Cubs Difficulty Emotional Assertion on Beloved Corridor of Famer Ryne Sandberg

The Chicago Cubs are within the midst of an intense race for the postseason, with solely a one-game lead over the San Diego Padres within the third and closing Nationwide League wild-card spot.

However earlier than they opened an important three-game sequence in Cincinnati towards the Reds Friday, the Cubs took a second to difficulty an emotional assertion on probably the most beloved, and finest, gamers ever to name Wrigley Discipline dwelling.

The Cubs honored Ryne Sandberg on what would have been his 67th birthday Friday, posting a tribute almost 14 months after the Corridor of Fame second baseman’s demise.

“Blissful birthday, Ryno. We miss you daily,” the staff wrote in a social media submit Friday.

Sandberg died July 28, 2025, at 65 following a prolonged battle with prostate most cancers, in response to the Society for American Baseball Analysis. He had introduced the analysis in January 2024, appeared to beat the illness by August of that yr, then revealed 4 months later that the most cancers had returned and unfold.

Ryne Sandberg’s Rise to Chicago Cubs Stardom

Born Ryne Dee Sandberg on Sept. 18, 1959, in Spokane, Washington, he was named after former Yankees pitcher Ryne Duren and earned soccer honors as a Parade journal All-American quarterback, and in addition starred in basketball earlier than selecting baseball. However he was seen as a long-shot prospect. The Philadelphia Phillies drafted him out of Spokane’s North Central Excessive College within the twentieth spherical in 1978. They referred to as him up in September 1981.

The Phillies, nonetheless not seeing a future in Sandberg, traded the then-22-year-old utility infielder, together with Larry Bowa, to the Cubs that offseason for Iván DeJesús, in a deal that reshaped each franchises’ fortunes.

Moved to second base in 1983, Sandberg gained a Gold Glove in his first full season there and broke out in 1984, hitting two game-tying dwelling runs off Cardinals nearer Bruce Sutter in a nationally televised recreation that grew to become referred to as the “Sandberg Sport.”

That win helped Chicago seize its first postseason berth since 1945, and he closed the yr with the NL MVP award, in response to the Chicago Solar-Occasions.

He went on to make 10 straight All-Star groups, accumulate 9 Gold Gloves and 7 Silver Sluggers, and led the Nationwide League with 40 dwelling runs in 1990, the primary second baseman since Rogers Hornsby in 1925 to high the league in homers, in response to the Nationwide Baseball Corridor of Fame.

Over 16 seasons, principally with the Cubs, he completed with a .285 common, 2,386 hits, 282 dwelling runs and 1,061 RBI, numbers that despatched him to Cooperstown in 2005.

Why Chicago Cubs Followers Nonetheless Cherish Ryne Sandberg

The Cubs retired Sandberg’s No. 23 later that yr, making him the fourth participant in franchise historical past to obtain that honor. He returned to the group afterward as an envoy, greeting followers and representing the membership at occasions, and in June 2024 the staff unveiled a statue of him outdoors Wrigley Discipline.

At that ceremony, Sandberg joked that he had extra gloves than bats stashed in his locker when he first arrived in Chicago.

“Ryne Sandberg was a hero to a technology of Chicago Cubs followers,” Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts stated following his demise, a tribute that also resonates on his birthday, as quoted by the Chicago Solar-Occasions.

Sandberg’s quiet depth, defensive excellence and refusal to chase the highlight made him a uncommon crossover star for a franchise that endured many years with no championship. Followers who grew up watching him anchor second base in the course of the day-game period at Wrigley Discipline nonetheless collect at his statue and mark anniversaries of the Sandberg Sport.

Friday’s tribute retains that connection alive, reminding a fan base nonetheless chasing October baseball that Sandberg stays central to what it means to put on a Cubs uniform.

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