Ron Santo!

[DALederle]

If you're not a CUB fan you might not get this post. But please don't take umbrage, because I am a die hard CUB fan and have been for a good 60 years now, or more.
For those that don't know, long time CUB third baseman and radio broadcaster, Ron Santo died on Thurs. I listened all day long to eulogies of him on our local radio station, WGN. WGN has broadcast EVERY CUB game since 1947. I grew up listening to them over the years. I lived and died with the few good years and moaned and groaned when they swooned.
I was even scouted by them once, when I played fast pitch softball after highschool. I'm 6'4" and 215 back then and liked to hit homeruns, something not that easy in softball. Even in 16" softball (sometimes called mushball becaus the big ball gets soft after a while) I could hit a home run, but you really had to run those out as fast as you could.
They didn't give me a contract but I always had the thought in my mind that they should have!
Okay, that's a pipe dream but one that stayed with me all my life. And I followed every CUB game I could since then. The 1969 team just brokoe my heart when they lost out to the Mets that year. And 2003, losing to the Miami Fish just saddened for days afterward that last game was lost.
Needless to say that this post is basically about the fact that I very sad right now and have been since I woke up yesterday and heard that Ron was gone. He's the first of the star players on that 1969 team to go. That whole year, as they were wining and seemed like they would go on to the Pennent and Series, I was there with them in spirit every game. Every game I felt that I should be there out on the field with them.
So Ron's loss is something I feel very deeply. I don't expect everyone or anyone here to understand or feel the same.
But even those that don't know about Santo the player and broadcaster should know that he was an off the field leader for many people too. He was a type 1 diabetic since he was 18 and just started his career. He had to hide it back then so the club didn't trade him or release him. And he was guessing, everyday, at how to medicate himself. Then didn't have the treatments then that they do now.
I had watched four of my uncles come down with type 1 and all of them died from it!
So Ron had become an almost personal icon for me of someone who suceeded were my uncles didn't.
Ron led the fight to find a cure for diabetes in Illinois, with his yearly "walk for the cure" that collected millions of dollars for research.
I only hope that no one here minds this post. I just feel I have to say something and share it with someone right now.
Dennis A. Lederle

[Mugs-n-such]

No, I'm glad you did share because, in my mind at least, this forum should be for sharing any legitimate concerns we have and certainly the death of someone you admired and respected...if we can't talk about that, why bother talking? I've personally never been a really great sports fan, there's a long history for that (some of it has to do with enjoying backyard football then when I joined the school football team in junior high, sitting on the bench as a 3rd string player in every single game the whole time except for one play in one game ) Anyhow, didn't wan't to drag my history in here, but I'm glad you felt free to post, imo that's what the forum is for! OK, I'm done. (finally).

[STEVIE]

Sorry, please forgive an ignorant Scot but what is CUB? On a more serious note, I must echo Mugs and Such' sentiment. You were more than right to make the post here. The world would be a much healthier and happy place if we were able to air our feelings more freely. There are so many people like Ron Santo who do so much good in their communities and perhaps outside who never seem to get anything like the recognition they deserve.
Make sure you keep your own good memories of the man and his passing will become much less painful to you.
Steve.

[crfriend]

Sorry, please forgive an ignorant Scot but what is CUB?

Dennis is referring to the Chicago Cubs baseball team that plays at Wrigley Field in the "Windy City" (Chicago, Illinois, USA). Affectionately known as the "Cubbies", they're a perennially-cursed team that always seem to choke in the playoffs if they make it that far. Despite that unfortunate flaw, they have one of the most loyal followings in major-league sports in the US.

On a more serious note, I must echo Mugs and Such' sentiment. You were more than right to make the post here.

This moderator seconds the sentiment.

[DALederle]

They showed Ron Santo's funereal on TV Friday morning. And I watched the entire thing.
I also cried a lot. I know, "men don't cry" but I did as I watched. It upset me that I couldn't be there in person. But that was reserved for the known family and friends and the stars and media.
But fans lined the street outside of Wrigley Field, were the Cubs Team play. The hearse took the casket on a last ride and drove around the ballpark. When it first showed up the crowd fell silent. No one spoke a word, with all the heads hung and caps removed and placed on hearts. And then someone began singing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" and that spread like a ripple down through the crowd and on around to the other side of the park until everyone was singing. Then the hearse stopped in front of the park for once last time and everyone gatherd around and clapped.
Hey! I know those of you in the UK probably don't think this was much. I remember the coverage of Princess Di's funereal and it didn't hold a candle to that (just ask Elton John). But for me, personally, it was very important.
But it's over and we all move on!
I just hope that when my day comes I'm missed by someboody!

Dennis A. Lederle
p.s. not fishing for compliments or anything.
Just expressing myself this morning!