March 7, 2005

The Shame Of It All

He sits by his locker; needle in hand, ready to inject himself.  The room is empty, for he doesn’t want anyone to know what he is doing.  He know he needs this stuff to be able to play, and he doesn’t know how his teammates would react if they found out.  He doesn’t care, because baseball means everything to him, and this is going to allow him to perform.  His name is Ron Santo, and we’re sitting in the Cub’s locker room in the early sixties.  His needle is full of insulin, and he needed it to live.  He kept it a secret when he first found out about it at 18.  He didn’t want to be shunted aside because of his handicap.  He let his little secret out after he had established himself as a star ball player. 

Unfortunately, while today’s star athletes feel they need to inject themselves in the backside so they can perform to mythic proportions, a true legend with more heart than any of them suffers another slap in the face when he’s told he’s not good enough to join their exclusive club.  While Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa will probably enter the Hall on the first ballot despite the alleged performance enhancing drugs they utilized to attain their gaudy stats, Santo still sits on the outside looking in.

The disease has taken a toll on him.  He lost both of his legs, had heart problems and so many other serious complication from diabetes that his medical records could fill a season of ER.  Yet he never complained.  While many of today’s players are not playing on a level playing field, Santo never did either.  He never knew how the disease was going to react from one day until the next.  If he didn’t watch himself, he could go into an insulin related coma.  He had to keep candy bars stashed in the dugout in case his blood sugar got too low.  He had to constantly monitor himself. 

He once told a story that his blood sugar got so low; he didn’t think he was going to be able to come to bat.  He was the next batter and sucked it up and marched out to the plate.  The bags were jammed and he could barely see the ball.  He said he saw three balls coming at him and swung at the one in the middle.  That was the right one.  It ended up in the seats and Santo had belted a grand slammer.  But people don’t talk about that.  Just that he’s not quite good enough to be voted into the Hall of Fame.  Hall chairman Jane Forbes Clark said, “We feel the current process works by upholding the Hall of Fame’s very high standards for election.”  Tom Seaver added, “I’m of the opinion it’s going to be awfully hard, and maybe that’s how it should be.”

Seaver had a vote, and I don’t know if he voted for Santo; but he is one of the main reasons Santo has not been elected so far.  His ’69 Met team came out of nowhere to swamp the Cubs and to keep Santo from his dream of playing in the World Series.  That’s often given as an excuse why he hasn’t been elected.  Three other members of that team; Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, and Fergie Jenkins are enshrined.  The excuse often is that a team that never won anything doesn’t deserve to have another player in the ‘Hall.’

Brooks Robinson, who played in the same era as Santo, was elected on the first ballot.  Santo dwarfed his numbers and was closer than most people know to him as a fielder.  I watched them both play and if Robinson is a Hall of Famer, Santo unquestionably is.  The difference is that Robinson had the chance to shine in the spotlight of the World Series and shine he did.  He was like a vacuum cleaner as he sucked up every ball hit to his side of the field.  That performance put him in.  Santo is punished because his team never gave him that opportunity.

If you never win a championship, does that mean you’re not a Hall of Famer.  Does Ted Williams belong?  How about Ernie Banks?  You have to work with the hand that you are dealt, and unfortunately some have a few more aces up their sleeve than others.  Should Phil Rizzuto have been voted in?  Wasn’t he the beneficiary of playing for a great organization and not really a great player? 

The system for electing players that didn’t make it in during the regular voting changed back in 2001.  Since the living Hall of Famers have been voting, nobody has made it in or even come that close.  It’s like it diminishes their accomplishments if they allow others to join them.  Had the old system stood in place, Santo would have been eligible five times.  There were only fifteen voters that included some living legends and writers and announcers.  He would already be a member and I wouldn’t be writing this right now. 

Instead, there have been only two votes with the next one two years away.  It might as well be two hundred; because Santo may not last that long and even if he does, what’s going to change?  If they didn’t think he belonged the last two times, how many more votes is he likely to get next time?

I wonder if any of those not voting for him knew how difficult it was for him to perform day in and day out.  What would his numbers have been like if he hadn’t been affected by this disabilitating disease?  How much longer could he have played?  How many of these so-called stars could have done it?   These are all questions that will never be answered. 

Yet Santo never complained or mentioned how unfair it was that he was afflicted.  He just went out there everyday and gave an honest days work.  And he did it better than most.  He did it well enough to be a Hall of Famer. 

He doesn’t want or deserve anyone’s pity.  He’s too much of a man for that.  He only wants what he’s earned.  He shouldn’t be elected into the Hall of Fame because he had diabetes.  He should be voted in because he was good enough. 

SportzNutz Columnist Darrell Horwitz isn’t shy when it comes to “A Fan Speaking Out”… he holds nothing back and tells it like it is, from a fan’s perspective.  A Chicago native, Darrell is a lifelong Cubs and Bulls fan. Along with his “A Fan Speaks Out” column, Darrell is the fan writer for the Chicago Cubs, here on SportzNutz.  If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to email Darrell at darrell.horwitz@nutzworld.net