MY FAVORITE BASEBALL PLAYER FINALLY IS ELECTED TO THE HALL OF FAME - RON SANTO IS IN!!!!!
I don't cry for many things. If I hit my thumb with a hammer - I SWEAR, VERY LOUDLY. Movies don't reduce me to tears (except, It's A Wonderful Life - as long as it is the first airing for the season.) Sad things to strangers bring sad feelings, but no tears.
Sad things to people that I know will bring tears - depending.
So, it came as a surprise to me that the announcement of my favorite baseball player being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, almost 1 year to the day after he passed away, brought tears to my eyes.
I guess I am human after all. I can't believe that I am human. I knew I wasn't a robot, and I was pretty sure that I was not a part of the undead community. I was leaning toward the belief that I was an android - you know, like Arnie's THE TERMINATOR.
I was a huge fan of Ron Santo. I was so much of a fan that I decided to become a White Sox fan when I heard the ungrateful Cubs had traded him to the Sox, back in 1974. I used to sit with my friends in my school library, and listen to the Cub games with the radio earpiece cord winding around my neck, and then going thru my shirt to connect with the portable radio.
Radios in the library were verboten. In my opinion, silly rules - I wasn't bothering anybody. Of course I used to also do the same thing in study hall. I can understand how the teacher wouldn't like that, and I did it anyways. The 1969 Cubs were far more important than study hall.
While I was in the library, I would bet with my friends that Santo would hit a homer. Except for psychically knowing that the number 13 would come up on a roulette wheel, the first time I was in Vegas, my psychic abilities were limited to knowing when Ronnie would hit a home run. I was right about 95% of the time. I made a teeny tiny fortune off of my SUCKER FRIENDS - come to think of it, they aren't my friends anymore. I wonder why?
I tried to meet Santo at one of the first Cub conventions at the Conrad Hilton hotel. The line for his signature was huge. Unfortunately, they cut off the line 4 people in front of me.
I then tried for some of the other Cub players. Ernie Banks was so popular they had to limit the line to numbered tickets. I will write another post that will tell a very interesting story how Ernie Banks (probably one of the nicest guys in baseball) walked past me three times (within inches), while ignoring my request for an autograph 3 times. Totally ignoring me, as in, being INVISIBLE.
I ultimately did meet Ron Santo at a baseball card shop, and It was a big thrill for me. I told him about becoming a Sox fan because I was so mad at the Cubs for trading him. Unfortunately, he didn't respond to that statement. You would think that a fanatical event like that would elicit some type of response. Even if it was something like this: SECURITY, PLEASE.
I asked him if I could take a photograph with him. I knelt down to have the picture taken with him sitting. For those people who don't know, Ron lost both his legs to diabetes. He played his entire career with the disease, which is incredible for a non-pitcher. He kept it a secret. He felt the team would not allow him to play. Even more incredible, the 1969 Cubs manager was Leo Durocher, who believed in using the starters every day without rest. MORON MANAGER.
The Cubs were at a disadvantage in 1969. They were about 9 games ahead of the dreaded NY Mets in August. One month later, the Cubs were losers. If Durocher had rested the starters, who played 81 games under the hot sun, as opposed to the other team playing night games, the Cubs would have certainly beat the UN-AMAZING METS.
Getting back to the photo with Mr. Santo. After kneeling down to have our picture taken, I had trouble getting up. I knocked over the crutches of the twice amputated baseball legend. That is my Call to Fame. How many other people can truthfully say that they accidently knocked over Ron Santo's crutches?
When Ronnie lost the voting for the Hall of Fame the last time, I was listening to callers to WGN radio (same corporation as the Cubs, where Ron was the announcer for the dreaded Cubs), and one of the callers told a story about how sweet Ron was. The caller and his father were at a Cubs game, and they decided to go down to the wall that separates the field from the stands. During batting practice they wanted to get Ron's autograph. The wall was moderately high, and the father leaned over the wall to hand Ronnie the baseball. Coins that were in his shirt pocket fell out, and dropped on the ground. Ron knelt down, and picked up all of the coins. How many of today's prima donna baseball players would do that? ZERO.
The coin story isn't over. After getting the coins back, the guy puts the coins back in his shirt pocket, and then leans over the wall again. Once again, the coins fall to the ground. Mr. Ron Santo kneels down again, and picks up every coin. WHAT A GUY!
Over the years, I kept on hoping that Ron would get into the Hall of Fame. i met Brooks Robinson at a golf tournament, and I asked him if Ron would ever get in. Brooks was on the Veterans Committee (the group of people responsible for voting in the people the MORON baseball writers forgot, like Minnie Minoso, Luis Tiant & owner Charlie Finley), and he said that he was pushing for Ronnie. Brooks knew that Ronnie's record was almost as impressive (in my opinion, far better) of a statistical record as he had. The trouble was, Ron was never on a World Series team. He played his entire career for the Cubs, and one season for the White Sox. The longer it took, the less likely that Ron would be voted in while he was alive. I knew that he would be voted in after he passed away, and today my psychic thought about Ron came true again.
Ron had impressive statistics 342 homers (before steroid induced homers became popular), 1,331 RBIs and 2,254 hits. Ron was the Captain of the team, which used to be VERY IMPORTANT to the cohesion of the team. Ron kept that team working together.
One more thing, when I met him, I mentioned that I had heard from a business associate of his that he hated the White Sox (he played for them for 1 season & had an incredibly terrible year.) He told me that he didn't hate the Sox. He hated the 1974 Sox manager. Chuck Tanner was the manager that year, and I can only imagine the true reasons why Ron had such a terrible year during his one and only season with the White Sox.
Tanner was a manager for the White Sox from 1970-1975. He had a losing record 401 wins - 414 losses. Not exactly Hall of Fame numbers. Sour grapes? Maybe. I loved Ron Santo's love of the game, and I disliked the managerial style of a former poor baseball player / poor baseball manager, which of course would be Chuck Tanner (in my humble opinion.)
If you would like to read a great Ron Santo tribute story, click on the underlined link.
Tweet
Sad things to people that I know will bring tears - depending.
So, it came as a surprise to me that the announcement of my favorite baseball player being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, almost 1 year to the day after he passed away, brought tears to my eyes.
I guess I am human after all. I can't believe that I am human. I knew I wasn't a robot, and I was pretty sure that I was not a part of the undead community. I was leaning toward the belief that I was an android - you know, like Arnie's THE TERMINATOR.
I was a huge fan of Ron Santo. I was so much of a fan that I decided to become a White Sox fan when I heard the ungrateful Cubs had traded him to the Sox, back in 1974. I used to sit with my friends in my school library, and listen to the Cub games with the radio earpiece cord winding around my neck, and then going thru my shirt to connect with the portable radio.
Radios in the library were verboten. In my opinion, silly rules - I wasn't bothering anybody. Of course I used to also do the same thing in study hall. I can understand how the teacher wouldn't like that, and I did it anyways. The 1969 Cubs were far more important than study hall.
While I was in the library, I would bet with my friends that Santo would hit a homer. Except for psychically knowing that the number 13 would come up on a roulette wheel, the first time I was in Vegas, my psychic abilities were limited to knowing when Ronnie would hit a home run. I was right about 95% of the time. I made a teeny tiny fortune off of my SUCKER FRIENDS - come to think of it, they aren't my friends anymore. I wonder why?
I tried to meet Santo at one of the first Cub conventions at the Conrad Hilton hotel. The line for his signature was huge. Unfortunately, they cut off the line 4 people in front of me.
I then tried for some of the other Cub players. Ernie Banks was so popular they had to limit the line to numbered tickets. I will write another post that will tell a very interesting story how Ernie Banks (probably one of the nicest guys in baseball) walked past me three times (within inches), while ignoring my request for an autograph 3 times. Totally ignoring me, as in, being INVISIBLE.
I ultimately did meet Ron Santo at a baseball card shop, and It was a big thrill for me. I told him about becoming a Sox fan because I was so mad at the Cubs for trading him. Unfortunately, he didn't respond to that statement. You would think that a fanatical event like that would elicit some type of response. Even if it was something like this: SECURITY, PLEASE.
I asked him if I could take a photograph with him. I knelt down to have the picture taken with him sitting. For those people who don't know, Ron lost both his legs to diabetes. He played his entire career with the disease, which is incredible for a non-pitcher. He kept it a secret. He felt the team would not allow him to play. Even more incredible, the 1969 Cubs manager was Leo Durocher, who believed in using the starters every day without rest. MORON MANAGER.
The Cubs were at a disadvantage in 1969. They were about 9 games ahead of the dreaded NY Mets in August. One month later, the Cubs were losers. If Durocher had rested the starters, who played 81 games under the hot sun, as opposed to the other team playing night games, the Cubs would have certainly beat the UN-AMAZING METS.
Getting back to the photo with Mr. Santo. After kneeling down to have our picture taken, I had trouble getting up. I knocked over the crutches of the twice amputated baseball legend. That is my Call to Fame. How many other people can truthfully say that they accidently knocked over Ron Santo's crutches?
When Ronnie lost the voting for the Hall of Fame the last time, I was listening to callers to WGN radio (same corporation as the Cubs, where Ron was the announcer for the dreaded Cubs), and one of the callers told a story about how sweet Ron was. The caller and his father were at a Cubs game, and they decided to go down to the wall that separates the field from the stands. During batting practice they wanted to get Ron's autograph. The wall was moderately high, and the father leaned over the wall to hand Ronnie the baseball. Coins that were in his shirt pocket fell out, and dropped on the ground. Ron knelt down, and picked up all of the coins. How many of today's prima donna baseball players would do that? ZERO.
The coin story isn't over. After getting the coins back, the guy puts the coins back in his shirt pocket, and then leans over the wall again. Once again, the coins fall to the ground. Mr. Ron Santo kneels down again, and picks up every coin. WHAT A GUY!
Over the years, I kept on hoping that Ron would get into the Hall of Fame. i met Brooks Robinson at a golf tournament, and I asked him if Ron would ever get in. Brooks was on the Veterans Committee (the group of people responsible for voting in the people the MORON baseball writers forgot, like Minnie Minoso, Luis Tiant & owner Charlie Finley), and he said that he was pushing for Ronnie. Brooks knew that Ronnie's record was almost as impressive (in my opinion, far better) of a statistical record as he had. The trouble was, Ron was never on a World Series team. He played his entire career for the Cubs, and one season for the White Sox. The longer it took, the less likely that Ron would be voted in while he was alive. I knew that he would be voted in after he passed away, and today my psychic thought about Ron came true again.
Ron had impressive statistics 342 homers (before steroid induced homers became popular), 1,331 RBIs and 2,254 hits. Ron was the Captain of the team, which used to be VERY IMPORTANT to the cohesion of the team. Ron kept that team working together.
One more thing, when I met him, I mentioned that I had heard from a business associate of his that he hated the White Sox (he played for them for 1 season & had an incredibly terrible year.) He told me that he didn't hate the Sox. He hated the 1974 Sox manager. Chuck Tanner was the manager that year, and I can only imagine the true reasons why Ron had such a terrible year during his one and only season with the White Sox.
Tanner was a manager for the White Sox from 1970-1975. He had a losing record 401 wins - 414 losses. Not exactly Hall of Fame numbers. Sour grapes? Maybe. I loved Ron Santo's love of the game, and I disliked the managerial style of a former poor baseball player / poor baseball manager, which of course would be Chuck Tanner (in my humble opinion.)
If you would like to read a great Ron Santo tribute story, click on the underlined link.
Tweet
Posted by Ron D at 12/5/2011 3:06 PM 
Categories: Pop Culture, Humorous, Classic TV
Tags: Ron Santo 1969 Cubs Cubs Chicago Cubs humor classic TV Pop Culture celebrity nostalgic baseball Hall of Fame
Categories: Pop Culture, Humorous, Classic TV
Tags: Ron Santo 1969 Cubs Cubs Chicago Cubs humor classic TV Pop Culture celebrity nostalgic baseball Hall of Fame
Comments