McDonough: Santo news ‘imperfectly perfect’

Like everyone who knew Ron Santo, Blackhawks president and CEO John McDonough wished the Cubs great could have been around Monday when he finally made it into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

“I think this is a day many of us dreamed of, but it’s almost imperfectly perfect,” said McDonough, the former Cubs president who hired Santo as a broadcaster. “I think in Ronnie’s mind the sequence would have been Hall of Fame, jersey retirement, statue, but it didn’t work out that way and I’m not sure it was supposed to.

“I remember how excited he was when he had his jersey retired and he thought that was going to be the culmination, that was going to be the highlight of his career. Then last year the Cubs erected a statue of him, and now today going to the Hall of Fame. I’m sure he’s aware of it.”

McDonough recalled having many conversations with Santo about the Hall of Fame and his many near misses.

“I think at the end his spirit was somewhat broken; he never thought that this day was going to come,” McDonough said. “Right now for me he would probably be on his 50th question: What is the date? What time does it start? What should I wear? Are they going to allow me to bring guests? Who’s going to write my speech?

“We had a very good relationship. He was to me almost like an older brother. We had a lot of real important moments and we shared a lot. We talked about if this day ever really came what it would be like and there were some flattering things he asked me to do on the day he would go into the Hall of Fame that unfortunately may not culminate. But I’m excited for their family. He would have loved to have had this be first, but it wasn’t meant to be.”