it's a sad day for Cubs fans . . .

William DeShazer, Chicago Tribune / December 3, 2010 

Ron Santo, a star third baseman of the Chicago Cubs and their longtime broadcaster who became a revered figure for his exploits on the field and his battle against juvenile diabetes, died Thursday in a hospital in Arizona.  He was 70.

Playing for the Cubs from 1960 to 1973, then for a final season with the Chicago White Sox, Santo hit 342 career home runs. He won five Gold Glove awards for fielding every season from 1964 to 1968 and was named an All-Star nine times. Although repeatedly passed over for the Baseball Hall of Fame, he was the leading vote-getter in balloting by a veterans committee in 2008.

The Cubs retired his No. 10 at Wrigley Field in September 2003, and he stood and waved from the radio booth as the crowd cheered.  When the Cubs had first announced they would fly Santo’s number from the left-field foul pole, he told The Associated Press: “There’s nothing more important to me in my life than this happening to me. I’m a Cubbie. I’ll always be a Cubbie.”      (NY Times)

Here's a tidbit of info about Ron that I didn't know: before he became one of the greatest Cubs of all time playing alongside Hall of Famers Ernie Banks, Billy Williams and Ferguson Jenkins, Santo was a star at Seattle's own Franklin High School.  He was born born Ronald Edward Santo in Seattle on Feb. 25, 1940.  He left Seattle in 1960 to join the Cubs and rarely returned.

Ron Santo in 1958 when he traveled to New York 

for a high school baseball all-star game. (seattlepi.com file)

Chicago Tribune photo by Phil Velasquez / September 28, 2003