Baseball Legends: Ryne Sandberg (Phillies 1981, Cubs 1982-1997)
April 7, 2008If you ask a sports fan the significance of the number 23, most of the time they will tell you that 
Michael Jordan wore that number for the Chicago Bulls. However, there is another Chicago sports legend that had 23 stitched onto his jersey: Cubs second baseman Ryne Sandberg.
Sandberg came to the Cubs with Larry Bowa in a trade with the Phillies for Ivan DeJesus. He made an immediate impact, batting .271 and stealing 32 bases for the 5th place Cubs in 1982. It wasn’t until 1984, though, that Sandberg truly stepped into the national spotlight, hitting .314 with 19 home runs en route to the NL MVP award and leading the club to the playoffs for the first time since 1945. 1984 was also the first of a 10-year run on the All-Star team, voted as the starting second baseman every year except 1985 (he was beat out that year by Tom Herr of the Cardinals).
Sandberg was an all-around player who could hit for power (led the NL in home runs in 1990), steal bases (seven seasons with 25+), and cover a lot of ground on defense (9 straight Gold Gloves from 1983-1991). His defensive prowess was displayed prominently in 1989-1990, when he went 123 straight games without an error, setting the record for second basemen at the time.
Speaking of records for second basemen, Sandberg holds the record for most home runs at that position (277).
“Ryno” retired in 1994, but came back in 1996 to hit 25 home runs. He retired again at the end of the 1997 season.
Sandberg first appeared on the ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003, but fell short of the required 75% support for induction until 2005.
See Sandberg’s career statistics at baseball-reference.com.
Written by JT at thewritersjourney.wordpress.com.
