Thread: Cubs icon Santo dead at 70

As a fan of the New York Yankees, I have been privileged to have either seen or read about the greatest collection of baseball players to ever grace a baseball diamond who wore our uniform. Players such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Reggie Jackson, Don Mattingly, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Mariano Rivera have either been elected to the Hall of Fame, have had their numbers retired, or will have all of the above done for them in the future. I have been privileged, as I have stated previously, to have known the likes of truly great players.

It takes a special breed of player to constitute the term "great". There are only a few players who ever wore a jersey other than the Yankees that I would even have considered to have been worthy of the honor of wearing the pinstripes. Pete Rose is one player who could have suited up for the Yanks any day and would have made them a better team. However, the premier third basemen during the majority of the 1960s in the National League was Ron Santo. In my opinion, his hard nosed play would have easily earned him a spot on the roster of some of those great Yankee of the early 1960s before the team fell on hard times. He would have been the team's leader in most offensive statistical categories during the stretch from 1965-1968, during which time Mickey Mantle was in decline and winding up his career. In the American League, he would have been in the top two in terms of best third basemen along with Orioles Hall of Famer, Brooks Robinson. Robinson might have beaten him with the glove (which would have been a feat, because Santo won five Gold Glove Awards in the National League), but Santo was his superior with the bat. Santo's 342 homers in 15 big league seasons are superior to those of "The Vacuum Cleaner", and that, coupled with his prowess at fielding, made him an all-around greater threat to opposing teams.

So, from one Yankees baseball connoisseur who has seen and read about greatness, to a legion of die hard Cubs who love the purity of baseball and epitomize why baseball is the greatest sport in the world, I want to say good bye to Ron Santo. To say that he could have been a Yankee is an honor in my book because as I said earlier, not many players have the makeup as competitors to be able to play in New York. He will be missed by not just Cubs fans, but all baseball fans, even in The Bronx.

R.I.P. Ron Santo