Santo elected to Hall of Fame

DALLAS (AP) - Ron Santo was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame on Monday, chosen by the Veterans Committee nearly a year to the day after the Chicago Cubs third baseman died hoping for this honor.

Santo breezed in with 15 votes from the 16-member panel. It took 75 percent -- 12 votes -- to get chosen.

Santo was a nine-time All-Star, hit 342 home runs and won five Gold Gloves. He was a Cubs broadcaster for two decades, beloved by his fans eagerly rooting for his favorite team on the air.

Jim Kaat was second with 10 votes, Gil Hodges and Minnie Minoso each drew nine and Tony Oliva got eight on the 10-person Golden Era ballot. Buzzie Bavasi, Ken Boyer, Charlie Finley, Allie Reynolds and Luis Tiant each received under three votes.

Santo joined former Cubs teammates Ernie Banks, Billy Williams and Ferguson Jenkins in the Hall. That famed quartet did most everything at Wrigley Field through the 1960s and early 1970s except reach the World Series.

"It's really exciting because so many years that we had parties over to his house in spring training saying this is the year, I'd tell him this is the year you're going in the baseball Hall of Fame," Williams, a member of the voting panel, said at the baseball winter meetings.

"With Ernie, myself and Fergie, those players he played with ... to hear this kind of news today that he's inducted in the baseball Hall of Fame is really gratifying because so many times that we talked about it, it's a place he wanted to be," he said. "I'm really, really thrilled for him and his family. The one thing, of course, is he's not here to enjoy it, but his family will."

A star while playing with diabetes, a disease that eventually cost him both legs below the knees, Santo died Dec. 3, 2010, from complications of bladder cancer at age 70.

Santo will be inducted into Cooperstown on July 22, along with any players elected by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America on Jan. 9. Bernie Williams joins Jack Morris, Barry Larkin and others on that ballot.

Santo never came close to election during his 15 times on the BBWAA ballot, peaking at 43 percent -- far short of the needed 75 percent in his last year of eligibility in 1998.

He had gotten closer in previous elections by the Veterans Committee. The panel has been revamped several times in the last decade, aimed at giving a better look at deserving candidates.

"I kept thinking that he would get in then, then, then and finally he got in, but it's a little too late for him to be there," said another veterans panel member, Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson. "It's hard to figure out why he hasn't gotten in sooner."

"He's just a terrific guy, he's baseball through and through, he's done a lot for the game of baseball in his career, and he's been though a lot of hardships physically and he was just a
terrific player," he said. "He certainly belongs in the Hall of Fame. A long time coming. No one knows the reason he didn't get in when the writers were voting, but this process we have has been the fairest, I think."

Santo is the 15th third baseman in the Hall, including three from the Negro Leagues. He was a career .277 hitter and hit at least 30 homers every season from 1964-67.

Santo made his debut at 20 with the Cubs in 1960 and played his whole career with them until finishing with the crosstown White Sox in 1974.

Like Banks, Santo never got to play in a World Series. They came close in 1969, overtaken in the stretch by a New York Mets team managed by Hodges, the former Brooklyn star first baseman.