The Chicago Cubs made their best move of the 2003 season on Monday, and no, it wasn’t the release of plump reliever Antonio Alfonseca. In fact, this decision didn’t even deal with a current player.

At around 5:30 p.m. central time, Cub management made Ron Santo’s life seemingly complete when they notified him his No. 10 will be retired before the final regular-season home game on Sept. 28.

Although Santo’s number should have been retired 30 years ago, he was extremely overwhelmed at a press conference to honor him.

“Now I really don’t care if I get into the Hall of Fame anymore,” Santo said in the Chicago Tribune. “This is my Hall of Fame. I really mean it. I can’t explain it, but this is the ultimate.”

The Cubs finally righted a wrong by retiring Santo’s number. The great third baseman hit 342 home runs, which ranks fourth all-time at the “hot corner.” He batted a stellar .277 for his 15-year career during a time when pitching wasn’t diluted and expansion had yet to ruin the game. Santo appeared in nine all-star games and was the Brooks Robinson of the National League winning five Gold Gloves.

The fact Santo’s number was available for the last 30 years is a bigger crime than him being snubbed for the Hall of Fame. The voting for the Hall is national, so while Santo is more than deserving for enshrinement, it’s possible a panel made up of voters from all over America would not recognize his accomplishments. The Cubs’ refusal for so long to honor a legend who bleeds blue was truly unacceptable. Keep in mind, Santo had to see stiffs like Steve Lake, Terrell Lowery and last year’s interim manager Bruce Kimm wear a number that should have been on the foul poles along side Ernie Banks and Billy Williams.

However, all this didn’t seem to bother Santo at his press conference.

“I’m so overwhelmed,” Santo said. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”

Now that Santo’s number is taken care of there is one more Cub who should be honored sooner rather than later, and that is second baseman Ryne Sandberg.

The case for Sandberg is even more interesting than Santo’s. When “Ryno” retired for the first time in June of 1994 the Cubs quickly retired his no. 23. A year-and-a-half later Sandberg said he missed the game and opted to come back for the 1996 season. At the start of the 1996 season his number was taken down from the foul pole while “Ryno” played. But when Sandberg retired for the second time in 1997, his number was not placed back on the foul pole.

In a recent issue of Vineline ( the Cubs monthly magazine) a letter was written asking if Sandberg’s number was retired. The magazine claimed that because Sandburg is a spring training instructor for the Cubs his number is still in use, and thus cannot be retired.

This theory may satisfy some Cub fans but I don’t buy the explanation because of one person and that is Billy Williams. The man with the sweet swing had his retired number flag on the right field foul pole even though he was active as a first base coach and later a bench coach for the Cubs.

Why the Cubs would not place Sandberg’s flag back in its proper place in unknown. Maybe they are waiting until he gets his rightful spot in the second basemen wing in Cooperstown before the number is finally retired. Possibly the Cubs and Sandberg have been unable to agree on a date to set aside for him.

This past off-season, the recently acquired Eric Karros asked for no. 23, (the number he wore the past decade with the L.A. Dodgers) the Cubs would not issue the number because of Sandberg and Karros had to settle for No. 32. So it appears it’s only a matter of time before Sandberg joins Banks, Williams and Santo as the greatest to ever put on a Cubs uniform.

Yet for a team whose fans have not seen a World Series in nearly a century, there is no reason to make them wait any longer to celebrate their past heroes.