Santo for Hall

Even Illinois Senator Dick Durbin agrees that Ron Santo belongs in the MLB Hall of Fame. He recently tooks steps to see this happen. While I don't always agree with Mr. Durbin's politics, I think this is something Mr. Durbin and I could work together on.

Kudos to you Senator Durbin for helping MLB to do the right thing!

In a letter to the Hall's Veterans Committee, Durbin says Santo was great -- and probably would have been better if he hadn't played for the Cubs.

"We can't know how much better Ron Santo's statistics might have been had he not played his entire career with a life-threatening illness, in an era that suppressed the long ball, for a team that, God bless them, never once saw post-season action," wrote Durbin.

Read the Chicago Sun Times article

Len [Kasper] and Bob [Brenly] run a baseball blog for WGN. One of the posts on their site tells an individual how to voice their opinion to the Veterans Committee.

Here's where you can help: Fans wishing to voice their opinion in support of their favorite candidates may do so in two ways: by sending a single letter to Hall of Fame Veterans Committee, 25 Main Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326, or by logging on to baseballhalloffame.org and sending an e-mail. The Hall of Fame does not forward petitions to the voting members, but makes all correspondence known to any interested voting members, as well as to the Screening Committee members and Historical Overview Committee members.

SantoForHall.com has been collecting petitions and sending them to the Veterans Committee and will continue to do so until the vote is over. Please sign the petition to add your voice here as well.

SimmonsCooper Cancer Institute at SIU sponsors Men’s Night Out with Ron Santo

Timely prostate screenings and other health issues are the topics of a men’s health educational program, “SIU Men’s Night Out” held in October, featuring Ron Santo, former Cubs third baseman and current Cubs broadcaster on WGN radio.

Part of Prostate Cancer Awareness month, the educational event for men begins at 5:00 p.m. Thursday, October 12, at Springfield High School, 101 S. Lewis St., Springfield. The program is presented by the Prostate Center of the SimmonsCooper Cancer Institute at SIU.

Santo, third baseman for the Chicago Cubs from 1960 until 1973 hit 337 home runs and won five Gold Gloves during his 14-season career. Since his playing days have ended, he has worked tirelessly to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and root for his beloved Cubs. Santo was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 18, the year he became a professional baseball player. On September 28, 2003, Santo’s #10 was retired by the Cubs organization. Today he is a Cubs broadcaster on WGN radio with play-by-play announcer Pat Hughes.

The program begins with a free dinner and health information and screening opportunities by various health care organizations. There will be sign-up opportunities for prostate screenings and autographed baseballs and grills as door prizes. All participants will receive a complimentary souvenir tee shirt.
At 6:30 p.m., the educational portion of the evening will begin. Dr. Thomas Tarter, Associate Professor of Urology and Director of the Prostate Center, will lead the event and introduce the health services available to men at the SIU School of Medicine. Talks will continue with Dr. Robert Bussing, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Chief of General Internal Medicine, on men’s health and diet and exercise; Dr. Brad Schwartz, Assistant Professor of Urology, on benign prostate hyperplasia and erectile dysfunction; and Dr. Thomas Shanahan, radiation oncologist at Memorial Medical Center, on prostate cancer screening. The evening will feature Santo who will speak on his baseball career. Santo will be available for questions following his talk.

Prostate cancer strikes over 220,000 men in the United States each year. One man in six will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime. Early detection and treatment is one of the best tools for treatment. Screening that includes a Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) blood test combined with a digital rectal exam has led to cases being diagnosed earlier, often leading to a cure and increased survival.
Sponsors for SIU Men’s Night Out with Ron Santo are Bank of Springfield, St. John’s Hospital, the SimmonsCooper Cancer Institute at SIU, Astra Zeneca, SIU Physicians and Surgeons, and Memorial Medical Center.

To request a $10 ticket for SIU Men’s Night Out, men age 21 and older may call Carol at 217-545-7133 weekdays.

This old Cub refuses to give up.

"There's just something about the Cubs that I love very much. I just want to see them succeed," said Santo, who has battled diabetes most of his life. "Sure, I get down and sure I get frustrated because I played this game. Physically, I can handle this, I really can. I don't take [the losing] home with me. But my friends know when I am not a happy camper. Yet I love what I am doing."

Read the full article

SantoForHall.com got a mention today in the USA Today. Mike Dodd, a local Chicago writer, did a story on those people who are not in Cooperstown but should be. He contacted Scott Lewis from SantoForHall.com to get some background info on the site and to do a short interview.

Santo, now a popular Cubs broadcaster, generates similar passion from Chicago fans. Scott Lewis, 28, of Palatine, Ill., started a website (www.santoforhall.com) to collect petitions for the third baseman's election. He says he attended Ryne Sandberg's induction into Cooperstown last year and "it made me angry for Santo. I want to do what I can to help Ronnie get there."

Santo, like most living candidates, appreciates fans' support but doesn't have any contact with his Hall activists. "I don't want to be part of that campaigning," he says. "What they do as a campaign, they do on their own."

His former teammate Billy Williams, a Hall of Famer and Veterans Committee voter, says he gets about three or four packages from fans lobbying for a player each election. Some may refresh his memory of a player before his time, but he doesn't think the material influences the outcome.

"We know the credentials," Williams says. "We played against those guys."

Read the full USA Today article.

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.

Read the full article

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

In July 2005 I made a long bus trip from Chicago to Cooperstown, New York to see my boyhood hero, Ryne Sandberg, get inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Despite “woo” some annoyances “woo” on the trip “woo,” it was one I’ll never forget. I’ll do my best to give you some highlights, but only with the following disclaimer … Until you go to Cooperstown yourself - with your buddies (or someone who you love) – and sit in a lawn chair or on a blanket that you carried yourself – eating $4 ice cream bars and $2 (or $1 depending on who’s buying) sausages - to see someone whom you watched (and hopefully admired) play the game of baseball for many years … you won’t truly appreciate the experience!

The Town – I didn’t realize this until I actually went myself, but the induction ceremony is actually held a mile or so away from the Hall itself. It’s walking distance from downtown Cooperstown, but you better wear comfortable shoes. True there are free trollies and buses that will transport you from Main Street to the ceremony, but I’ll tell you that if you don’t make the walk at least one way, you’re missing out on a great experience. Along the walk, you experience small-town America at it’s best. Beautiful old homes, children out playing in the yards, flags flying, and lemonade stands are the norm. On top of that, you’ll probably end up walking with several thousand other people who have made the same trip on the same weekend because they have the same love for baseball (and their childhood hero) that you do.

The Hall – Every baseball fan needs to visit the Hall of Fame to have a true appreciation for the history and evolution of the game. True it’s fun to see the artifacts (the #xxx home-run that slugger so-and-so hit, the spikes that pitcher you-know-who was wearing when he threw his no-hitter, etc.), but that excitement quickly fades. What you’re left with then is a well thought-out and laid-out history of the game. If you don’t already know, you can learn about the impacts that various wars had on the game, you can learn about Jackie Robinson and the Negro Leagues, and you can learn about how technology (from the first radio broadcast to the first wireless “call to the pen”) has influenced the game. A few hours in the Hall of Fame will teach you more than you ever imagined.

The Fellowship – Hopefully every trip you take to the Hall of Fame will be with friends or family. That was the case for me: my first trip was with my wife, and the second trip (Sandberg’s induction) was with buddies. Both trips opened conversations and passion in areas we had never talked about much before. For my wife, the trip gave her not only an understanding of how much I love baseball, but also a new appreciation for the game itself. With my buddies, we took time to talk about things that don’t typically come up at the office (our favorite baseball players, the number of sausages one should eat at a game, and our dislike for people who say “woo” between every word). Oh, and we played catch … more than once. I challenge you to find grown men in your area having a friendly catch just for the enjoyment of doing so. I also challenge you to find a grown man who loves the game of baseball who wouldn’t love to play catch with his buddies more often.

The Respect – Ryno talked about it, and I think most Hall of Famers have it, but it is slowly slipping away from the game. I won’t get on my soapbox (just read Ryno’s induction speech), but I will say that the Hall of Fame is for those who respect the game. If you respect the game, it’s great to be surrounded by so many others who do as well.

Only time will tell if the McGwires, Sosas, Palmieros, and Bonds of the game make it into the Hall. On the other side of that coin, time is running out for a should-be HOFer, Ron Santo. My case for Ron goes beyond the numbers. True he stands up with many others already elected. However, I say Ronnie deserves to be in the Hall of Fame because he accomplished what he did, the right way (as Ryne Sandberg would say). That gets lost in todays world of corked bats, steroids, and juiced balls … but it’s important. At least it’s important to those willing to make the trip to Cooperstown.

The other reason I would like to see Ronnie inducted is because of the fans’ love for him. I challenge you to give me another player more loved by such a wide audience. Does love for a player mean he deserves to be elected? Not always – but in Ronnie’s case, it would be great for the game. I believe his induction would bring a record number of people to the ceremony, and I think more people would make the effort to see Santo’s plaque hanging in The Hall. All of that would not only bring the right people, but by getting them to Cooperstown, they’ll add to their historical knowledge of the game, and have the opportunity for some great fellowship with other baseball fans.

To some extent, that movement is going on in Chicago today as people rally to support Ron. We have one of the best kept secrets in Chicago … it’s a shame that we’re willing to share him with the Hall of Fame and he hasn’t been inducted yet.

When Ron Santo gets inducted into the Hall of Fame, look for me in my lawn chair, eating sausages and ice cream with my buddies, and my wife and kids … and bring your glove because I’ll be ready for a game of catch.

Recently, almost a year since my first trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame, I was playing catch with a friend from church to warm up for a pickup softball game a group of us has regularly during the summer. My friend, Mario, is originally from Italy but had moved to the States as a kid. And he remembered just wanting to play catch all the time once he started learning baseball after moving to the Chicago area from Italy. We were having the discussion, because his cousin, Maglio -- who lives in Italy -- was visiting and playing catch with us, and for the first time in his life.

So I had to tell Mario about my experience at the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies last year. A large section of the open seating area/field at the induction ceremony site was taken up by many people playing catch. There were dads and sons, friends, strangers -- all playing catch. It was an interesting phenomenon. People of several generations brought their gloves to the induction ceremony to play catch. Heck, 4 of us played catch on the smallest patch of grass next to our hotel and a parking ramp in Cleveland the first night of our bus trip to the Hof induction ceremonies.

What does that have to do with whether Ron Santo should get into the Baseball Hall? It is a picture of the enjoyment people still get from the simple parts of the game, which might help explain the passion some of us have for getting one of our favorites into the Hall.

For those of you campaigning for your favorite player -- or your dad's favorite player -- to get in, you really should go to the induction ceremony when he does. (Don't forget your glove.) I plan to be back for Frank Thomas and maybe others. Yes, even after all he said about the Sox this past off-season. Because at the induction ceremonies, people will choose to remember all the good stuff about their favorite players and teams.

By the way, Maglio handled a glove and a bat amazingly well for a first timer. And before we took off that night, Maglio wanted a picture with everyone from the game (the "team" picture). And Mario made sure he went home with a ball to capture some of this still somewhat uniquely American experience (with apologies to the World Cup of Baseball).

I had heard on the radio that Ron Santo wasn't at the Cubs game due to health issues, but didn't catch more than that as I was following the game during travel to various stores while running errands in town.

So I did a bit of searching and here's what I found....

Source: Ron Santo update - CubsNet.com