The day Ron Santo came to Cedar Rapids

Ron Santo died Thursday. Which makes this a sad weekend for Chicago, a sad weekend for baseball and sports.

A lot of people would have stopped living life long ago if they had to endure what Santo endured because of diabetes. He played baseball with the disease, and did so excellently. Then he reinvented himself as a Chicago Cubs broadcaster, got a new generation of Cubs fans to fall in love with him, and persevered through serious illnesses and surgeries. He was a double amputee for the last eight years. He kept living life.

In July 2007, Santo came to Cedar Rapids. Here is my column from that day:

Thursday was a good day in Cedar Rapids. Ron Santo was in town.

Only once during his visit to St. Luke's Hospital's Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Thursday did the old Chicago Cub show a trace of gloom. That was when he got word from his son, Ronnie, that Barry Bonds had hit a 3-run homer in the seventh inning to cut the Cubs' lead over the San Francisco Giants to 9-8.

But not long after, he learned the Cubs held on to win by that score, which made a good day even better for him.

What would it take to keep Santo from Wrigley Field Thursday and his broadcasting duties with the Cubs, the team with whom he spent 14 major league seasons? Either his own illness, or a chance to help others.

At the start of the Cubs' broadcast Thursday on WGN Radio, his best friend/broadcast partner Pat Hughes assured the listeners that Santo was feeling fine and was in Cedar Rapids.

"I wanted to come here," Santo said. "I heard about the new rehab center. I'm inspired. I'd like to inspire other people that have been through these problems. It's easier said than done, don't get me wrong. But positive thinking is key."

Santo has been a double amputee for five years. But with two artificial legs and a cane, he walks. And lives. He always has. He played 15 years in the major leagues with Type 1 diabetes. He has had heart surgery. He is 67, and he still works the vast majority of Cubs games a year, wearing his repaired heart on his sleeve with each pitch.

"When I walk into Wrigley Field it's just nothing but therapy," Santo said. "I still have the same feeling as I did when I was a player. The electricity in that ballpark is fantastic."

As a broadcaster, he has his critics in Chicago and beyond. He is a Cubs homer, period. But take Santo 's warmth and laughter and heartache over bad Cub efforts and exhilaration over Cub wins over anyone else's keen analysis. This stuff is supposed to be fun.

Knowing what he has battled health-wise without letting it turn him into a sad, surrendering old man makes Santo all the more admirable.

"There are two ways to go," he said. "It's either accept the fact that you're going to get through this or feel sorry for yourself. I've always been a positive kind of guy, optimistic. As you know, every year I think the Cubs are going to win the World Series.

"It hasn't happened. But that positive thinking is as important as the medicine.

"'Look at me, I'm 67 years old and feeling very good."

Santo was scheduled to speak at the Paramount Theatre and answer questions for about two hours last night. His subjects?

"The Cubs, number one, and what I went through and how important it is to have a positive attitude. I'm letting them know it's not over at my age. I'm so thankful that I'm still here with what I've been through, but I also feel it's a positive situation, the reason I'm here."

That Santo isn't in the Baseball Hall of Fame shames the game. He was a nine-time All-Star, a five-time Gold Glover at third base, second in National League RBIs three times.

More important, he's always been a great ambassador for the game as a player and broadcaster. He has transcended statistics, though Santo 's numbers compare favorably to the best players of his era.

"I know what I did," he said, "and I did it with diabetes."

In the last 30-some years, Santo has helped raise more than $50 million for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. For that alone, he should get his own wing at Cooperstown.

Bonds got his two homers Thursday, but Santo 's team won. So did everyone in Cedar Rapids who met and listened to the old Cub.