The baseball world will miss one of its most colorful personalities with the passing of Ron Santo. What I loved most about Santo was not his accomplishments on the baseball field, but his passion for the game and for the Cubies. While listening to Santo call a Cubs game, you knew that nobody rooted harder for the home team than he did. That's what made him so great - the fact that he was a homer, was darn proud of it, and made no apologies for it.
He had a connection with the average fan that you don't find today with many ballplayers, who seem detached from the fans that root for them from the stands. After suffering from various physical ailments, Santo once said that his affection for the Cubs has probably prolonged his life. In some way, we can all relate to Santo. Sports provide us with an avenue to escape the stresses of the real world for an hour or so each day and bring us back to a game that we fell in love with as children. Santo understood that better than anyone.
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