and current radio announcer, Ron Santo, passed away yesterday after complications from bladder cancer. It was also well known that he battled a severe form of diabetes most of his life and was often in poor health. Still.........there's a new void in Cubs Nation. Ronnie famously has been slighted by the Hall of Fame Committee for years (and it's really gonna irk me if they vote him in now after he's gone and not here to enjoy it), he was a great Cub and maybe an even greater Cub announcer-not necessarily for his announcing skills, but for sheer entertainment value. Ronnie was hilarious. I loved talking with my blog friends about Ronnie's latest rants-he loved the Cubs more than anyone....but also got madder at the Cubs more than anyone. Shouts of "awwww geeez!" made me giggle every time. All he wanted in life was to see the Cubs win it all. Now, he's hanging out with Harry and hopefully from where ever they are, they can guide the Cubbies to a much needed championship.
I had to break the news to my friend Michele (Harry's daughter), who knew Ron well. I was sorry to ruin her day with this news. Michele said you'll never meet a nicer man than Ron Santo. He will be missed.
The ESPN.com article on him sums it all up nicely and made me teary-eyed all over again:
http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=5878406
Rest in peace, Ronnie. We love you. I hope you and Harry are getting reacquainted and laughing it up right now.
2 comments:
Hey KD, I think that all of the Wrigley faithful and baseball fans will be irked if the Hall of Fame Committee votes him in now. I believe that the Cubs and Cubs fans were and are his hall of fame.
Rest in Peace Ronnie. We all love you, you will be missed immenseley.
well put, Blue! We all know what he meant to baseball....man, the many Ronnie-isms will be what I'll miss most about it. He was often unintentionally funny. :)
The Pat and Ron team will be a hard one to replace, they played so well off each other.
I'm sure Ronnie, Harry and Jack Brickhouse are livin it up right now, having a good ol time. :)
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