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SANTO PASSES AWAY Former Cubs third base-

man turned radio analyst Ron Santo died Dec. 2,

and thousands attended his funeral. Santo joined

the broadcast booth in 1990 and although he was

not all that polished, his enthusiasm and personal-

ity made him popular with Cubs fans. His emotions

on the air were unfiltered. After one loss against

Milwaukee during the 2010 season, he ripped his

headset off and slammed it on the table. Ronnie

will forever be in the hearts and souls of Cubs

fans, owner Tom Ricketts said.

THE COACH RETIRES Long-time Cubs employee

Frank Maloney stepped down in the offseason.

Maloney had been with the team since 1981 and

the ticket manager since 1987. More than 71 mil-

lion tickets were bought while Maloney was on the

job. In Cubs offices, he was known as The Coach

because in his previous jobs he was the head foot-

ball coach at Mount Carmel High School in Chicago

and Syracuse University. He was also an assistant

coach at Michigan.

NO RYNO Manager Mike Quade was given the job

despite the fact that Hall of Fame player Ryne

Sandberg wanted the job and was the sentimental

favorite among Cubs fans. Sandberg was offered a

shot to manage at Triple-A Iowa again, but he

turned it down and left for a similar position in

Philadelphias organization. Quade knows he has

to work to win over some fans. I dont blame

them, and I get it, Quade says. Its a heck of a

deal when you have a guy that meant so much to

the city. Now I just need to keep proving to myself

that this is an important situation and Im going to

do the best I can.

THE COLEMAN CLAN MAKES HISTORY When

rookie Casey Coleman threw his first pitch as a

member of the Cubs on Aug. 2, he made history.

The Coleman family became the first to have three

generations pitch in the major leagues. His grand-

father, Joe, pitched in the big leagues from 1942-

55. His father, also named Joe, pitched from

1965-79.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

Soriano:ScottBoehm/GettyImages;Simpson:SouthernArkansasSID

not a dominant hitter, and the Cubs al-ready have a number of decent-but-not-great power hitters in the lineup. Theearly theory is that young Tyler Colvinwill unseat Kosuke Fukudome in right.Colvin hit 20 homers in 358 at-bats,and the Cubs will likely want to seewhat he could do over the course of afull season.

CATCHING Geovany Soto has beena puzzle. He was an All-Star as a rookiein 2008 and a bust his sophomoreyear. Last year was somewhere in be-tween. He had shoulder surgery inSeptember, and the Cubs are hopingthat he can return to his rookie yearform, when he hit .285 with 23 homeruns.

BENCH Baker can play all over theinfield and had a .333 average in 18pinch-hit at-bats. The Cubs didntpay Fukudome $48 million over fouryears to sit on the bench, but if heloses his right field spot to Colvin,thats where he will be. If its anyconsolation, he hit .350 in 20

pinch-hit at bats last year. Barney can be a solid middle infield reserve if he has a good spring train-ing. The Cubs like switch-hitting veteran Koyie Hill as a backup behind the plate. In Hills last 10starts, Cubs pitchers threw three shutouts. Rookie catcher Welington Castillo could also make acase to make the team.

MANAGEMENT This is the second year for owner Tom Ricketts and his family. This group hasdone a nice job with charity work and making improvements at Wrigley Field. But the product onthe field is a work-in-progress. General manager Jim Hendry, who is on the hot seat, had broughtin big-name managers Dusty Baker and Piniella with his first two hires, with mixed results. Now heis relying on Quade, a loyal and long-time member of the organization, to turn things around witha team that on paper doesnt appear to be a powerhouse.

FINAL ANALYSIS There are so many ifs on this team that its hard to get excited about thefortunes on the North Side of town. However, there is some talent on this club. If a couple of veter-ans have career years or can rebound from recent slides and some of the young players emerge, the

Cubs could hang around in the NL Central.

CHICAGO CUBS

CUBS

SCHEDULE

1 2

PIT PIT

3 4

PIT ARI

6

AR I A RI

7 8 9

M IL M IL

5

10 11

M IL H OU

13

H OU H OU

14 15 16

C OL C OL

12

17 18

COL SD

20

SD SD

21 22 23

L AD L AD

19

24 25

L AD C OL

27

C OL C OL

28

ARI

29 30

AR I AR I

26

1

PIT

2 3

PIT PIT

4

PIT

5 6

C IN CIN

7 8

C IN WA S

10

WAS WAS

11 12 13

AT L AT L

9

14 15

AT L H OU

17

H OU H OU

18 19 20

STL STL

16

21 22

ST L ATL

24

AT L AT L

25

ATL

26 27

M IL M IL

23

28 29

MIL SF

31

SF SF

30

AUGUST

1 2 3

PIT PIT

4 5

PIT CIN

7

C IN CIN

8 9 1 0

NYM NYM

6

11 12

N YM C IN

14

C IN CIN

15

CIN

16 17

H OU H OU

13

18 19

H OU M IL

21

M IL M IL

22 23 24

STL STL

20

25 26

STL SD

28

SD SD

27

SEPTEMBERS M T W TH F S

S M T W TH F S

S M T W TH F S

MARCH/APRIL

1 2

CWS CWS

3 4

CWS WA S

6

WAS WAS

7

WAS

8 9

PIT PIT

5

10 11

PIT

13 14

FLA

15 16

F LA F LA

12

17 18

F LA PHI

20

PHI PHI

21 22 23

H OU H OU

19

24 25

HOU

27

M IL M IL

28

MIL

29 30

STL STL

26

JULY

STL

31

S M T W TH F S

31

2

AR I LA D

3 4

L AD L AD

5 6 7

C IN CIN

8 9

CIN

11

ST L ST L

12

STL

13 14

SF SF

S M T W TH F S

1

10

15 16

SF CIN

18

C IN FLA

19

FLA

20 21

B OS B OS

17

22 23

BOS

25

NYM NYM

26

NYM

27 28

PIT PIT

24

29 30

P IT H OU H OU

31

MAY

1

HOU

2 3 4

STL STL

5 6

STL CIN

8

C IN CIN

9

PHI

10 11

PHI PHI

7

12 13

P HI M IL

15

M IL M IL

16

MIL

17 18

N YY N YY

14

19 20

N YY C WS

22

C WS C WS

23 24 25

KC KC

21

26 27

KC

29

SF SF

30

SF

28

JUNES M T W TH F S

ATHLON SPORTS BASEBALL 2011130

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