Remembering Ryno

He Reminded Us All Of What Once Was Good, And Could Be Again

Definitely didn't want to think about the 2025 Cubs July 29th last night, so I found myself living within Ryne Sandberg's Baseball-Reference page instead. It’s pretty much all I’ve done for 36 hours, actually. My interest in baseball had some Ryno overlap, but just barely so: someone whose baseball cards I knew to make sure to set in the good shoebox. He was, and felt, past-prime by the time I began to pay any sort of attention.

And he was gone by the time I caught my Cubs bug. It’s been a lot of fun to dive deep back into the games and moments of his career. I decided to write a quickish special edition Five Cubs Things today in honor of Ryno. Baseball is all about the insignificant day-to-day grind leading to something larger, and so with that in mind, I picked five July 29ths that stretched across Ryne's career.

Let's go down memory lane on what they signified for a truly legendary career.

ONE: July 29, 1982

1-for-5, SB

Back where his career began at Veteran's Stadium in Philadelphia, Sandberg beat out a grounder to shortstop in the first inning off Mike Krukow. Then he stole second (his 18th of that season), and eventually scored on a Leon Durham double. The Cubs were 40-62, letting a young player they believed in develop in the two-spot despite his prodigious struggles to that point. I didn't realize Ryno's Cubs career began with a 1-for-30 start.

(By the way, the Cubs lost that game in Philadelphia 3-2. Gary "Sarge" Matthews singled home Ivan De Jesus, of course the player that Sandberg was acquired for. That Phillies team would miss the playoffs in 1982, lose in the 1983 World Series, and in a flash, their window was closed.)

As I pointed out on Twitter, Sandberg's OBP dropped that day to .291. I was delighted to learn that's the same number that Matt Shaw's dropped to last night. Baseball and its numbers always make me happy, even when the connection is forced and ridiculous. Ryno would hit .293/.345/.421 the rest of the way, moving over to second base in September.

TWO: July 29, 1984

3-for-8, HR

A breakout 1984 campaign had ignited into a revolution a month earlier with the Ryne Sandberg game, but dare I say that July 29 was more important to the 1984 Cubs run towards the playoffs. The Cubs entered the day 3.5 games back of the New York Mets in the standings, but swept the Sunday doubleheader at Shea Stadium to assert themselves as the best team in the East.

Sandberg played a minor role in a 3-0 win in the first game, active in the field helping Steve Trout's complete game shutout. In the second game, a 5-1 win, he would score a run on Jody Davis' big 3-run home run and then tack on an insurance run with a home run in the sixth. It was his 14th of the season and 29th of his career, it still not yet obvious what a big part of his game the longball would become.

Ryno would of course win MVP that season, and the Cubs would of course lose in the NLCS to the San Diego Padres. So if we're keeping track, that's a player the Cubs acquired in an amazing lopsided trade winning MVP in his third Cubs season. Ball’s in your court, Pete.

(Let's also point out that the Cubs went big acquiring a certain starting pitcher at that deadline.)

THREE: July 29, 1989

3-for-4, 4 R, HR

Four disappointing Cubs seasons would follow the 1984 run, with the latter three also coming in pretty disappointing in the context of Sandberg's career. He was just 5% above league average from 1986-1988, and sitting at a .723 OPS in 1989 on our date in question.

Which makes July 29, 1989 kind of special in my mind, because you could frame it as the start of a power breakout that really defined the second half of his career. Sandberg's third inning home run off Wally Whitehurst tied the game, eventually a 10-3 Greg Maddux complete game rout.

In the final 60 games of that fantastic 1989 season, Sandberg would hit .343/.419/.643 with 18 home runs. That home run was the 122nd of Sandberg's career in his 1175th game. He would need just 677 games to get his next 122.

FOUR: July 29, 1992

2-for-5, HR

The writer in me wants to paint this day, a Cubs 6-4 win over the Pirates in 11 innings, as a sort of passing of the Cubs Legend torch. Sandberg's seventh inning home run tied the game. Sammy Sosa's 11th inning home run won it.

1992 was a pretty magical Ryne Sandberg season; the second-best of his career and the cap of a four-year second peak that solidified his Hall of Fame resume. It's frustrating to look back at that team and see Sandberg and Greg Maddux' contributions in the context of a pretty hapless Cubs team ... but you can't tell the story of any Cubs legend without a good number of those. And we know Maddux would move on a few months later; these were frustrating days in the Cubs organization.

Which I think is part of why Sandberg is a childhood hero to so many. He was great when the Cubs were great, but he was also the light in the darkness. A guy that came and did his job when they were disappointing. He was, for a decade, across good and bad, OUR All-Star.

FIVE: July 29, 1997

DNP

There's no poetic end to this exercise, but we're going to play make-believe a little bit here. On August 2, 1997, Sandberg would announce (for the second time) his retirement. This one would stick, as second retirements tend to do with Chicago stars.

The Chicago Tribune reported that earlier that week before his announcement, Sandberg's agent had let the Cubs know what was coming. Maybe, just maybe, we can pretend it was before a July 29 loss, where the Cubs lost 7-2 to the Atlanta Braves, dropping their record to a paltry 43-64.

The Cubs would play Rey Sanchez at second base that day; I got a kick out of that Tribune article referencing Elinton Jasco hitting "nearly .370" in Daytona as a potential replacement for Sandberg. There’s always a Next Man Up prospect to dream on.

Shawon Dunston said in the Tribune piece "When [Sandberg] does go into the Hall of Fame, I can say I played next to him." Shawon's tributes to Ryne this week have been some of the most beautiful, I've thought.

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I'll close things out by pointing out that 17 years ago today, I met Ryne Sandberg, interviewing him in Lou Piniella's office in Wrigley Field. Ryne was the manager of the Peoria Chiefs, coaching them to a 6-6 tie.

I think back on that experience as the last notable one in my early twenties attempt to break into sportswriting as a career. I'd put the notion to bed about a month later, and there's a part of me that thinks back on that time as if it existed another lifetime ago.

But I also think back on it with incredible gratitude. Being in the room, that day, was a gift. Ryno's life was filled with so many moments of making others feel grateful for the experience of coming in his orbit, and watching him play ball.

RIP, Ryno.