Competitive Balance in Economics

There are 30 MLB teams.  By the rules and nature of baseball, all teams have an equal shot to win.  By the rules and nature of business, some teams are favored more than others.  In today's world, the industry that is professional sports is a business.  As unfortunate as it is, this means every team in MLB has different odds to win.  Since their is no salary cap in baseball, it's all about the revenue.  And a team's success or failure in generating revenue can and most likely will dictate their ability to win.  If you're a serious baseball fan, chances are you've heard of Billy Beane, GM of the Oakland Athletics.  The reason Beane is famous is because of his groundbreaking theories about baseball economics, revolutionary thoughts that have become relevant with the big contracts and free agency dogfights of modern baseball.  If Beane were the GM of the New York Yankees, he would not be characterized as the godfather of modern baseball economics.  Oakland is a tiny city compared to the other jumbo markets of baseball, making Beane's job much harder than a GM in a bigger city.

Small market teams have it tough.  Most small market teams put a strong emphasis on building from within their own system, putting a lot of work in the scouting and development department.  When these teams come up with big prospects they are unable to sign them to extensions and they are lost to the big market teams.  Even if they are able to sign the player to an extension, what happens if the team is losing?  The team has no choice but to rebuild, which means sending the prospect-turned-star to the big market teams.  There are a few ways for it to happen, but in the end, the star ends up with the big market teams more often than they should.

Prime examples of this can be found on the current big market teams.  Remember that super rotation the Phillies will put out on the mound in 2011?  Let's see where those guys came from.  Roy Oswalt was a huge star in Houston, nearly setting the franchise wins record before being traded.  Roy Halladay was a big star in Toronto, a well-publicized one at that.  Halladay took home the 2003 AL Cy Young Award, while Cliff Lee took home the same award in 2008 with Cleveland.  While Lee struggled with injuries during times in Cleveland, it was clear even before 2008 that he had the capability to be an elite pitcher.  Cole Hamels, the fourth man in this super rotation, is the only product of the Phillies system.

Red Sox GM Theo Epstein, clearly in control of a big market team, snagged two of baseball's best players from small markets this offseason.  Acquiring Adrian Gonzalez out of San Diego and Carl Crawford from Tampa Bay, he has now dealt a huge blow to both franchises.  Without Gonzalez, the Padres are no longer a playoff contender and without Crawford, the Rays aren't either.  The word 'disappointment' can't even begin to describe how fans must feel this winter in San Diego and St. Petersburg, respectively.

Let's read down the current Yankee lineup.  At catcher we have Russell Martin, just acquired from the Dodgers.  At first base we have Mark Teixeira, big time power first baseman for the Rangers before being dealt to two pit stops in between.  Teixeira isn't the only name here with an enormous contract.  At second base and shortstop, we have Robinson Cano and Derek Jeter, respectively.  There are two genuine Yankees; good for them.  At third is, and I know its been a while, the most hyped prospect in the history of baseball- with the 1995 Seattle Mariners.  In right field we have Nick Swisher, who got his fame launching bombs out of the Oakland Coliseum.  In center, the five tooled Curtis Granderson came from Detroit.  In left is Brett Gardner, one final genuine Yankee.

The Yankees World Championship team of 2009 featured only two full season homegrown starters, while the top two (C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett) came from Cleveland and Toronto, respectively.  The Yankees, not surprisingly, have been to the World Series more than any other team and have won more than any other team.  From 2001-2010, a ten year stretch, 15 different teams made the World Series, with only the Yankees, Giants, Phillies, Red Sox, and Cardinals having been more than once.  Many baseball experts interpret this to mean that competitive balance in baseball is higher than it ever has been, but I don't think this is exactly the case.  Don't get me wrong- competitive balance is certainly high and we've seen a lot of small market success stories recently, but the problem is sustaining the team that got them there.

The surprising but lovable 2003 Marlins team that upset the Yankees to win the World Series was an example of how these teams can win, but can't be sustained in a market like Southeast Florida.  The 2003 heroes of ace Josh Beckett, center fielder Juan Pierre, second baseman Luis Castillo, starter Brad Penny, starter Carl Pavano, first baseman Derrek Lee, and third baseman Mike Lowell were all off the Marlins by 2006, signing with or being traded to the Red Sox, Cubs, Twins, Dodgers, Yankees, Cubs, and Red Sox respectively.  Franchise faces from 2003 third baseman Miguel Cabrera and ace Dontrelle Willis would both be gone just a season later in a trade to Detroit.  In fact, Cabrera and Willis were the only players on the 2006 Opening Day roster remaining from the 2003 team.

The Marlins have become known for frequently executing a relatively modern tactic known as the firesale.  The firesale is an instant rebuilding strategy, seen in small markets who have an excellent young core of winning players with low salaries who have yet to cash in a big contract.  The small market team must commit to a firesale because, with lower revenue the market generates than big market teams like the Yankees, the team is not in a financial position to keep the players long term once they become free agents and demand large contracts.  If the players are traded before they hit free agency, then the team can rebuild using the prospect returns from those trades instead of getting nothing back.  The disassembling of the 2003 squad was the second most famous such firesale, the most famous being after the 1997 World Champion Marlins were disassembled to become an 108-loss team just the very next season, setting a record for the most losses in a season following a championship.

No team can execute a firesale better than the Florida Marlins, but this raises a question.  How many other teams would need to execute a firesale?  The answer is not many.  The 1997 Marlins won the World Series with the 5th highest payroll in the league, a very rare figure for them, and fell to 27th the very next year.  The Marlins started new players at all eight position player spots!  Meanwhile, the 1996 Yankees won the World Series with some of the key players being shortstop Derek Jeter, closer Mariano Rivera, and ace Andy Pettitte.  The Yankees next won the World Series in 1998, and by then power hitting catcher Jorge Posada had joined the key players.  In 2009, eleven years and around $488 million later, Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte, and Posada all remained despite Pettitte's three year trip to Houston.  That's alarmingly close to the $581 million the Marlins have spent on players in the entire 18-year history of the franchise!  The Marlins clearly can't compete with that.

An overarching point here is that while many teams have made the World Series in recent years, the small to medium market teams aren't able to sustain the success.  Dynasties are not a thing that can be built by teams like the Marlins.  So it should be not surprise that the team that won six out of eight American League pennants from 1996-2003 was the New York Yankees.  Imagine if the Marlins had signed Moises Alou to a big contract extension after he helped them win the 1997 World Series, and the Marlins were able to take advantage of Alou's 225 career homers after 1997.  Who knows what the Marlins could have done with him as the center foundation for all of their young talent?  Unfortunately, we will never know.

The Florida (soon-to-be Miami) Marlins have hope.  In 2012, the gleaming new retractable roof stadium in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood will open, reinventing the entire franchise.  The new stadium will the kind of revenue the Marlins have never seen, and they will finally be able to sign at least one franchise player for a long time.  For other teams, like the other Florida team in the Tampa Bay Rays, such hope is not so easy to come by.  So for the other financially struggling small to medium market teams out there (the Pirates, Reds, Padres, Royals, Brewers, Diamondbacks, Mariners, Blue Jays, Athletics), I have some advice.  Don't trust the system; you can't just lay back, play a bunch of rookies and expect a turnaround.  Especially for the Royals and Pirates, a big change is needed if the young players are all duds.  A reinvented scouting and development department is in order, and the team should not be satisfied with the prospects until they are making a difference at the major league level.  For some teams, like the A's, a lack of revenue is hurting the franchise's potential.  In this case, every effort must be done to make the team relevant in the community.  This means having unique promotions to get the fans in the current ballpark and get the fans excited about the team's future.  Also, an increased focus on community outreach from the players should be involved; the community needs to know this isn't an organization utilizing the city, it's an organization representing the city.  Eventually, enough attention should be focused so that the government will help fund a new stadium.

To all small market teams out there, good luck.  Because although winning out of a small market may not be a huge challenge, sustaining it sure as hell is.  And although the Marlins have made the playoffs only twice and have never won their division but won the World Series twice since 1993, I hold more respect towards those accomplishments than I do for the Yankees' 17 playoff appearances and five championships during the same time frame.  After reading all this, I hope you do too.          

Sporcle Quizzes

I've made some quizzes on a website called Sporcle.  The quizzes are on the home run leader each year for every team in the 2000s, broken down by division.  To enter an answer, just type the player's last name and the answer will appear on the board.  The links to the quizzes are below.

AL East

AL Central

AL West

NL East

NL Central

NL West

Hope you like them.

Hot Stove Buzz #3

Mark Prior!  Now that that forgotten anguish and disappointment has risen back into your system again, allow me to tell you the latest with the former #2 top prospect ranked by Baseball America before 2002.  Prior signed with the Yankees for $750,000, a minor league deal.  Prior last pitched in the majors in 2006, for the Cubs.  While Prior is a big name because of his history, there was much more significant news than him out there.  Here we go.

-The biggest news could be the Phillies signing Cliff Lee.  Just a few weeks ago, many reports had the Phillies turning their attention elsewhere.  The Phillies' top four starters now read like this: Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Cliff Lee, and Cole Hamels, all four of whom would make a great #1 starter on the average team.  I was intrigued by how strong this rotation looks so I came up with a stat: the four combined have a career 481-275 record, three Cy Young Awards, and 13 All-Star selections.  Whoa.  If I'm a position player and I'm playing the Phillies, I would get like Pedro Cerrano and go voodoo to 'wake up bats'.  Oh, and also a shoutout to Joe Blanton, the #5 starter, saying good luck following up their acts.

-If the biggest news wasn't Lee, then it has to be Carl Crawford.  Crawford, signing with the Red Sox, will be the centerpiece example of an editorial post I'm in the process of writing.  Despite many baseball experts expecting Crawford to go to the Angels, Crawford decided to head to Fenway Park for seven years and $142 million.  I'm highly disappointed.  Another day, another huge move by the Red Sox.  It's such a buzzkill knowing every great small market team having success due to a great, in-their-prime star (Adrian Gonzalez) will end up trading him to the Yankees or Red Sox.  While Crawford didn't really turn Tampa Bay into a baseball town, he is living proof that no one can.  There is no single more electrifying player in the game than Crawford, and while this was inevitable, it's a shame.

-While we're on the Carl Crawford topic, let's finish it off.  Remember how the Angels were mostly considered the favorite?  After getting caught looking as Jayson Werth and Carl Crawford both signed with Washington and Boston, respectively, the Angels are down to their last strike with Adrian Beltre.  If the Angels miss out on Beltre, this could be a worst case scenario for them.  GM Tony Reagins was expected to sign either Crawford or Werth and possibly Beltre as well, but few thought he would miss both.  There has been no indication that Beltre and Anaheim (I refuse to say Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) are close to a deal.  You snooze, you loose.  The Angels tried to play their game with the players, with this whole procedural 'this is how the Angels do business' method that didn't show their immediate urgency in signing Crawford or Werth.  They tried to do it their way, and it cost them dearly.

-This is very old news, but Adrian Gonzalez finally went to the Red Sox after over two years of such rumors.  What a terrible shame, as now the Padres, pending a potential but unlikely signing of a slugger, will no longer contend.  Besides A-Gon, the 2010 Padres' leader in homers was Wil Venable with 13 and Chase Headley led with 58 RBI.  That ain't gonna cut it, fantastic bullpen or not.  The Red Sox starting position players now read as such: Jerrod Saltamacchia, Adrian Gonzalez, Dustin Pedroia, Marco Scutaro, Kevin Youkilis, J.D. Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Carl Crawford.  There's a new team to beat in the American League.

-The Giants and Cubs talked about sending Aaron Rowand to the Cubs for Kosuke Fukudome.  Both players have what are considered to be bad contracts, as Rowand is due $24 million over the next two years but only hit .230 in 105 games last year.  Fukudome plays great defense but is owed nearly $14 million in 2011 and is not hitting anywhere near a player with his salary needs to be.  This would be a great deal for the Cubs.  Fukudome wore out his welcome as quickly as he broke it in and has been a bust, as I have elaborated on many times before.  Rowand is a great teammate and was voted the toughest player in baseball in a player poll in 2009.  While his hitting leaves something to be desired for his money, he's a career .276 hitter and although he doesn't hit many more homers than Fukudome, he is a better offense player overall.  In 2007 with Philly he hit 27 homers earning him a trip to San Fran for the All-Star Game and he also won a Gold Glove.  Rowand was an original Sox product, a fan favorite on the 2005 championship team.  Yes sir, I say, pull the trigger!

-Kevin Gregg is a free agent again after a good year with Toronto.  Needless to say, the Cubs have no interest whatsoever.  The Orioles could be interested.

-Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes this like, heartwarming article about how touching it is that Kerry Wood took a major pay cut to come back to Chicago.  He brings up a really good point, and that's that this may be the only positive out of the death of Ron Santo.  Santo and Wood were very close and Wood was most likely disturbed by the tragedy like every other Cub fan.  Rosenthal suggests that Wood, after he retires, could take a job with the Cubs in the future just like Santo did.  He might be a Special Assistant to the GM, like Greg Maddux, radio commentator, like Santo, or some other job.  I hadn't thought about that, but it actually seems likely.

-The Pirates signed Lyle Overbay.  On average, there are 178 sesame seeds on a McDonalds Big Mac.  What?  Oh, I thought we were stating irrelevant facts.  My bad.

-Because the Cubs only spent a little over a million on Kerry Wood, they remain free to pursue a starting pitcher.  Brandon Webb remains on the Cubs radar although the level of aggressiveness is not something anyone is sure about now.  Webb said he will decide a team soon and the Yankees, Reds, and Brewers have basically taken themselves out of contention.  Three main teams in the negotiations are the Cubs, Nationals, and Rangers.  If the Cubs got Webb, they would have Dempster, Zambrano and Webb at the top of the rotation which probably gives them one of the best top threes in the National League.  But hey, we should withhold the wishful thinking.

Cubs Sign Kerry Wood

As unlikely as this headline seemed at the beginning of this offseason, the Cubs have actually gotten Kerry Wood to come back and play with the team he spent 11 years of his career with.  After one and a half less than mediocre seasons in Cleveland and a dominant stretch run with the Yankees, Wood signed a one year, $1.5 million contract to play for the Cubs whom he last played for in 2008.  It may seem like Wood has been in the league for a very long time and this deal is to finish his career where it all started, going 'full circle', but he's only going to be 34 next year and he could stick around for a while.  His famous 20 strikeout game was 12 years ago, the same year he won Rookie of the Year, but he was only 21 that year.  This signing gives the Cubs a piece they needed badly this offseason in a veteran righty reliever.  There probably wasn't any better in that department than Wood, but his price tag was expected to shoo off the Cubs.  Having made $10 million last season (thanks, Indians), it seemed unlikely that he would accept the deep pay cut the Cubs but he did anyway and I personally could not be happier.  In 2008, Wood was huge in the success of that team recording 34 saves and an ERA of just 3.40.  His value even then was underrated because for a guy whose career average SO/BB ratio is 2.40 but in 2008 he held a ridiculous 4.67 SO/BB.  Kerry Wood should not have been let go after 2008, which would have prevented the acquisition of Kevin Gregg, who had plenty of forgettable moments with the Cubs.  From Kid K, Cub fans should expect a lot of strikeouts and plenty of walks, but an effective pitcher.  Wood is very stable as a pitcher and should fit in a perfect role with young and very inexperienced.  Wood is a great guy to have around, a role model for all the young kids on the Cubs these days and in the near future.  So far, the Cubs have picked up two solid gains: Carlos Pena and Kerry Wood.  The Cubs are going straight to their needs this season and aren't trying to do that thing where they pick up little pieces (cough, Joey Gathright and Luiz Vizcaino) in a futile attempt to balance the roster with the different five tool talents.

Cubs Sign Carlos Pena

Early morning Wednesday, the Cubs and Carlos Pena signed a one year, $10 million deal.  Pena brings a lot of good to the 2011 Cubs, but there is no option on either his or the Cubs' side, meaning that he can't be offered arbitration next offseason and will  need to sign a new deal to stay for 2012 and beyond.  But right now, I think extending the deal is something the Cubs should have pushed.  Pena is coming to the Cubs for just one year so that he can have a great year, revitalizing his stock after a season where hit 28 homers but only .196, and sign a big multi-year contract with somebody.  If we could have kept Pena for sure for at least two years, he would become a nice foundation to build this new young core on the Cubs with.  With just a one year contract, Pena doesn't really seem like a guy that's going to be around for very long and this might not get him as much respect.  Pena's agent, however, is the infamous Scott Boras, and the Cubs probably had to choose to give him just one year or watch him put on another uniform.  Some, especially White Sox fans still licking their chops over the Adam Dunn signing, have criticized the Cubs for giving him $10 million, considering his very low average in 2010 and perennially high strikeouts, but this is a great deal.  The Cubs could use a veteran team leader, because they were really without one.  No, I don't think Aramis Ramirez counts because of his negative body language and quieter nature.  Not sure if Derrek Lee could speak Spanish, but Pena definitely can.  This has to be a plus because he plays in an infield with three Spanish speaking players, and a starting lineup with five (out of the eight fielding positions).  Pena plays great defense (2008 AL Gold Glove Winner), which is probably the reason the Cubs went his way and didn't aggressively go after Dunn.  Pena has 230 career homers with Texas, Oakland, Boston, Detroit, and Tampa Bay.  From 2007 to 2009 with Tampa Bay, he averaged 39 HR, 108 RBI, 95 BB, 157 K, all while hitting .252 but getting on base at a great .382 mark.  In 2010, Pena only hit .196 but incredibly still managed to hit 28 HR and 84 RBI.  This Cubs team could use some patience and Pena will teach it to them.  I see Pena catching on great in Chicago, and the Cubs will try to keep him around.  Whether they do or not, not so sure. Unfortunately, they probably won't want to spend the money because he certainly is going to command more money for longer after 2010.  But for 2010, Pena is taking his talents to the Friendly Confines.  Enjoy it while you can.

Hot Stove Buzz #2

It's been a very busy week of transactions, and here on Day 3 of the Winter Meetings we find ourselves with a whole bunch of players in new uniforms.

-The Padres have acquired Jason Bartlett in a trade with Tampa Bay for two relievers.  After losing Miguel Tejada to San Francisco, the Padres have their starting shortstop.  Bartlett had a very down year in 2010, surprisingly only hitting .254.
-The Cubs want Matt Garza, and are one of four teams going after him.  The Rays, on their end of the trade, want prospects according to Tim Dierkes of mlbtraderumors.com.  I think that these prospects are definitely going to be pitchers, preferably relievers.  Unfortunately, the Rays are unloading a lot of their guys and it kind of looks like rebuilding all over again.  They had a nice three year run in winning with a star-studded team, but their small market limitations have caught up to them.
-The Orioles acquired Mark Reynolds in a trade with the Diamondbacks.  Interestingly, the Orioles have been very active on the hot stove this offseason, something we don't usually see from them.  They are now also looking into acquiring Kevin Gregg and J.J. Hardy or Brendan Ryan.  Sounds like Buck Showalter brought that winning stuff to the air in Baltimore and the front office is finally picking up the slack and getting some deals moving.  This should be a memo to other perennially bad teams that don't have front offices willing to go after who they need.
-Who knows what is going to happen with Cliff Lee?  Lee's agent just left the hotel in Florida where the baseball Winter Meetings are, and this is annoying to general managers.  Specifically, the Yankees and Rangers' respective GMs would like to know if they are going to be dishing out $100+ million or not.  No biggie, though.
-The Nationals signed Jayson Werth to a 7 year deal worth $126 million.  Many in the baseball community consider the 8 year, $136 million deal from the Cubs with Alfonso Soriano to be one of the worst contracts of the 2000s considering Soriano, coming off a 40 homer-40 steal season, has never hit more than 33 homers or stolen more than 19 bases with the Cubs.  But let me make an argument to call this one a bad contract, right off the bat (no pun intended.  With Jayson Werth, we are looking at a guy that is 32, has 120 career homers, has 87 homers and 251 RBI in the last three years, but only had 33 homers and 155 RBI in his career before that.  Werth averaged 29 homers and nearly 18 steals from 2008-2010, so far the highlight years of his career.  Alfonso Soriano, on the other hand, had averaged more than 37 homers a season from 2002-2006, the five years before the signing, and had averaged more than 34 steals a season from 2001-2006, the six seasons before the signing.  Soriano was 30 when he was signed, two years younger than Werth.  In his four seasons on the Cubs, Soriano has averaged only 26 homers and 13 steals per season.  He's hitting for a low average now, has virtually no speed, is a minus defensively, and has a bat that can only be counted on for 20 homers a season.  With four years still remaining on Soriano's contract, he has gone from being a 40-40 player to a 20-5 player.  If Werth is 32, has only proven himself for three seasons, and had less talent to begin with, how long will it be before the Nationals realize they made a big mistake?  Werth was a late bloomer, so he probably has three more elite seasons.  But after that, who knows.  These elite contracts with huge salaries towards the end snuff out trade talks extremely fast, as the Cubs could tell you.
-Adam Dunn decided to come to Chicago, but to the wrong side.  The Sox signed Dunn for four years, $56 million.  This is a great signing because it fits the White Sox.  With a great hitters park in US Cellular Field, Dunn could hit upwards of 45 homers in 2011 and beyond.  The Tigers were the main competitor to get Dunn, but they were less aggressive after their signing of Victor Martinez because Martinez can play first base.  The Nationals weren't too happy about the signing, so they are forced to look for other options.  Sox GM Ken Williams tried to get Dunn at the trade deadline but a potential deal never materialized, so he was stuck with Manny Ramirez.  The Sox may deal some of their main guys like Carlos Quentin so it's good that whatever happens the Sox have a definite guy to bat cleanup everyday.
-Paul Konerko, also of the White Sox, signed a new deal with the Sox for three years and $37.5 million.  On MLB Network today, A.J. Pierzynski said that he knows for a fact that Konerko took a discount for coming back to his 'hometown'.  Now with Adam Dunn, these two make a great combo in the middle of the lineup that can be counted on for 75 homers.  Now that there is some big pop.

-Finally, Derek Jeter signed with the Yankees.  Of course, the Yankees overpaid with $51 million for three years, but Jeter still wasn't happy about it.  “To hear the organization tell me to go shop it when I just told you I wasn’t going to — if I’m going to be honest with you, I was angry about it,” said Jeter.  He can't complain about the money, though.  For a guy that in 2010 batted .270, his worst since his rookie season in 1995, hit only 10 homers, and stole only 18 bases, more than $15 million a year is out of the question.  The majority of that money is from respect for the Yankees all-time hits leader.  Personally, I think he should shut up and take the money.  I have no sympathy for a guy fighting over millions that don't even matter and are just a sign of respect.  If he's so generous and as great a guy as the media makes him sound, he wouldn't care about the money at this point.  But if anyone is dumb enough to give him that money, he should take it.
-Mariano Rivera signed for two years and $30 million with the Yankees.  And the reason you didn't hear nearly as much about it is because Rivera had the dignity to agree to a reasonable contract.  He didn't disrespect himself and the Yankees by making things difficult when there really were no other competitors in landing him.
-Aubrey Huff resigned with the Giants, being one of the key role players in the World Series run.  He only got a modest $22 million over two years, and although he is 33, he may have been able to get more money elsewhere.  Luckily for San Francisco, he signed before he could take any real time to examine other offers. 
-I'm going to go ahead and call a contract a bust.  Jorge de la Rosa, owner of a career 5.02 ERA, earned a two year, $21.5 million contract to stay with the Rockies.  De la Rosa only has a career K/BB ratio of 1.75, and I see another Oliver Perez contract in the making.  I'm sure De la Rosa is a great guy and all, but he's got to work on his control before I'm sold on a big contract for him, or even sold on him being anything more than a perennial #5 starter.
-This is very old news, but it needs to be stated.  Victor Martinez signed with the Tigers for $50 million and four years, a good signing because now you could see him at first base, catcher, or even DH.

-A.J. Pierzynski resigned with the White Sox for two years and $8 million.  He very nearly went to the Dodgers, but the deal fell through and he ends up with the Sox.

-Lance Berkman signed with the Cardinals for just one year and $8 million.  But with Albert Pujols at first base, where will he play, you wonder.  That's right, the Cardinals signed Lance Berkman at age 34 to do something he hasn't since 2007: play the outfield.  Try not to laugh.  There are going to be some 'Puma Moments in that outfield.

-Javier Vazquez got a year for $7 million from the Marlins.  The reason he only took only year is because he needs to rebuild his stock, something he can do in 2011 with his return to the NL.  His stock dropped significantly after a bad 2010 with the Yankees, and he wants to have a year this year similar to his 2009 with the Braves and then get a big multi-year contract to probably finish out his career.

         

"Oh, Boy"

"Ronnie will forever be the heart and soul of Cubs fans," said Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts Friday.  The passing of Ron Santo late last week means so much more than the death of a radio broadcaster.  It means so much more than a former Cubs player.  It means more than even his fantastic career and retired jersey flag flying among the retired numbers on the foul pole.  It means the loss of the spirit and character that embodies the franchise unlike any other in sports, the Chicago Cubs.  Ron Santo was, undisputedly, the world's biggest Cub fan.  The legendary Ernie Banks, Mr. Cub, doesn't even have that title.  This embodying spirit could be heard on WGN Radio between 1990 and 2010, and while he wasn't going to win any broadcasting excellence awards, this is exactly what made him so popular with Cub fans.  After a big home run or big play late in a game, Ron would often simply call out, "YES!  YES!  Alright!"  These words flowed into the heart of the listening Cub fans, and soon enough Ronnie became their voice as a fan.  After a bad play or important homer for the opposing team, Ronnie might go, "Oh, boy.  Oh, man."  And that would be it, leaving an undeniable signature silence on the air until play-by-play man Pat Hughes broke the silence.  Sometimes, Santo would provide the background fan commentary while Hughes was calling a play.  For example, Hughes would say something like this, "The 2-2.  And there's a high fly ball, at the track is Soriano and this ball is gone, a home run for Albert Pujols and the Cardinals have the lead," and Ronnie would repeat his line at the same time, like a heartbroken kid, "Oh no, Pat.  Oh, boy.  Not good. Not good."  One of Santo's most famous calls, in a crucial game down the 1998 stretch for the playoffs at Milwaukee, Cubs left fielder Brant Brown dropped a routine fly ball that cost the Cubs the game, a game they needed to have which prompted Ronnie to scream, "NO!!! NO!!!" Santo took losses harder than the players.

As time passed, especially in the 2000s, Santo's declining health became a factor in his job, or at least it should have.  Eventually he lost both his legs but didn't want to stop following the Cubs.  Santo never complained to anybody about his injuries, not until a certain announcement from his doctor.  Ron was told, sometime in the late 2000s, that he should not be traveling with the Cubs on each road trip, and that for some he should stay home.  Trying to separate the Cubs and Santo was like trying to separate a positive and negative end of a magnet, possible but very resisting.  Cubs TV play-by-play announcer Len Kasper told the media he was often wondering, with all the traumatic and disabling diseases he suffered over the years, "How does he do it?  How does he do it?"  In 2010, Santo was asked if he planned on returning for radio broadcasting in 2011.  He replied, "What else am I going to do?  Doing the Cubs games is like therapy for me."

Ron Santo wasn't elected to the Hall of Fame.  He is not a member of it, and never will be by the rules of induction to the Hall.  However, he's not taking it too hard.  In his speech in 2003 when his jersey was retired by the Cubs, he made something clear to Cub fans.  I thought you had to be in the Hall of Fame to get that done, Santo explained pointing at his flag on the foul pole.  He went on to explain that he didn't care about the Hall of Fame as much as having his jersey retired by the Cubs and that meant that much more to him.

Unfortunately, Santo wasn't able to see the day when the Cubs will break their well-publicized streak of championship-less seasons come to an end, but who knows when that will be.  It's entirely possible that no one reading this right now will see the Cubs do it.  It's even possible that your grandchildren won't see that day.  But for Santo and Cub fans, that's not what is most important.  The Chicago Cubs, a team like no other, would not be everything that it is today without Ronnie.  Ron Santo, without debate in my mind, is the most important person in the history of the Cubs, the eternal face of the franchise.  Without Santo, there would've been less identity to putting on the Cubbie pinstripes.  Without Santo, the Cubs would be missing a huge, heart-warming peace of their history.  Most importantly, they'd be missing an excellent guy who always put others first, but above all wanted to see nothing more than his beloved team win.  Thanks, Ron.