Ron Santo, one of the greatest players in Chicago Cubs history and a longtime WGN radio announcer whose devotion to the perennial losers was made obvious night after night by his excited shouts or dejected laments, has died. He was 70. "Ronnie will forever be the heart and soul of Cubs fans," Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said in a statement Friday. He praised Santo for "his passion, his loyalty, his great personal courage and his tremendous sense of humor." Santo died in an Arizona hospital from complications of bladder cancer, according to WGN Radio. Santo was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 18 and later lost both legs to the disease. A nine-time all-star in his 15-year career, Santo was widely regarded as one of the best players never to gain induction into the Hall of Fame. The quiet sadness with which he met the news year after year that he hadn't been inducted helped cement his relationship with the fans. Read more: http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=5878406
Too bad. He was a hell of a 3rd baseman for the Cubs. Represented them well. Although I am a devout Cardinal fan, my uncle was a die hard cubs fan until the day he died. I remember going to my grandmothers house and he would have the Cubs game on one radio and his brother(both never left home) would have on the Cardinals! I have pleasant memories of the both teams. Most Greens are Cardinal fans. He just happened to like the Cubs. Strange thing is, where we lived, one would think all of us would have been Reds fans! My moms family were.
70's pretty good, but still he's going to be missed. Didn't he have his arms and/or legs amputated a long time ago as well? That's a hard life.
