Chicago Cubs: The Heroes of Wrigley Series presents Ron Santo

Throughout more than three decades with the Chicago Cubs organization, Ron Santo epitomized what it means to truly, deeply love a team and a city.

While Ernie Banks is known as being “Mr. Cub,” Ron Santo is what I think about when I think about the Chicago Cubs. I grew up listening to him call countless Cubs games on the radio along with play-by-play broadcaster, Pat Hughes. He became a constant in my childhood and into my adult life.

He was not just a former player, beloved by the masses, but an enthusiastic Cubs fan just like us. He was elated when things went right, deflated when the Cubs were, well, the Cubs. He shared the same emotional connection to the game as us, so a personal connection was built and shared with Santo. To me, Ron Santo is the greatest Chicago Cub to ever play. When the Cubs won it all in 2016, after 108 years, the first person I thought of after the win was my father. The second was Ron Santo. I knew, out of all the ecstatically happy Cub fans, he would’ve been the most elated.

He was one of us.