Ryne Sandberg, the Hall of Fame second baseman for the Chicago Cubs, passed away on Monday at age 65. Although the Cubs did not announce a cause of death, Sandberg had previously announced (in January 2024) that he had metastatic prostate cancer.
Sandberg won nine consecutive Gold Glove Awards from 1983 to 1991, the most ever by a National League second baseman at the time. His range to both sides, quick release, sure-handedness, and skill at turning the double play made him one of the greatest defensive second basemen in baseball history.
Offensively, Sandberg’s batting style was marked by a short, quick swing and a disciplined approach. He rarely struck out and was adept at hitting to all fields. His speed and base-running instincts added another dimension to the Cubs’ offense.
Sandberg passed away on the day after the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, New York, which saw five new players join baseball’s most exclusive club. The Hall’s chairman, Jane Forbes Clark, likely knowing that Sandberg’s days were numbered, referenced his induction speech from 2005. In that speech, Sandberg said, “The reason I am here, they tell me, is that I played the game a certain way, that I played the game the way it was supposed to be played. I don’t know about that, but I do know this: I had too much respect for the game to play it any other way. And if there is a single reason I am here today, it is because of one word: Respect.”
As Jay Jaffe noted in his wonderful tribute to Sandberg, Clark struggled to finish, when she paid tribute to the great second baseman and to the 52 living Hall of Famers sitting behind her, that “There is not a man seated behind me this afternoon who didn’t play the game the same way Ryno did.”
Cooperstown Cred: Ryne Sandberg (2B)
- Elected to the Hall of Fame in 2005 (with 76.2% of the vote)
- Philadelphia Phillies (1981), Chicago Cubs (1982-97)
- Career: .285 BA, .344 OBP, .445 SLG, 2,386 Hits, 282 HR, 1,061 RBI
- Career: 114 OPS+, 67.9 WAR (Wins Above Replacement)
- Scored 100+ Runs seven times in his career
- Led the N.L. in assists 7 times
- 3rd highest fielding percentage all-time for second basemen (minimum 10,000 innings)
- 1984 N.L. MVP (.314 BA, 19 HR, 84 RBI, 114 Runs, 19 Triples, 8.5 WAR)
- 10-time All-Star
- 9-time Gold Glove Award Winner
- 7-time Silver Slugger Award Winner
Ryne Sandberg: Before the Majors
Ryne Dee Sandberg was born on September 18, 1959, in Spokane, Washington. He was the youngest of five children. His father, Derwent Sandberg, was a huge baseball fan and named his youngest son after relief pitcher Ryne Duren. Derwent coached his son in his younger years.
Sandberg attended North Central High School in Spokane, where he was a three-sport star, playing baseball, football, and basketball. Known as “Berg” in high school, Sandberg was the starting quarterback for his high school football team, leading them to an undefeated season and a state championship in 1977. Yet, despite his talent on the gridiron, Berg’s passion was for baseball.
The Philadelphia Phillies selected Sandberg in the 20th round of the 1978 Major League Baseball Draft, and Ryne decided to forego a football scholarship from Washington State University to pursue his dream of playing Major League Baseball.
Sandberg remained in the Pacific Northwest to start his minor league career, playing shortstop for the Helena Phillies in the state capital of Montana, where his teammates included future major leaguers Bob Dernier and George Bell.
Sandberg climbed the Phillies’ minor league ladder one rung at a time. He was the starting shortstop for the Spartanburg Phillies (Class A) in 1979, the Reading Phillies (Class AA) in 1980, and the Oklahoma City 89ers in 1981 (Class AAA).
Ryno hit .301 in his final two years in the minors, and stole 32 bases in both 1980 and ’81. In the major leagues, the 1981 season was marred by the longest player strike in the game’s history. The Philadelphia Phillies, the defending World Series Champions, came back from the strike, having already been assured a playoff berth, since they were atop the National League East when the strike occurred.
Sandberg was called up to the big club in September, making his Major League Baseball debut at Atlanta’s Fulton-County Stadium. He appeared in 13 games, mostly as a pinch-runner, but also as a defensive replacement at shortstop and (for one game) at second base.
The Trade to Chicago
Besides his ten Gold Gloves, his long errorless streak, and Hall of Fame plaque, Ryne Sandberg is perhaps best known for being a “throw-in” in what will forever be regarded as the worst trade in the history of the Philadelphia Phillies.
On January 27, 1982, the Phillies traded veteran shortstop Larry Bowa, along with Sandberg, to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for another shortstop, Ivan DeJesus. On the surface, it looked like, from a Phillies perspective, getting a 29-year-old player (DeJesus) for a 35-year-old player (Bowa), with the unknown Sandberg being a minor part of the deal. However, Sandberg’s presence in the deal was crucial to the Cubs.
Dallas Green, who was the Phillies manager in 1981, left the team to become the General Manager of the Cubs. Green’s ’81 Phillies were stacked in the infield, with Pete Rose at first base, Manny Trillo (an All-Star and Gold Glove Award winner) at 2nd, Bowa (a five-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove Award winner) at short, and future Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt at third.
The Phillies looked at Sandberg as nothing more than a potential utility infielder, but for Green and the Cubs, he was an integral part of the trade. With Chicago, opportunities were available at both second base and third. The Cubs didn’t have a regular second sacker in 1981, while veteran Ken Reitz (the primary third baseman) hit just .215 for the season.
Ryne Sandberg: Career Highlights
During spring training, Ryne Sandberg played second base, third base, and center field, even though he had only played four minor-league games at third and none in the outfield. Ultimately, he earned the starting job at the hot corner; the Cubs traded for Bump Wills to play second and released Reitz.
Sandberg, at 23 years of age, was the starting third baseman for the Cubs on Opening Day 1982. Ryno got off to a horrific start, getting just one hit in his first 36 plate appearances, but manager Lee Elia stuck with his rookie third sacker, and Sandberg rewarded that patience. He finished the season with a respectable slash line (.271 BA, .312 OBP, .372 SLG), with seven HR, 54 RBI, 32 stolen bases, and a team-best 103 runs scored. He finished 6th in the National League Rookie of the Year vote.
In the 1982-83 offseason, Wills departed for Japan as a free agent, and the Cubs acquired veteran third baseman Ron Cey from the Los Angeles Dodgers. So, the organization moved Ryno back to second base for the 1983 campaign. He would be an anchor at the keystone for all but two games for the rest of his career.
The transition proved seamless. Sandberg’s combination of quick hands, range, and an unerring sense for the game made him an immediate defensive standout. He led all N.L. second basemen in assists, double plays turned, and fielding percentage, leading to the first of nine consecutive Gold Gloves. Offensively, Ryno’s game was more about speed (37 SB) than power (8 HR). Again, he led the Cubs in runs scored, with 94.
1984: Ryne Sandberg’s MVP Campaign
Chicago had a new manager in 1984, Jim Frey, and Ryne Sandberg had a new contract; the team inked their star second baseman to a six-year, $3.85 million deal. The Cubs’ new skipper challenged Sandberg to hit with more power. To aid in that effort and give Sandberg more fastballs to hit, Green acquired Ryno’s former minor league teammate (the speedy Bob Dernier) to bat leadoff and Gary Matthews to fill the number 3 hole.
““He said I was pretty big and ought to be able to drive the ball in a way I had never done. I had always tried to hit to right and concentrate on making contact, the way everyone had always taught me. But he showed me how to open up my stance a bit and a few other things, and it all started to work.”
— Ryne Sandberg, as told to The New York Times (1991)
Sandberg got off to a fairly slow start in 1984, hitting .213 in his first 18 games. Starting on April 28th, however, he got red hot, hitting .382 with a .420 OBP and .630 SLG in his next 33 tilts.
On June 23, Ryno had the most memorable game of his career, so memorable that it is still referred to as “The Sandberg Game.” It was a Saturday afternoon contest at Wrigley Field against the Cubs’ division rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals. It was the NBC Game of the Week, so Sandberg’s exploits were exposed to a national TV audience. The Redbirds were up 7-1 early but the Cubs started pecking away at the lead in the bottom of the 5th on an RBI groundout by Ryno and an RBI double by Matthews.
In the bottom of the 6th, now down 9-3, the Cubs rallied for six runs, capped by a two-run single by Sandberg. The Cards were still clinging to a 9-8 lead in the bottom of the 9th. Future Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter (a former Cub) was trying to close it out. Sandberg promptly tied the game by leading off the frame with a solo home run deep into the left centerfield bleachers.
In the top of the 10th, the Cardinals scored two runs off another future Hall of Famer (Lee Smith) to take a 11-9 lead. Then, in the bottom of the 10th, with two outs and Dernier on first base, Sandberg took Sutter deep to left-center again for a game-tying home run. The Cubs went on to win 12-11 in the bottom of the 11th. Overall, Sandberg went 5 for 7 with those two homers along with 7 RBI. And a superstar was born.
Sandberg was voted by the fans as the National League’s starting All-Star second basemen, the first of ten consecutive appearances for Ryno in the Midsummer Classic.
At the end of the year, Sandberg had a .314/.367/.520 slash line, with 19 home runs, 19 triples, 84 RBI, 200 Hits, 114 Runs, and 32 SB. By modern metrics, he posted an 8.4 WAR and was named the N.L. MVP while winning his 2nd Gold Glove and first Silver Slugger Award, all while leading the Cubs to the N.L. East title, the franchise’s first postseason berth since 1945.
Ryno slashed .368/.455/.474 with a pair of RBI in the National League Championship Series, but the Cubbies blew a 2-0 series lead, falling to the San Diego Padres in 5 games.
Perennial All-Star
Ryne Sandberg remained a consistent and durable star player at second base for the rest of the 1980s and the early 1990s. From 1982-92, a span of eleven years, Ryno averaged 154 games played, hitting .289 with an average of 21 HR, 76 RBI, 29 SB, and 98 runs scored. Only in 1987 did Sandberg fail to play in at least 153 games during those eleven seasons.
Sandberg followed up his 1984 MVP campaign with another solid season, hitting .305 with a new career-best 26 HR to go with 83 RBI, a career-high 54 SB, and 113 Runs. Ryno remained a Gold Glover and an All-Star in the next three seasons, but his offense dipped a bit; from 1986-88, he averaged .280 with less than 20 HR each year. After swiping 34 bases in 1986 (his fifth straight year with 30+), Sandberg would not top 30 again.
Before the 1989 campaign, Sandberg signed a three-year contract extension for $6.1 million, which made him the highest-paid second baseman ever.
The Cubs had been a sub-.500 squad from 1985-88, but in 1989, all the pieces game together under 2nd year skipper Don Zimmer (Jim Frey had become the team’s GM). The Cubs won 93 games to win the N.L. East by six games. Sandberg had an MVP-caliber season, hitting .290 with 30 HR, 76 RBI, with a N.L.-leading 104 runs scored, which was good enough to place him 4th in the actual MVP vote. The always sure-handed Ryno also committed just six errors in the entire season, with not a single miscue in his final 90 games.
Alas, the Cubs failed again to advance past the NLCS, falling to the San Francisco Giants four games to one. Ryno slashed .400/.458/.800 with a home run and 4 RBI in the losing effort. The Cubs would not again make the playoffs during Sandberg’s career.
Although the Cubs in 1990 won only 77 games, it was not because of Sandberg’s efforts. Ryno hit .306 with a career-high 40 home runs to go with 100 RBI, 25 SB, and a league-leading 116 Runs. With those 40 taters, Ryno became the first second sacker to lead the N.L. in homers since Rogers Hornsby. He also extended his record-setting errorless streak to 123 games. Ryno again finished 4th in the MVP vote.
Sandberg had two more stellar campaigns before starting the decline phase of his career. In 1991, he hit .291 with 26 HR, 100 RBI, and 104 Runs and in 1992 he hit .304 with 26 HR, 87 RBI, and 100 Runs. Before the ’92 campaign, the Cubs inked Ryno to a four-year, $28.5 million contract extension, making him briefly the highest-paid player ever.
Sandberg hit .309 and was voted to his 10th and final All-Star Game in 1993, but a broken hand in spring training and a dislocated finger in September limited him to just 117 games, a career low with the Cubs. His power also dipped dramatically; he finished with just 9 HR and 45 RBI.
Ryne Sandberg’s Retirement and Return
Sandberg got off to a slow start in 1994. He was hitting only .238 as of June 10th, with 5 HR and 24 RBI. Three days later, with his wife Cindy by his side, the 34-year-old Sandberg shocked the baseball world by announcing his retirement, effective immediately. Sandberg stated that he had lost his competitive fire and wanted to spend more time at home with his teenage children. By retiring, he forfeited about $15 million.
Despite the public face of his family when he announced his retirement, the Sandbergs were actually having marital difficulties. Cindy filed for divorce shortly after Ryno’s retirement announcement. The divorce became official on July 5, 1995, and Ryne re-married less than seven weeks later.
With his personal life in order, Sandberg returned to the diamond in 1996, albeit at a lower salary ($2 million plus incentives). At age 36, while not the All-Star caliber player of his prime, Ryno had a solid campaign (.244 BA, 25 HR, 92 RBI). Sandberg’s power dipped again, however, in 1997 (12 HR, 64 RBI). On August 2nd, he announced that he would retire once again (this time for good) at the end of the season.
Ryne Sandberg’s Post Playing Days
Sandberg remained with the Chicago Cubs as a spring training instructor for nine years after his retirement. In 2005, Sandberg was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, earning 76.2% in his third time on the BBWAA ballot. In his induction speech, Sandberg emphasized the importance of respect for the game, hard work, and integrity.
A few weeks after his induction into Cooperstown, Sandberg became the fourth Cubs player to have his uniform number (#23) retired, joining Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, and Ron Santo.
In 2007, Sandberg embarked on a new career as a minor-league manager. He managed in three locations in the Cubs organization: Peoria, IL (Class A) Knoxville, TN (AA), and Des Moines, IA (AAA). He was the Pacific Coast League’s manager of the year in 2010 with the Iowa Cubs.
After getting passed over for a managerial vacancy with the big-league Cubs, Sandberg moved back to the Philadelphia Phillies organization. He was the skipper for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Class AAA) for two seasons.
On August 16, 2013, the Phillies fired Charlie Manuel and promoted Sandberg to the big club. Sandberg did not have the same success in the dugout as he had on the diamond. In parts of three seasons, his teams went 119-158 (.428). He resigned on June 25, 2015, amid a front office shakeup.
Ryne Sandberg’s Legacy
When baseball historian and sabermetric pioneer Bill James released his updated Historical Baseball Abstract in 2003, he ranked Ryne Sandberg as the seventh-best second baseman in the history of baseball. Today, Jay Jaffe’s JAWS system still ranks him as the 11th best ever.
When Ryne Sandberg retired (for the second time) at the end of the 1997 campaign, his 282 career home runs were the second-most ever for a second baseman, behind only Rogers Hornsby. Others (Jeff Kent, Craig Biggio, and Robinson Cano) have since surpassed that number, but Ryno’s 282 taters are still the fifth most.
Sandberg’s offensive prowess led to seven Silver Slugger Awards. Only Jose Altuve has matched that total among all second basemen to earn the honor. His 344 career stolen bases were, at the time, the 12th most for a second sacker.
As of 1997, his nine Gold Gloves were the most ever for a second baseman; only Roberto Alomar (with 10) has surpassed that total. His .9894 fielding percentage was, at the time of his retirement, the best all-time for second basemen to play at least 3,000 innings at the position, and his superb percentage remains the highest ever among the 49 second basemen to log at least 12,000 innings at the keystone.
Sadly, he’s now passed away at just 65 years old. His former teammates paid tribute to Ryne Sandberg, the baseball player and human being.
“Just ungodly consistent… Pitchers were always paying a little more attention to me on the bases than him at the plate, and that was a big mistake and he’d take full advantage. He’d almost giggle about it, is what I remember in the dugout.”
— Bob Dernier, Sandberg’s teammate with the Cubs (1984-87) and in the minor leagues, espn.com (July 28, 2025)
“I used to tell Joe Morgan, ”This guy doesn’t have to take a second seat to anybody on defense. Morgan would say Ryne’s uniform was always clean. I said, ‘Well, you have to dive because you can’t get in front of it! Don’t get on him for perfecting the backhand.’ In the end Joe said, ‘You’re right.'”
— Gary Matthews, Sandberg’s teammate (1984-87)
“He’s an outstanding human being. That’s what I think of. Such a good family guy. His mental toughness is off the charts. Don’t let people deceive you by that little laugh he has all the time. He wanted to win as much as anybody. I’ve been around Pete Rose, and Ryno is right there.”
— Larry Bowa, Sandberg’s teammate (1982-85)
RIP Ryno.
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Chris Bodig
During his MVP season, it was said that Ryne had the chance to be the first MLB er to hit 20 HRs, 20 triples, 20 doubles, 200 hits in the same season. he just missed it. 20SBs too