[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 18990-18991]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              CUBS GREAT RON SANTO ELECTED TO HALL OF FAME

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Quigley) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. QUIGLEY. Madam Speaker, in case you were wondering, that noise 
you heard from above yesterday morning was an old third baseman 
clicking his heels. Finally, on Monday morning, Ron Santo was inducted 
into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
  Now, most people knew Ronnie as the nine-time All-Star and the five-
time Golden Glove winner, one of the top hitters of his era, and the 
third baseman on the Top 10 list in every statistical category. And 
many people knew Ronnie as the lovable voice of the Chicago Cubs, with 
whom we cheered every home run, moaned every dropped fly ball, and 
laughed at life's most human moments in the booth, including a burning 
hairpiece.
  But for many years on the field, people didn't know that while 
racking up 342 home runs and hitting more than 1,300 RBIs, Ronnie was 
struggling with diabetes. That's because Ronnie accomplished all of 
this from the roster, not the disabled list, despite his physical 
struggles.
  Ronnie wanted to be a great player, not a great player ``under the 
circumstances.'' He fought hard on the field for his team, and 
courageously in private for his health. He raised $60 million and a lot 
of hope for juvenile diabetes research and inspired many to persevere 
against the odds.
  Ronnie died too soon, exactly 1 year ago this week. I wish he had 
lived to see this, but I know that he and Harry are sharing an Old 
Style together and toasting to their favorite team. Here's to number 
10, Ron Santo. Go Cubs.

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