The Cubs lost a legend Friday with the passing of Ron Santo, but they plan to let the passionate radio broadcaster’s legacy live on for all of the upcoming season. The team announced Monday they’ll play the infamous clip of Santo’s “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!” reaction to Brant Brown’s dropped fly ball against the Brewers in 1998 on the Wrigley PA after every bad play in 2011.
“We talked all weekend about the best way to pay tribute to Ronnie,” said Cubs president Crane Kenney. “The first thought was to win the 2011 World Series, but let’s not get crazy or anything.”
Kenney said he and other front office staffers eventually decided to play the Brown clip at home games following each Cub fielding error, blown save, and strikeout with two outs and runners in scoring position. Given the team’s poor performance last season, Kenney said there was some concern the clip might be overplayed, so they scaled back broader plans.
“We averaged it out based on the club’s 2010 stats and figure we’ll be playing the clip five to 10 times a game, which is a great amount of Ronnie if you ask me,” said Kenney. “At first we also talked about playing it on our Cubs.com whenever Jim [Hendry] subjected fans to another bone-headed free agent signing, but that definitely would have been too much for even the biggest Santo fan.”
