An ode to Ronnie.

I never met Ron Santo. Well, let me amend that. I shook his hand a couple of times outside Wrigley but, I never really talked to him. But, I like most Cub fans loved Ron Santo. Now that his battle is over, I know next April when baseball starts back up again, the game just won’t be the same.

If you aren’t a Cub fan you just won’t get it. Santo was not a great broadcaster. Even he would have probably told you that. But, the reason he became so beloved is that he wore his heart on his sleeve. When the Cubs won, there was no one more elated then Ronnie. When they lost no one took it harder. As a 41 year old long suffering Cub fan I can relate to that.

Ron brought the long suffering and random joy home just by being himself. He could not hide his emotions. His unbridled passion for all things Cubs was as genuine as you could get. With him in the booth, you knew you had a fan there rooting with the same intensity you were rooting with. In this day and age, with the watered down homogenized every announcer sounding the same school of broadcasting, Ronnie was a breath of fresh air.

He didn’t blanket himself in lame pre-rehearsed catch phrases. His responses were knee jerk, true reactions that you as a fan listening could relate to. Along with his long time partner Pat Hughes it made listening to Cubs games all the more enjoyable. It was cathartic to listen Ron bemoan a loss. There was no hiding how he felt. He was funny without trying to be funny and no one laughed at himself more than Santo. That is part of what made him so endearing. I would often times look forward to sitting in my car just listening to the Pat and Ron show.

Listening to a ball game on the radio, in today’s world makes one feel somewhat antiquated. Yet, there is something about the experience that warms my heart. I am a true baseball nerd and on clear nights in the summer, I will scan the AM dial to see just how many games I can get in my car radio. There is something comforting about it, that I can’t quite put my finger on. And no one comforted me more than Ron Santo.

I am really not old enough to have seen him play. By the time I was old enough to fully understand baseball, Ronnie had retired. So, I can only go on the numbers. I have written before about how he has been screwed over by the Hall of Fame voters. If you want to read that post here it is http://10withamop.blogspot.com/2008/12/hall-of-shame.html

As I said, Cub baseball just won’t be the same without him in the booth. Sure, I may as a listener get a better technical explanation for what is happening on the field. But I won’t get the same enthusiasm or passion. And, isn’t it passion that makes being a baseball fan just that. I can rip the Cubs all I want but as soon as a non-Cub fan does, then I get go after them. Sure, they are imperfect, but I don’t want to hear outsiders dis that imperfection. If a friend or family member were asked to describe me, Cub fan would probably be one of the first things to come up. I had that in common with Ron Santo, and today as he was laid to rest, I felt I had lost a member of my “family.” Rest in peace number 10, one day we will go all the way just to bad you won’t be around to enjoy it.