Ron Santo Was Heart and Soul of Cubs

Filed under: Cubs, Sports Business and Media

Ron Santo didn't get to see the Cubs win the World Series. He seemed to be living for it from the start, from the days he signed as a young man to play for them even though other teams made much bigger offers, through the agony of the '69 Cubs, and into his last chapter on the radio.

"Oh noo,'' he cried out famously on a broadcast one day, when ex-Cub Brant Brown dropped an easy fly ball in the ninth inning in a pennant race. "Noooo!!''

Santo died Thursday night of bladder cancer. He was 70.

Chicagoans knew this day was coming. He held on through the loss of both legs below the knees from complications of diabetes. He once flat-lined on a hospital table and was brought back to life.

They took pieces away from Santo, one at a time, and he kept coming back to see the Cubs win. He was going to be there when they finally did it, when hell froze over and the Cubs won the World Series.

Of course, it wasn't really that simple. Santo loved to talk about his grandkids, and worked tirelessly to raise money for juvenile diabetes research. Santo had gone from an S.O.B. of a player to everyone's favorite uncle.

Source: http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/12/03/ron-santo-was-heart-and-soul-of-the-cubs/

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