According to the Tribune, the news going around at CubbieCon is that the Cubs will be erecting a statue of Ron Santo at Wrigley this summer.
The statue will be dedicated on August 10th before a night game against the Nationals.
Where will it be put?
Well, we can go ahead and enter our complementary joke about placing it next to third base where the statue will serve as a better defensive player than Aramis Ramirez. (Ha ha...giggle giggle...snort snort).
We all knew that this was likely going to happen even if Santo had not died in December. (Recall that Crane Kenney said after the Billy Williams statue dedication that more statues were likely going to be made.) So now we have to ask this question....where is the line as far as who gets a statue and who doesn't?
For so many, Cubs history begins with the Cubs of the 60's. But with the exception of Ernie Banks, the other greatest Cubs played in an era well before that. Mordecai Brown, Frank Chance, Charlie Root, Hack Wilson, Cap Anson...they all could arguably be said to have been greater Cubs than the other two players who, by the end of this year, will have statues outside of the ballpark. With a couple of small exceptions, there is virtually nothing in or around Wrigley to honor these players.
I supposed this is an argument for another time.
In the end, it's really cool that Santo is getting a statue. It's too bad he will not be here to see it.
As you all probably know, CubbieCon is open for business. Usually very little news of any significance comes out of it. I'm unable to attend again this year due to the fact, as most of you know, my wife and I are expecting a child any day now.
Speaking of which, it is very likely that I will be missing from here for the better part of a week when our baby does come...but once we get somewhat settled again, I'll be back here complaining about anything I can think of.
Showing posts with label Ron Santo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ron Santo. Show all posts
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Evaluating the replacement...the next Ron Santo.
Tomorrow will mark one week after Ron Santo’s funeral…
I’m not sure what an appropriate amount of time to wait is before speculating on who will take Santo’s place in the booth should begin, but I’m going to ask that question anyway.
It took the Cubs 30 years before they found a truly suitable replacement for Santo at 3rd base...hopefully it won't take that long to find a good replacement for him in the booth.
There are quite a number of names to throw into the hat...so here we go.
Let’s start off with the obvious fan favorites: Mark Grace and Rick Sutcliffe.
Gracie is doing color in Arizona right now. He’s been somewhat controversial for, if nothing else, colorful language that he occasionally uses on air. He’s loved by Cubs fans, especially the ladies, and in the games I’ve heard him call, he hasn’t been horrible. Gracie was kind of shoved out of the Cubs organization and he didn’t really appreciate that. With Ed Lynch and Andy McPhail both gone as well as the Cubs having new owners, Gracie has warmed back up to the Cubs and he could rejoin the organization in this capacity. Sutcliffe has done ESPN games for years now, and is well respected. I’m not sure I particularly like his style in the booth, but he would be solid as well.
The standard backups for Ronnie when he was unavailable: Dave Otto and Randy Hundley.
Dave Otto, I believe, is universally disliked for his style in the booth. He did TV for a couple years when Steve Stone was dealing with personal and health issues. Most people were really glad to see him go. Hundley, Santo’s teammate for a long time, does a good job and appears to have a good working relationship with Pat Hughes. Hundley isn’t exactly a youngster, and can be a bit annoying to listen to. He might not connect real well with a number of today’s listeners.
The home grown talent: Judd Sirott, Andy Masur, and Cory Provus
These three are all unlikely to be the replacements for Santo…Masur is the play-by-play guy in San Diego, and Provus shares time with Bob Uecker in the Brewers radio booth. Judd Sirott hasn’t really been all that impressive in his one inning stints of yelling into the microphone either. Provus and Masur both appear very happy in their current jobs. In the end, these three guys probably can’t fill the job of color commentator.
More recent but lesser known former Cubs: Erik Karros, Todd Hollandsworth and Dan Plesac.
Plesac has a good job in studio right now for MLB Network and before that for CSN. He probably would give the most informative color commentary of anyone I’ve named so far, but I don’t see him leaving his current job. Todd Hollandsworth has done a good job replacing Plesac and has filled in a few times for Brenly in the booth and has done so well. Karros has spent time in studio with Fox and spent some time at ESPN doing games. He’s currently with the Dodgers doing color commentary. I don’t think it’s likely he’ll be snatched away from that job. Of this group, Hollandsworth is probably a very strong possibility to get the job.
And my pick: Keith Moreland.
Moreland filled in for Santo and Brenly on a number of occasions over the last 3 years and has done a really good job. He seems to have really good feel for identifying things of interest in a game. He currently calls games for the University of Texas. Both Pat Hughes and Len Casper seem to work well with him. In the end, I think Zonk would work out great and that’s who I’d like to see in the booth.
The Cubs might go outside of all these guys and pick someone completely different for the job, but that would be somewhat out of character. Expect someone from this list to be named as replacement.
I’m not sure what an appropriate amount of time to wait is before speculating on who will take Santo’s place in the booth should begin, but I’m going to ask that question anyway.
It took the Cubs 30 years before they found a truly suitable replacement for Santo at 3rd base...hopefully it won't take that long to find a good replacement for him in the booth.
There are quite a number of names to throw into the hat...so here we go.
Let’s start off with the obvious fan favorites: Mark Grace and Rick Sutcliffe.
Gracie is doing color in Arizona right now. He’s been somewhat controversial for, if nothing else, colorful language that he occasionally uses on air. He’s loved by Cubs fans, especially the ladies, and in the games I’ve heard him call, he hasn’t been horrible. Gracie was kind of shoved out of the Cubs organization and he didn’t really appreciate that. With Ed Lynch and Andy McPhail both gone as well as the Cubs having new owners, Gracie has warmed back up to the Cubs and he could rejoin the organization in this capacity. Sutcliffe has done ESPN games for years now, and is well respected. I’m not sure I particularly like his style in the booth, but he would be solid as well.
The standard backups for Ronnie when he was unavailable: Dave Otto and Randy Hundley.
Dave Otto, I believe, is universally disliked for his style in the booth. He did TV for a couple years when Steve Stone was dealing with personal and health issues. Most people were really glad to see him go. Hundley, Santo’s teammate for a long time, does a good job and appears to have a good working relationship with Pat Hughes. Hundley isn’t exactly a youngster, and can be a bit annoying to listen to. He might not connect real well with a number of today’s listeners.
The home grown talent: Judd Sirott, Andy Masur, and Cory Provus
These three are all unlikely to be the replacements for Santo…Masur is the play-by-play guy in San Diego, and Provus shares time with Bob Uecker in the Brewers radio booth. Judd Sirott hasn’t really been all that impressive in his one inning stints of yelling into the microphone either. Provus and Masur both appear very happy in their current jobs. In the end, these three guys probably can’t fill the job of color commentator.
More recent but lesser known former Cubs: Erik Karros, Todd Hollandsworth and Dan Plesac.
Plesac has a good job in studio right now for MLB Network and before that for CSN. He probably would give the most informative color commentary of anyone I’ve named so far, but I don’t see him leaving his current job. Todd Hollandsworth has done a good job replacing Plesac and has filled in a few times for Brenly in the booth and has done so well. Karros has spent time in studio with Fox and spent some time at ESPN doing games. He’s currently with the Dodgers doing color commentary. I don’t think it’s likely he’ll be snatched away from that job. Of this group, Hollandsworth is probably a very strong possibility to get the job.
And my pick: Keith Moreland.
Moreland filled in for Santo and Brenly on a number of occasions over the last 3 years and has done a really good job. He seems to have really good feel for identifying things of interest in a game. He currently calls games for the University of Texas. Both Pat Hughes and Len Casper seem to work well with him. In the end, I think Zonk would work out great and that’s who I’d like to see in the booth.
The Cubs might go outside of all these guys and pick someone completely different for the job, but that would be somewhat out of character. Expect someone from this list to be named as replacement.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Some selfish reflections on the death of Ron Santo
Forgive me for being a bit too personal in this post...this really has little to do with baseball or the Cubs, but at times it's somewhat therapeutic to do this.
******************
The death of Ron Santo has been rather difficult for me to deal with today. I've avoided being online much or looking at Twitter, watch TV or even check the news.
I'm not sure what the deal is.
A little more than a year ago my grandmother died at the age of 98. As some of you might have recalled, I made the point on this site zthat she lived almost a century and still never saw the Cubs win the World Series. She'd watch the games from her little television in her nursing home room when ever she could. You would have thought she could have lived long enough to have seen that World Series title...but no.
I had a rough time coping with her death. Part of the reason I couldn't deal with it was because, frankly, we haven't had too many funerals in my family. We've been very fortunate about that. I had just started this blog when my grandmother passed away, and for some of the same reasons I felt I should start this blog (basically going through a mid-life crisis), I had a hard time dealing with her death.
So what does this have to do with Ron Santo? Well, I think we would all agree that Ronnie was one of the biggest Cubs fans around. As I stated in my post earlier today, he was happier than anyone when the team did well and was more depressed than anyone when things didn't go too well.
I never met Ron Santo but more than any other Cubs player past or present, I feel like I know him. Hearing his voice on the radio broadcasts, watching “This Old Cub”, seeing him up in the booth every time I go to the ballpark, it all just makes me feel like I've lost another family member. Santo, like my grandmother never saw the Cubs win that World Series title.
I wonder, as I begin to raise my own family, if my two year old daughter or the child we are expecting in January will ever see the same.
With all that said, it makes me reflect upon myself as well.
Santo was 70 when he died. We all know about his constant battle with diabetes which claimed both of his legs and how remarkable it was that he played through that condition.
I turned 35 years old this year...and the realization that this is exactly 1/2 the age of Santo when he died makes me feel a little scared.
Besides that, Ron Santo was 34 years old when he retired.
34.
He retired at an age younger than I currently am. Ron Santo went to 9 All-Star games by that time all while battling a condition that limits the capabilities of most other people who have it. At the age of 35, I'm stuck in a stalled out career working basically one and a half jobs with all I have to show for anything is this stupid little dinky blog where I find it all to easy to go around and rip on people constantly.
But, with Ronnie dying at 70 years old, I've asked these questions... If I live as long as Ron Santo did, does that mean I only have 35 more chances left in my life for the Cubs to make the World Series?, Is that enough? Is there enough time? I know this sounds really stupid...but I begin to see how short life really is.
I also think about the fact that Santo had a reputation for rubbing people the wrong way during his playing days. I have much the same effect on people. But after his playing days, Santo became absolutely adored by people. Did he actually change his personality? I don't know, but this makes me hopeful that some day I'll learn to be a little less abrasive.
A final point that struck me about Santo was that he basically lived two lives...had two careers...and he loved them both. Heck, he was a broadcaster longer than he played professional baseball. I'm stuck in my current career and hate it. Maybe I can find the opportunity to do something that I will enjoy just as Santo did after the age of 35.
*************************
So some other random thoughts...
- The Cubs have retired 5 numbers belonging to 6 players. Santo is the first of those players to have died.
- I really don't think that I want Ronnie to get into the Hall of Fame now...if he were to get in during his next chance, I just think it would be a bit of an insult to his memory.
- I know this isn't going to happen, but I don't want Ronnie to be replaced in the booth next season. Pat Hughes can go solo and he did a good job of it when he was up in Milwaukee.
- I wonder when the appropriate time would be, since my previous statement won't come true, to start discussing who will sit in Santo's seat in the booth next year.
- Santo deserves a statue as much as Banks and Williams did.
******************
The death of Ron Santo has been rather difficult for me to deal with today. I've avoided being online much or looking at Twitter, watch TV or even check the news.
I'm not sure what the deal is.
A little more than a year ago my grandmother died at the age of 98. As some of you might have recalled, I made the point on this site zthat she lived almost a century and still never saw the Cubs win the World Series. She'd watch the games from her little television in her nursing home room when ever she could. You would have thought she could have lived long enough to have seen that World Series title...but no.
I had a rough time coping with her death. Part of the reason I couldn't deal with it was because, frankly, we haven't had too many funerals in my family. We've been very fortunate about that. I had just started this blog when my grandmother passed away, and for some of the same reasons I felt I should start this blog (basically going through a mid-life crisis), I had a hard time dealing with her death.
So what does this have to do with Ron Santo? Well, I think we would all agree that Ronnie was one of the biggest Cubs fans around. As I stated in my post earlier today, he was happier than anyone when the team did well and was more depressed than anyone when things didn't go too well.
I never met Ron Santo but more than any other Cubs player past or present, I feel like I know him. Hearing his voice on the radio broadcasts, watching “This Old Cub”, seeing him up in the booth every time I go to the ballpark, it all just makes me feel like I've lost another family member. Santo, like my grandmother never saw the Cubs win that World Series title.
I wonder, as I begin to raise my own family, if my two year old daughter or the child we are expecting in January will ever see the same.
With all that said, it makes me reflect upon myself as well.
Santo was 70 when he died. We all know about his constant battle with diabetes which claimed both of his legs and how remarkable it was that he played through that condition.
I turned 35 years old this year...and the realization that this is exactly 1/2 the age of Santo when he died makes me feel a little scared.
Besides that, Ron Santo was 34 years old when he retired.
34.
He retired at an age younger than I currently am. Ron Santo went to 9 All-Star games by that time all while battling a condition that limits the capabilities of most other people who have it. At the age of 35, I'm stuck in a stalled out career working basically one and a half jobs with all I have to show for anything is this stupid little dinky blog where I find it all to easy to go around and rip on people constantly.
But, with Ronnie dying at 70 years old, I've asked these questions... If I live as long as Ron Santo did, does that mean I only have 35 more chances left in my life for the Cubs to make the World Series?, Is that enough? Is there enough time? I know this sounds really stupid...but I begin to see how short life really is.
I also think about the fact that Santo had a reputation for rubbing people the wrong way during his playing days. I have much the same effect on people. But after his playing days, Santo became absolutely adored by people. Did he actually change his personality? I don't know, but this makes me hopeful that some day I'll learn to be a little less abrasive.
A final point that struck me about Santo was that he basically lived two lives...had two careers...and he loved them both. Heck, he was a broadcaster longer than he played professional baseball. I'm stuck in my current career and hate it. Maybe I can find the opportunity to do something that I will enjoy just as Santo did after the age of 35.
*************************
So some other random thoughts...
- The Cubs have retired 5 numbers belonging to 6 players. Santo is the first of those players to have died.
- I really don't think that I want Ronnie to get into the Hall of Fame now...if he were to get in during his next chance, I just think it would be a bit of an insult to his memory.
- I know this isn't going to happen, but I don't want Ronnie to be replaced in the booth next season. Pat Hughes can go solo and he did a good job of it when he was up in Milwaukee.
- I wonder when the appropriate time would be, since my previous statement won't come true, to start discussing who will sit in Santo's seat in the booth next year.
- Santo deserves a statue as much as Banks and Williams did.
More sad Cubs news: Ron Santo dies
And the Cubs stellar off-season continues: Ron Santo died yesterday evening.
So far this off season has been nothing but depressing for the Cubs.
I guess we all knew things weren't quite right with him as he continued to miss more and more games in 2010.
According to Cubs.com, Santo was suffering from bladder cancer and died from complications due to it.
Santo manned the Cubs' broadcast booth longer than Harry Caray did and for people of my generation, we never truly knew his greatness as a player.
I have no doubt that we will see a huge ceremony for Santo on opening day this coming year, and rightfully so. He not only was a representative of one of the most beloved Cubs teams of all time, he was a the face, heart and soul of all Cubs fans everywhere and he lived and died with every game winning home run and dropped fly ball.
Santo's failure to get into the Hall of Fame will forever be a tragedy but the bigger tragedy is that he never was able to see his beloved Cubs even make it into the World Series, let alone win it.
As we approach the end of a couple of horrible weeks where we saw Adam Dunn signed by the White Sox, the state laughing at the organization about the idea of a $200 million loan, and long time pitching coach Larry Rothschild bolting for the Yankees, maybe the best we can hope for now is that the rest of this off season is quiet and uneventful.
Anyway, rest in peace, Ron...you will be missed.
So far this off season has been nothing but depressing for the Cubs.
I guess we all knew things weren't quite right with him as he continued to miss more and more games in 2010.
According to Cubs.com, Santo was suffering from bladder cancer and died from complications due to it.
Santo manned the Cubs' broadcast booth longer than Harry Caray did and for people of my generation, we never truly knew his greatness as a player.
I have no doubt that we will see a huge ceremony for Santo on opening day this coming year, and rightfully so. He not only was a representative of one of the most beloved Cubs teams of all time, he was a the face, heart and soul of all Cubs fans everywhere and he lived and died with every game winning home run and dropped fly ball.
Santo's failure to get into the Hall of Fame will forever be a tragedy but the bigger tragedy is that he never was able to see his beloved Cubs even make it into the World Series, let alone win it.
As we approach the end of a couple of horrible weeks where we saw Adam Dunn signed by the White Sox, the state laughing at the organization about the idea of a $200 million loan, and long time pitching coach Larry Rothschild bolting for the Yankees, maybe the best we can hope for now is that the rest of this off season is quiet and uneventful.
Anyway, rest in peace, Ron...you will be missed.
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