Dallas, TX

Former Chicago Cubs third baseman Ron Santo has been elected to the baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.

The Hall of Fame made the announcement of the voting results Monday at the winter meetings.

The vote to finally put Santo in the Hall comes nearly a year after he died. A nine-time All-Star, Santo hit 342 home runs and won five Gold Gloves. He was a Cubs broadcaster for two decades.

Santo received 15 votes from the 16-member panel. Jim Kaat earned 10 votes, two short of the required number. Gil Hodges and Minnie Minoso each had nine votes.

Hall of Famer Billy Williams, Santo's former teammate, was on the 16-member Golden Era Committee, and campaigned for the third baseman.

Williams was joined on the committee by Hank Aaron, Al Kaline, Ralph Kiner, Tommy Lasorda, Juan Marichal, Brooks Robinson, Don Sutton. Major League executives Paul Beeston, Bill DeWitt, Roland Hemond, Gene Michael and Al Rosen, and veteran media members Dick Kaegel, Jack O'Connell and Dave Van Dyck.

"The numbers are there," Williams said. "But there are intangible things that you talk about there. That's why he got the 15 of 16 votes. The numbers are there and they reviewed that over the years. There were other things that people didn't know about, and they talked about it."

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