BLUE

I got a cold slap in the face yesterday, and it reminded me of one very important lesson. Nothing says life has to be fair.

My most vivid memory of Ron Santo will always be of him clicking his heels as he headed towards the home clubhouse entrance in Wrigley Field (which in those days was down the left field line) after a Cubs victory in 1969. Although he won 5 gold gloves, was a nine time all star, and hit 342 home runs, it was the joy of a win that drove him to that memorable dance, and propelled him into the hearts of countless Cubby fans.

He played a bit after Eddie Matthews, and a tad before Mike Schmidt. Only Brooks Robinson was held in the same esteem as Santo in that era. In his time he was considered the prototypical third baseman, and he did it while battling diabetes for most of his adult life. But he never complained, he just gave himself a shot of insulin before every game…. and then played his heart out.

The diabetes probably cut his career short, and then the disease ultimately took both of his legs. But it never for one second dampened his enthusiasm for the boys from the North Side. He was an unabashed homer as the Cubs radio color analyst, there was no way he could be impartial when it came to his team. His moans and groans as the Cubs endured another loss on their way to 101 years of futility echoed what we all felt. Ron Santo went from being an all-star third baseman to being one of us. And that’s why Cub fans around the world are crying tears of blue today.

In a perfect world, he would have been enshrined in Cooperstown years ago, and the Chicago Cubs would have broken their century long streak of hard luck and won a World Series in time for him to enjoy it. But as I said, life isn’t always fair. However, I am taking solace today in the fact that I’m sure Ron Santo is clicking his new heels and flapping his wings as he heads to that big clubhouse entrance in the sky. And that effervescent smile is there once again.
You see…he finally is getting the ultimate reward that he really deserved.

Hurry up Ronnie, Jack Brickhouse and Leo Durocher are waiting for you.