Ron Santo Denied 2008 Baseball Hall of Fame; Joe Gordon Inducted
Did Ron Santo Deserve to Be Included in the 2008 Baseball Hall of Fame?
Santo was a perennial National League All-Star during his long and drawn out career with the Chicago Cubs. He qualified and played in the MLB All-Star Game 9 times, and was known for his great batting eye and overall hitting ability. From 1963 to 1970, Santo had consecutive 90 runs-batted-in seasons, which is simply incredible. He also had a power bat, accumulating 342 total home runs over the course of his illustrious career.
While Santo was proficient with the bat, he also proved to be a Gold Glove-caliber fielder as well. From 1964 to 1968, Santo reeled in the Gold Glove Award for his position, third base. He was widely considered to be one of the best fielding third basemen of that decade, and of all time.
It was later revealed that Santo had accomplished all of these incredible baseball feats while struggling with diabetes. Despite all of this, Santo is still remembered to this day as a stellar baseball player of his era, and fans from around the country are still behind Santo and his Hall of Fame aspirations. In my opinion, he certainly deserves the Hall of Fame after such an incredible career. His jersey, #10, was retired by the Chicago Cubs.
Santo finished first in 2007, just five votes short of the required 75 percent for induction. If that isn't close, I don't know what is. Baseball fans, especially Chicago baseball fans, must be very upset that Santo did not receive Hall of Fame honors this year.
Today, he serves on the Chicago Cubs broadcasting team.
Santo stats: http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/santoro01.shtml
Published by Forrest W. Kobayashi
Forrest W. Kobayashi is a social media enthusiast, blogger and freelance journalist from Alexandria, VA. View profile
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