RetroSimba

Ron Santo _ deserving of election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame but no more so than his Cardinals peer, Ken Boyer _ usually was on the short end of matchups with Bob Gibson, but he did hit three home runs against him.

Santo, elected to the Hall of Fame Dec. 5, 2011, by the 16-member Golden Era committee, played 15 years in the major leagues as a third baseman for the Cubs and White Sox.

Like the Cardinals’ Ken Boyer, Santo won the Gold Glove Award five times. Boyer (.287) had a higher career batting average than Santo (.277). Santo had more home runs (342) than Boyer (282) and more RBI (1,331) than Boyer (1,141) but also had 688 more at-bats than Boyer. (Boyer received fewer than three votes from the 16 members of the Golden Era committee; Santo received 15).

Santo struck out more times against the Cardinals (156) than he did against any other team. Overall against the Cardinals, Santo batted .269 with 33 home runs and 137 RBI.

Against Gibson, Santo hit .243 (37-for-152) with 35 strikeouts. Of his 37 hits against the Cardinals’ ace, 31 were singles, three were doubles and three were home runs. Santo’s first homer off Gibson was the most significant.

On June 4, 1964, the Cardinals were in third place, 3.5 games behind the National League-leading Phillies, when they faced the Cubs at Chicago. With St. Louis ahead 1-0, the Cubs had Billy Williams on second base with one out in the fourth when Santo came up against Gibson. Santo responded with a two-run home run and that was the difference in Chicago’s 2-1 victory. Boxscore

The setback launched the Cardinals into a four-game losing streak that dropped them into fifth place, a game ahead of the seventh-place Cubs. A week later, still scuffling and having fallen three games below .500, the Cardinals, seeking a spark, traded for Cubs outfielder Lou Brock. The deal was the catalyst in igniting St. Louis’ run to the World Series title that year.

Santo’s other two homers against Gibson came on Sept. 16, 1970 (a fifth-inning solo shot in a game the Cardinals won 8-1 at Chicago Boxscore), and June 26, 1971 (a two-out, three-run blast in the Cubs’ 5-1 victory at St. Louis Boxscore).