This old Cub needs a new approach
Published by Scott Lewis July 11th, 2006 in News.The way I see it, if a professional sports team pays you a bundle to serve as a conduit between its product on the field and the fans, you'd better come to the park every day as "prepared" as a paramedic. That microphone parked in front of your face is there for a reason.
To sit through an entire game, stumbling about, forgetting names and dates, stating the obvious, providing no real insight, reading e-mails and offering little else, is as close to stealing from your employer as you can get.
Cubs color man Ron Santo, and I use that term lightly, is guilty of all the above.
Early on, the former Cubs star was a lovable addition to the WGN broadcast booth, living and dying with every pitch, error, blown opportunity and wrenching loss. Fans could identify with Santo. They shared his joy, however limited, and matched his tears through all the many stinko seasons.
Legitimate play-by-play men and color analysts do that -- while addressing their team's needs, criticizing the front office for knucklehead moves, or holding the manager's feet to the fire for costly slipups.
Cubs radio play-by-play veteran Pat Hughes, one of the game's best straight men, is on top of league events. TV counterparts Len Kasper and Bob Brenly tell you what you need to know and are outspoken.
you must be a sox fan, how can you say hawk , jackson, farmer and singleton are surgically precise , please i’m so sick of all of them and their futile attempts to coin some obnoxiuos phrase, chopper two hopper putit on the board , light it up , go crazy he gone!!!! thats broadcasting at its worst, those guys suck. what makes fans like ron santo are the reasons you describe in you putrid piece of whale crap of an article. fans love ron because he lives and dies with the cubs, but you being an obvious sox fan will never understand that. put that on your board yesss!!!!!
The fact is that Ron Santo is a “color” guy. Nobody expects him to be an encyclopedia. He is the perfect compliment to Pat Hughes.
The dream team, for me, would be Pat Hughes, Ron Santo and Steve Stone.
Listening to a Sox broadcast is like a prison sentence. In fact, I’m sure it violates the Geneva Convention as cruel and unusual punishment.
What a horrible ugly article! Don’t you get? There’s nothing wrong with the color man being a fan! Guess who the vast majority of the listeners are? Uh….fans! I’m a Dodgers fan and I heard the same ugly critcisms about Jerry Doggett in his waning years in Los Angeles. I can only hope that nobody will ever be brainless enough to make such diatribe against Vin Scully even though he is also getting up there in age and will have that job as long as he wants it. Ron Santo’s broadcasts are all about being a fan of your favorite team not “criticizing the front office for knucklehead moves, or holding the manager’s feet to the fire for costly slipups”. What pompous drivel! He ENJOYS the game and articulates that experience for the people listening. That’s why people love him.
Idiot. Every year I subscribe to MLB.com radio. Why? Two words - Hughes & Santo. Hughes because he’s the best there is. Santo because he has a passion for the game that 90% of the drones on the radio never will have - and the two together are unbeatable. You aren’t fit to serve Santo’s breakfast.
Please see Ron Santo’s page at www.baseball-reference.com
Okay-this article. Who is this guy? Listening to the Sox guys are like being sent to prison. They are the worst in baseball right there with the guys from Atlanta.
Sure I’m a Cubs and Santo fan but do not hate the Sox. Try and watch them when they are on but it’s nearly impossible. Would rather listen to finger nails on a chalkboard, my mother in law, or rap music.
Two simple truths. Hughes and Santo make a great team and Ron Santo belongs in the Hall of Fame.
Amen. Glad to see that someone has the courage to see Santo for the buffoon that he is. All of his so-called fans who defend his embarassing lack of speaking skills are the same people who have followed the dismal Cubs for years. They wouldn’t know excellence if it were to bite them in the rear end. They’re used to mediocrity in the field, so they tolerate it in the booth as well. Santo is a shameless shill who has parlayed less talent into more money than anyone else in radio. If Santo were running a hunting lodge in Montana, he would have long been forgotten. He’s using his radio gig to shamelessly promote his HOF hopes. How the fourth best player on a perennially bad team can lobby so hard for induction is beyond me. This man is a sorry joke of his former self and should be ashamed for his blatant self-promotion.
Thank You
Dear Al Hamnik,
You are obviously not a Cubs fan, and not even a very good baseball fan. Any real fan, who lives and dies with his team, wants to hear an announcer who is also a fan of his team. I absolutely despise Bob Brenly and that other moron in the booth, not only because they don’t seem to be Cubs fans, but also because they know very little about baseball and say incredibly stupid things on a regular basis. Every day provides a new example, and today it was about how the Cubs pitchers were compiling high pitch counts due to the number of strike two foul balls that opposing hitters were getting. The implication was that the pitchers needed to do a better job with that, when anyone with the least baseball experience should know that the reason hitters will foul pitches off is because the pitches are too good to hit.
Santo doesn’t say stupid things like that because he knows baseball. He provides an expert insider insight that is lacking from the broadcasts of your idols Len Kaspar and Bob Brenly, and I could care less if he knows Albert Pujols’ batting average against left handed pitchers. The fact is that Santo hates Pujols and nothing could be more annoying to Santo than keeping track of the Cardinals’ stats. Besides, Pat Hughes has that covered anyway, as you ironically mention in your utterly thoughtless diatribe against one of baseball’s greats.
As far as the Hall of Fame goes, to me it is touching that he wants to be in it so badly. It shows that he still cares a lot about the game, unlike a great number of retired athletes who seem to lose interest. This only makes me like him more, and I really hope he gets in.
As far as his love of Dusty Baker goes, I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Do you have proof of this, or are you just blowing smoke? I’ll admit I haven’t heard every broadcast, but the ones I did hear during the Dusty era were not exactly complimentary, although I never did hear him proclaim the worst manager in baseball, which is what he deserved (hey, at least we agree on something).
In short my dear Al Hamnik, this article is incredibly stupid, and if you do not understand why it is stupid now that I have opened your eyes a bit, then it is clear that you are incredibly stupid.
I suggest writing about whatever sport it is you actually like. I’m guessing tennis, or maybe soccer. Go with your heart man, and get away from baseball and especially stay far away from our Cubbies.
BTW, I stumbled upon this link while trying to find out if Ron Santo was on MLB.com’s audio package. Now that I’ve learned that he is, I am about to order it.
Oh, and Blaster, go back to your New York massage house and eat another Jeter Dog.