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‘THIS OLD CUB’: Jeff Santo keeps spirit of Hall of Fame father Ron Santo alive through films, memorabilia
Ron Santo spent 13 years as the Chicago Cubs’ starting third baseman during the Golden Era of baseball, no small miracle considering he was a diabetic playing mostly day games over his Hall of Fame career.
His son, Jeff Santo, an independent filmmaker, chronicled his father’s journey in baseball and through fighting a disease that took both his legs in the 2004 documentary, “This Old Cub.”
All told, about 80,000 of those DVDs have been sold over the past two decades, including many copies signed by his father in silver Sharpie, generating more than $2.5 million in gross revenue. “This Old Cub” initially had a theatrical run for six months and enjoys strong ongoing viewership across Amazon, Tubi and other digital platforms, Jeff Santo said. Signed copies for sale on eBay run from $60 to $168.
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After he retired, Ron spent 21 years as a Cubs radio broadcaster in the 1990s and 2000s. Similar to his playing days, Santo wore his heart on his sleeve in the press box, endearing himself to thousands of newer Cub fans who were too young to have seen him play in the 1960s and early ’70s. He died in 2010 at the age of 70 due in part to complications from diabetes.
Two years later, Santo was inducted posthumously into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
More than 20 years after “This Old Cub” was released, Jeff Santo is working on a new film project called “Forever Wild Ones.” It’s a biker road movie and Santo has lined up former big leaguers Ryan Dempster and Sean Casey to play supporting roles. Santo is currently raising money to fund the $1.5 million production, and said he has about $400,000 remaining to meet the budget.
Jeff Santo, whose experience with the biker club culture dates to the 2013 movie he directed, “Dead in 5 Heartbeats,” based on the life of former Hell’s Angels legend Sonny Barger, hopes to start filming “Forever Wild Ones” this spring in Arizona.
Apart from that movie, Santo is compiling research for a future project he calls “Blue Collar Famous,” a series of docs focusing on the strong character traits exhibited by his father, as well as other people, he said. His due diligence has extended to finding a Sports Collectors Digest story that ran in March 2025 in which baseball card collectors shared their thoughts on Ron Santo the ballplayer.
SCD reached out to Jeff Santo to find out what it was like the first 11 years of his life growing up in a Cubs clubhouse and rubbing elbows with a team that produced five Hall of Famers, including Manager Leo Durocher.
“We were a different breed, my brother (Ron Santo Jr.) and I,” Jeff Santo, now 63, said. “We had a ton of baseball cards, but we played with them. We were part of the (Cubs) team. We weren’t like other fans. We were born into it and didn’t know any better. This was our life, until it all went away."
On the memorabilia front, Jeff has kept a few of his father’s awards and artifacts, including the 1973 Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, given annually to a major leaguer displaying the high character and integrity of Gehrig, the revered New York Yankees Hall of Fame first baseman whose career was cut short by ALS.
The award may not be as high profile as others, such as the Roberto Clemente Award, a similar designation recognizing humanitarianism in baseball, but for Jeff Santo, it signifies the way his father lived his life on and off the field. There’s a plaque in the Hall of Fame listing every winner of the Lou Gehrig Award since it was first awarded in 1955 to Alvin Dark.
In total, 28 of those award winners became Hall of Fame inductees, including Ron Santo.
“That award was in the Hall of Fame before my dad was inducted,” Santo said. “It was the one thing he had there while he was still alive.”
Ron Santo’s character was tested during the fateful 1969 season, when the Cubs blew a big lead in the old National League Eastern Division, succumbing to the New York Mets, who won the World Series that year.
There’s a well-documented story tied to Cubs outfielder Don Young dropping a crucial fly ball in a July game against the Mets that the Cubs lost. Newspaper headlines erroneously claimed that Ron in his postgame comments blamed Young for the loss, when in fact it was Durocher who pointed the finger at the young center fielder. The incident blew up in the press, resulting in fans booing Santo and death threats made against his family.
“My brother and I had security follow us to school,” Jeff Santo recalled. “It was a big distraction. The fact is my dad mentored Don Young in spring training after Leo told him to do so. My dad was always a teammate first, and the Lou Gehrig Award means everything, because that’s who my dad was. He always appreciated the game and what it gave to him."
In his Phoenix-area home, Jeff also displays his father’s 1966 Gold Glove Award. It’s one of five consecutive Gold Gloves that Ron won over his 14-year career that ended in 1974 with the Chicago White Sox, his final season in the big leagues.
In addition, Jeff treasures a plaque issued by The Sporting News featuring caricatures of the 1966 National League All-Star Team. Seven eventual Hall of Famers graced that lineup: Willie Stargell, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Santo, Sandy Koufax, Juan Marichal and Joe Torre.
“It’s something special to stand there and realize that my dad shared the field and the era with that group of men,” he said. “When you look at it that way, it’s hard not to feel you’re starting at one of the greatest eras the game has ever known.”
For Jeff Santo, the memories he holds dear to his heart are what sports memorabilia is all about.
“He didn’t have an MVP award,” he said. “The Gold Gloves were his big awards, and the Lou Gehrig award, which was the biggest, to tell you the truth. Our life was what he shared more than awards.
“You look at an award and say, ‘that’s great,’ but my dad’s spirit lives on, about how he was as a man. My dad lived in the moments and some people didn’t like it … but he always loved people and loved having fun, but getting serious between the white lines. He was a genius on the baseball field.”
Don Muret
