Executive Chairperson-in-Chief via Proxy cum Laude slash Editor’s note: I offered the chance to pick a post topic in exchange for American Idol results. Emily came through for me and picked the topic “Santo!” I found it to be a perfectly timed suggestion. Thanks, Emily, for not forcing me to compromise my already discredited journablogistic integrity.
I’ve heard it said that heart cannot be measured. I call BS. I can measure heart. I can see it on display. I can admire it in ample quantities. I can even put a number on it: 10.
How much explanation do you need for this? When Cubs fans talk about heart, we can agree almost universally that Ron Santo is the gold standard. He was the epitome of toughness, courage, loyalty, resilience, and enthusiasm—all the elements comprising that ethereal quality we call heart. Cubs legend Ron Santo had it all. On the scale of heart, Ron Santo was a perfect 10.
We can agree without much debate that Ron Santo had heart, but before we go measuring this or any other player or team on the Santo scale, let’s be clear about Ron Santo’s accomplishments in the field of gutsiness.
Ron Santo was a gifted athlete. He put up monster numbers, Hall of Fame worthy numbers (as mb21 states eloquently and convincingly). Ron Santo being talented really doesn’t have much to do with heart. He was, as the saying goes, good at sports. Ron Santo excelling at a Hall-of-Fame level while battling diabetes at a time when not a whole lot was known about treating diabetes? That shows heart.
Ron Santo tirelessly working to raise money for JDRF, even after he passed the point when diabetes research could no longer help him? That’s heart. Continuing to face every day with a smile even as diabetes robbed him of his legs, bit by bit? Diabetes may have shortened his career, it may have taken his legs, and it eventually took his life, but as long as he lived, Ron Santo never allowed diabetes to diminish his heart. His love for life. His love for people. His love for the Cubs.
He gave of himself to help people who suffered like he did, whether they suffered from diabetes or just suffered from wanting the Cubs to win. But let’s not confuse those two struggles, okay?