Ryne Sandberg, 1959-2025
- Mark Potash
- Jul 28
- 2 min read
There have been two ex-Cubs I wanted to be named manager of the Cubs — Randy Hundley and Ryne Sandberg.
Hundley because he fit the profile. He was a catcher with a passion for the game and a work ethic to match — a player who worked for everything he got and made himself an All-Star. Hundley and Ron Santo were my favorite Durocher-era Cubs, because they did the one thing that will forever endear you to me as a passionate Cub fan — he felt my pain.
And Sandberg because he wanted to manage the Cubs — a big leap for a player who didn't seem to want anything to do with the game when he wasn't playing it. As a personality, Sandberg was closer to Dick Allen than to Mark Grace — quiet, aloof, guarded and wary of anyone he didn't know.
"Ryne, got a minute?"
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Doug Dascenzo."
"Go ahead."
Like Hundley, Sandberg never got that chance — as manager of the Class AAA Iowa Cubs in 2010, he was passed over for the job in favor of interim manager Mike Quade, who had replaced Lou Piniella after Piniella quit in August of 2010 (with the Cubs 51-74) to take care of his mother. (He later interviewed for the Cardinals job after Tony La Russa retired and didn't get it, then managed the Phillies from 2013-15 but quit because the losing — he was 119-159 — bothered him too much.)
But just the ambition was part of a growth in Sandberg that marked his retirement and was a big part of tributes that poured in after the Cubs Hall of Fame second baseman died of prostate cancer Monday night ("He was a wonderful man and a Hall of Famer in every way possible," ESPN 1000 host David Kaplan said on Twitter.) Relative to his introverted personality, Sandberg came out of his shell in retirement — an active franchise ambassador, analyst and personality.
That might have been tougher for Sandberg than anything he did in baseball. It just didn't seem like it was in him. But he was an even better guy in retirement than as a Hall of Fame player — and Cub fans who revered him as a player appreciated the transformation. Sandberg was beloved as a player when he was a Cub. He was beloved as a person in retirement. Along with the Sandberg Game, his Hall of Fame career and the statue in Gallagher Way adjacent to Wrigley Field, it's one more reason why Ryne Sandberg will live forever in the hearts of Cub fans all over the world.
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