Bar owner recovers Santo memorabilia

Who knows why somebody with the Chicago Cubs decided to chuck a bunch of Ron Santo memorabilia in a dumpster on Monday?

What's important is that it was recovered and will be returned to the proper hands.

And by that, we mean the hands of Jeff Santo, son of the late Cubs great.

Let's rehash a bit. First, the Cubs tossed several banners and a giant card signed by fans shortly after Santo's death in 2011 into the dumpster.

The following day, the team apologized and a spokesman said the items had been recovered. Later, that same spokesman told the Chicago Tribune his prior statement was false and the items were gone.

Then, Beth Murphy, who owns the nearby bar Murphy's Bleachers and heads up the rooftop owners association currently fighting the Cubs' renovation plans, revealed that she had the items on display in her bar.

Turns out her workers had fished out the memorabilia before the team could recover it.

"I saw them when I was walking my dog. I’m a big Ron Santo fan and I thought we should display them. At first I didn'€™t want the Santo family to know it was in the dumpster. But I did give them right of first refusal," said Murphy.

Jeff Santo, who is headed to town for the annual Ron Santo Walk to Cure Diabetes on Sunday, told the Tribune he would keep some of the items. He said the rest will go to another local bar -- Bernie's Chicago -- which is owned by family friend Linda Dillman.

As for the Cubs, Santo says there are no hard feelings and that Crane Kenney, the Cubs'€™ business president, personally apologized to him on Tuesday.

"It was cool Crane called. I'€™m sure it was just a mistake on someone'€™s part. I'm just wondering who my dad ticked off to put his stuff in the dumpster," said Santo.

As for his Ron Santo? Jeff says he'd be having a good laugh about it were he still alive.