When I came up in 1960, we were averaging maybe 600,000 fans. In ’69, we felt that was going to be our year. The fan base started to get larger and larger, and in ’69 when we were in first place from the get-go, the “Bleacher Bums”-everything that was happening that year was unbelievable. You’d go on the road and you’d have the “Bleacher Bums” with you. You’d have fans there all the time. You knew the fans by their first name. And when we drew nearly 1.7 million fans for the first time ever, from that moment on, it’s just gone straight up.

We were like rock stars. We always stayed in the clubhouse for two hours talking about the game, and we’d come out and we’d have 150 fans waiting. I had my shirt ripped off me once.

Source: OUT LOUD: Ron Santo – Chicago Tribune

Comments

  1. DA TRUTH says:

    THIS OLD CUB IS A CHICAGO GREAT MY HERO.

  2. Mike says:

    Once again, Ron Santo whores himself for the Hall of Fame (HOF). Basically, Santo’s argument comes down to, I want to be in the HOF, therefore I belong in the HOF. Maybe, just maybe, some of you Kool-Aid drinking Cubs fans should look at Baseball-Reference and ask yourselves why you continually hold a pity party for the cry-baby that is Ron Santo, while a guy like Ken Boyer is completely forgotten. I dare you to compare stats and then come here and say Santo should fall only 8 votes short, while Boyer should be completely forgotten. By the way, Boyer actually helped teams win, something The Great Whiner never did. I hope he never makes it to the HOF. Anyone who does what he has done in terms of self promotion, and has had others do for him, disgusts me. By the way, his complete lack of talent as a broadcaster should go against any qualifications he had as a players. If there were a HOF for self promoters and/or terrible broadcasters, then Santo would be Babe Ruth.

  3. Sluggo says:

    The selection process for induction to the Hall of Fame is fair. Ron has not been selected on 17 ballots. That tells you in the opinion of sport writers and veterans he did not have a Hall of Fame career. Ron should learn to deal with that. I would hate to see him selected just because he has a lot of Cub fans writing petitions. The selection process should not influenced by bias fans.