Ron Santo-isms #10

Here are few Ron Santo-isms I find on the internet, and those of us who listened to him remember these and others and can hear him say these things. Ron never started a sentence he thought needed to finish.

My favorite Ron story on the radio was the usual banter between Pat and himself. Pat asked what time he got to bed and Ron said he the managers and coaches were in the hotel bar and he thought it was 1:00 am so he said he had to get to bed. When he got to his room he noticed it was only 11:00 “but I was too lazy to put my legs back on” and go down to the bar.

Late in the season, in the midst of an inning and it’s just past the top of the hour so Pat mentions that we’re due for a station break. Ron kinda mumbles “Didn’t we just have one of those?” and without missing a beat Pat says “About an hour ago.” and then dead silence.

…besides all the usual suspects was his constant advice for/assessment of every pitcher in a Cubs uniform: “He’s got to keep the ball down, Patrick. He’s not keeping the ball down. When he keeps the ball down, he’s going to be successful.”

….was during a late season game in 2002 or 2003, when the team was on the road in Pittsburgh or Cincinnati or somewhere like that. As the broadcast was starting, Pat was grumbling about the cold weather, and Ron came back with a comment along the lines of, “Well, you know Patrick, when I left the hotel today I knew I could be confident of one thing: I am not going to have cold feet today.”

It was the only time I’ve ever heard Pat Hughes at a loss for words…he just kind of stammered for a moment, and then said, “Ron, don’t ever change.”

or me, any hairpiece reference was golden. I think my favorite is when Ron’s hairpiece caught on fire at the old Shea Stadium.

Another favorite, though I can’t remember the exact dialogue (maybe someone can help me out here), was a broadcast from a few years ago. I remember Pat somehow go into telling Ron the differences between Alligators and Crocodiles, how you tell them apart by their teeth. I remember laughing so hard that I had to pull over on the road because I was afraid I would crash my car.

Fontenot hit a home run in the 8th inning or so, and Ron says, “well, you know, Pat, Mercury is retrograde.”

I think they were playing Milwaukee awhile back. Ex- Cub Ruben Quevedo was pitching for the Brew Crew and Ron starting explaining to Pat that the Quevedo reminded him of an ex -Cub pitcher. Ron then started to describe Ruben Quevedo to Pat (where he came up in the big leagues,what he looked like, etc…) Pat responded with “You know Ron I think you might be describing Ruben Quevedo”, but Ron was so sure that it wasn’t him. “No, no Pat. I am not talking about Quevedo, it’s someone different”. After a minute or two of the back and forth, Ron seemed to forget about the whole discussion and got lost in the game. A few innings later, Pat was in the middle of a call and Ron started to giggle as he sometimes did. Pat preceded to ask Ron what he was laughing about and Ron responds with….“You know Patrick, It was Quevedo I was talking about”.

Very definitely! Absolutely, Patrick.