Posted on 07/28/2025 6:34:01 PM PDT by janetjanet998
Sad news to report tonight: Cubs Hall of Fame second baseman Ryne Sandberg has passed away after a long battle with cancer. Sandberg, 65, was a kind, gracious star. One of those guys no one had a bad thing to say about. RIP
Wow. RIP Ryne Sandberg. Wasn’t he the Cub who grabbed a burning US flag from the hippie that lit it in the outfield at Wrigley all those years ago? A patriot.
RIP, from a Cardinals fan.
As a big Cubs fan - and while I don’t know anything first-hand (of course) - this isn’t quite accurate.
Ryno married his HS sweetheart. She... well, again, I don’t know her... but slept around on him a lot (rumors say Davey Martinez, Raffy Palmeiro, and others).
Ryno was on the back-half of his career, but this all came to a head in 1994. She divorced him - there was also the strike - and Ryno just hung it up because he was in a bad place and wanted to be with his kids.
He met his now widow - Margaret - shortly after the divorce (IIRC, she was also a divorcee with a couple kids). It was a much healthier relationship.
It wasn’t that he *couldn’t* play - it was that he a personal hell to deal with and he wasn’t in a place where he felt he could give it his best.
In a better place in 1996, he came back - the story is basically that he was a spring game with his new wife, his kids and stepkids, got a big ovation at a spring game, and Margaret and the kids all said “You want to get back... and you should.” So he did.
Despite the year and a half layoff - Ryno came back in 1996 posted 3.2 WAR.
I don’t know Ryno (though, I got to drive him from the airport once after he retired — long story), but he was a very private and shy guy. But a *good* man and a helluva ballplayer.
Yup.
Growing up, *everybody* was a Ryno fan, so I always more partial to Sarge, Zonk, and the Penguin...
But - nobody ever had a bad word to say about him. Good ballplayer who also happened to be just the sort of man you hope your kids grow up to be.
RIP, Ryno.
I still make a point of watching the Sandberg Game on Marquee when they replay it... and I still remember - I think I was 15 at the time - watching that NBC Game of the Week at the time. I very much remember Costas awarding the Player of the Game to Willie McGee (he hit for the cycle! Everybody forgets!), but here comes Ryno with the game-tying homer off Sutter in the 9th.... and then *again* in the 10th!
Craziest game I ever saw. I still remember Steve Trout got chased in, the 2nd? One of my buddies calling and saying “we’re going to the park for a pickup game” and saying basically “wait till the 7th or 8th”.... By which, nah... I’m watching the end of this because you never know.
You’re a decade late.
That was Rick Monday.
RIP Ryne...
Far too young to go...
Hey, you got the Schwarbird now (albeit roundabout).
I love Kyle Schwarber and I’ll never forgive Jed Hoyer for letting him walk.
As I recall Rick Monday grabbed the flag from the hippie.
Ryne Sandberg had several golden glove and all-star awards iirc.
Wonder if it is a side effect of the vax?
That reminds that Lee Elia also passed just a week or so ago.
RIP, Lee, too.
Even as a Cubs fan, I still love Lee’s epic April 1983 rant.
Dallas - coming from Philly - basically started hoarding Phillies when he got the GM job in 1981.... and while Lee Elia had a LOT of, um, colorful things to say in his rant, he did specifically call out the “Phillie-itis” that local sportswriters were complaining about.
Decidedly NSFW - but you can find Lee’s rant around the internet... RIP to Lee, too. Part of Cubs lore.
Thanks for more of the details. From 30,000 feet, it seemed like the first wife left him late in the money earning game. Glad to hear he found someone a lot better. He seemed like a very good guy and it is a shame he didn’t live longer but hopefully he is in a much better place than here.
Ryno was. a real class act, unlike many pro athletes nowdays. Sad to him pass so young .
No problem - like I said, (obviously) wasn’t there... so can’t speak to the reality. I think either Palmeiro or Martinez once said that he never slept with Cindy (Ryno’s first wife) but that she tried and it was a well-known thing that you wanted to steer clear of her. I don’t like to buy rumors - but, well, there was a LOT of smoke that some late 80s trades got made over Cindy Sandberg (as in, Cindy has her eyes on... so trade him before it causes a problem).
His second wife, though? He and Margaret were married for 30 years and by all accounts, had a great life.
The 84 team - Sandberg, Matthews, Cey, Bowa, Davis, Dernier, Moreland, Durham, the pitching staff, Frey and Zimmer managing on the bench - a lot of guys who either had career years or one of their last good years. To lose to the Padres in the CS after going up 2-0, ugh.
The only thing that gets me over that is knowing that nobody was beating the Tigers that year.
Rick Monday - L.A.
True, but still... I ever meet Steve Garvey in a dark alley? Only one of us is leaving it.
You are right! My memory ain’t what it used to be. Thanks for correcting me.
RIP RYNO!
Yeah, but who won the World Series that year?
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