To many people, baseball is only a game, a form of entertainment. “America’s Past Time,” some will remember. To so many people nowadays, baseball is just a simple sport. But to Ron Santo, it was a way of life. Santo is one of the last of a dying breed of athletes.
He played the game for the sake of the game. Money was never an issue, unlike with many of today’s stars. Over his fifteen years in the major leagues, Ron Santo put up numbers worthy of the Baseball Hall of Fame. But to this day, his plaque does not hang on the walls in Cooperstown, New York. To the millions of Cubs fans, this is a travesty.
And after 95 years, Cubs fans know travesty. But because of his distinguished career and courageousness in the face of tragedy, Ron Santo should, and of right ought to be, recognized by Major League Baseball and inducted as a member of its prestigious Hall of Fame. Perhaps the most popular statistic voted on on the Hall of Fame ballots is hitting. Hitting has many aspects, of which the most prominent is home runs.
There have been many third basemen with power. Today, third base is considered a power position, in fact. The third baseman with the most home runs is Mike Schmidt, with 548. Second is Eddie Mathews, with 512. The next closest to Mathews among Hall of Famers is George Brett, with 317 (web).
In his career, Ron Santo hit 342 homers, which would put third all time among 3 rd basemen (web).
So theoretically, if home runs are the most important hitting statistic, then Ron Santo is third most important 3 rd baseman in history. Schmidt and Mathews each played for eighteen years, while Santo played for only fifteen. It stands to reason that if he had played for eighteen years, he would have hit in excess of 400 home runs. The other important parts of hitting include RBI’s (runs batted in) and batting average. Santo had a lifetime RBI total of 1337, good for 5 th best all time among 3 rd basemen (web).
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All those above him are in the Hall of Fame, naturally.
However, players with significantly lower totals, such as George Kell and Pie Traynor, are also in the Hall. Santo again has the 3+ years disadvantage. George Brett and Brooks Robinson played five and six more years, respectively (web).
Yet Brett only leads Santo by 200, while Robinson only leads by less than 30! Ron Santo averaged 89 RBI’s per year, so with an extra six years, he’d have had an easy lead over the competition (web).
Similarly, Santo’s lifetime batting average was better than many of his peers, at a career mark of. 277. Batting average is determined by dividing the number of hits by the number of at-bats. While several 3 rd baseman have a lifetime average above. 300, they did not put up comparable stats in any other category. Baseball, however, is not all offense.
Commonly referred to as the “hot corner,” 3 rd base is a very tough position to field. It requires swift reactions and a strong arm for rifling the ball to first base. Ron Santo epitomized this. A position like 3 rd averages over twenty-five errors per season, but he averaged just twenty-two (web).
Santo is fifth all-time in fielding percentage with. 954 (web).
One must consider that he is compared to Brooks Robinson, widely acknowledged as one of, if not the best fielder of all-time. Needless to day, Ron Santo held his own at 3 rd base. The Baseball Hall of Fame is similar to a university in that they also look at how a player was as a person. At the age of eighteen, Ron Santo was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes.
Afraid that this may hinder his dreams of baseball stardom, he hid his illness from all but his immediate family. Yet he continued to persevere, reaching the Major Leagues the next year. After he retired, Santo used his fame to establish the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).
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Each year, he leads the “Walk for the Cure” benefit, which raises in excess of three million dollars in a single day each year (web).
Also, he convinced the Tribune Company to donate $100 to the JDRF each time a Cub Player gets walked during the season. Through these humanitarian efforts, Santo has proved his worth as a man. Ron’s best aspect has been his triumph over adversity, however. In 2001, Santo underwent a surgery to amputate one of his legs as a result of the Diabetes.
Just this year, he had his other leg removed as well. And yet, he continues his announcing duties on WGN radio, because he loves the Game and His Team that much. Indeed, Ron Santo is a very brave individual and a strong-willed human being. As if the aforementioned reasons weren’t enough, Ron Santo is an award-winner. Each year, The Sporting News magazine gives a Gold Glove Award to the best fielder at each position. In his 15 years in the Majors, Santo managed to capture this honor five times (web).
He accomplished this feat with career-high fielding percentage of. 971 in 1968, with several other stellar years to accompany his other merits. And of Course, Ron Santo made the national League All-Star team nine times (web).
Back in the ’60’s and ’70’s when he played, the All-Star game was actually competitive, unlike the fan-pleasing media-fest of today. In order to be an All-Star, a player is voted on by the people. Basically, the people thought Ron Santo was the best third baseman in the game nine times.
Surely this warrants the all-important Hall Call. While this issue may seem entirely straightforward, Ron Santo has yet to be elected to the honor that he so obviously deserves. Despite protests, petitions, and angry and threatening letters, Cooperstown remains devoid of what would be one of its greatest members. Quite simply, it’s not fair. As Chicago Cubs Hall-of-Famer Billy Williams has said, “The game just won’t be the same until good ol’ number ten (Santo) finally gets what’s coming to him!” 1. “Hall of Fame 3 rd Basemen” web Online.
World Wide Web. 6 October 2003. 2. “Ron Santo” web Online.
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World Wide Web. 5 October 2003 3. “Should-Be Haulers” web Online. World Wide Web. 7 October 2003.
