...I hate to have to even type that.
He was my first sports hero. I'm a child of the 70s that grew up in the 1980s watching WGN. I didn't grow up in an MLB city. I'm from Memphis. So I had two options for watching sports: WTBS or WGN. I was all in on the Cubbies. The 1984 NLCS was my first sports heartbreak. Ryno was my favorite player. At some point in the late 80s I got an authentic Rawlings Cubs home jersey through some specialty place that advertised in the back of The Sporting News. I never got it customized with #23 because I could never find a place that could do it exactly like the Cubs had at the time. In the internet age that would have been a cinch.
Anyway, enough digressing. Ryne Sandberg was about as standup a dude as there was. There's stuff I would later learn about his personal life that made me admire him even more than I already did.
Should have been a first ballot HOF'er. Was first ballot man.
The Cubs just shared the news that Ryne Sandberg has tragically passed away.
Rest in peace Ryno. pic.twitter.com/bg5S33anji
— Barstool Chicago (@barstoolchicago) July 29, 2025
