E23: Talkin’ Ryno: Ryne Sandberg - Heart of the Chicago Cubs

A Cubs legend doesn’t have to be loud to be unforgettable, and Ryne Sandberg is the proof. We sit down with longtime friend and die-hard Cubs fan James Maumus to trace how a kid in New Orleans became devoted to Chicago baseball thanks to cable TV, WGN superstation broadcasts, and the simple magic of day games at Wrigley Field. The result is part baseball history, part fan memory, and a clear case for why Sandberg’s steady, team-first style still resonates.

We dig into Sandberg’s path from the Philadelphia Phillies to the Cubs, the infield that helped define early 1980s Chicago, and what it means to win nine straight Gold Gloves as a second baseman. From there we relive the electric 1984 season and the moment that put Sandberg on the national map: June 23, 1984, the “Sandberg Game,” when he took Hall of Fame closer Bruce Sutter deep twice in the biggest spots, with Harry Caray’s call turning it into Cubs folklore.

The conversation also follows the full arc: playoff heartbreak, Sandberg’s 1990 power peak, the emotional toll of the 1994 MLB strike, and how fans reconnect to the sport. We close with Cubs retired numbers trivia, Sandberg’s Cooperstown values, the statue outside Wrigley, and the weight of his later battle with metastatic prostate cancer, plus one of the most human fan stories you’ll hear all week.

If you care about the Chicago Cubs, baseball history, or what real leadership looks like between the lines, hit play, then subscribe, share the episode with a Cubs fan, and leave us a review.

Email us at fungosandfastballs@gmail.com

Transcript

Cold Open And Guest Welcome

Speaker 1 0:05

Hello, listener. Today we look at a player whose quiet leadership defined the 1980s and 1990s Chicago Cubs. Yes, I'm talking about Ryno himself, second baseman Ryne Sandberg. In addition to my producer, Brooke, we have live in the studio today, Uber Cubs fan, James Maumus. Thanks for joining us, James. Hi, thank you very much for having me. James, not only representing his team, the Chicago Cubs, but specifically. What kind of jersey, James? Well, it is a Ryne Sandberg jersey. Fantastic. All right. Yes. Perfect. That's what I was really trying to get you to do. Give me to do, yeah. Fine. I just, yeah. I wanted to make sure you weren't wearing Ernie Banks' jersey. That would have ruined the whole thing. Oh, I've got that one in. Well, James and I know each other for about 10 years from the not so nerdy activity of bar trivia. Occasionally some baseball trivia comes up, right, James?

Speaker 3 1:06

That's a lot, quite a bit.

Cable TV Turns A Kid Into A Cubs Fan

Speaker 1 1:09

James, uh, we commonly here ask first-time guests, and I appreciate you coming on again, about their journey into baseball. Uh, what brought you to this wonderful pastime, and specifically what made you a cuff fan?

Speaker 3 1:20

Well, it all has to do with coming from New Orleans. It all has to do with cable television. We got cable TV when I was in maybe sixth grade, probably around 1983. And, you know, they dig up the street and they put all the cable in for the very first time. And people think you're crazy for buying this new technology that's not going to get on my parent case. But one good thing was that there were two stations that were super stations, and the superstations were WGN from Chicago and WTBS from Atlanta. And obviously they were the official stations of the Cubs and the Braves, respectively. So being from New Orleans, I was certainly not going to be an Atlanta Braves fan. That was not going to happen. I was not going to pull for anybody from Atlanta. I'll let you say those F-words. I'm not going to say those. But but the other option would have been locally to be a Houston Astros fan. And you know, I mean, you know, Nolan Ryan was with the Houston Astros, and a couple of other guys were good back then with Astros, and I would they were okay. But the Cubs had day baseball because they had no lights on for another, what, five years or so.

Speaker 1 2:33

So 1988, right?

Speaker 3 2:35

Right. So they when we would come home from school in the afternoon, usually if the Cubs were at home, they would be on, and maybe the fourth or fifth inning, and we'd be able to watch the rest of the game. And being able to watch Harry Carey and Steve Stone and all of the cool stuff that happened in the seventh inning stretch, singing and all of that kind of got you into it, especially as a kid. And uh so that's what that's what got me into the Cubs. And right about right about 83 was when Ryne Sandberg started with the Cubs. And then 84, of course, was their really good year. And that was the first full season that I got to see them. So it all kind of just worked right into there.

Speaker 1 3:15

Fantastic. Fantastic. That's a great story. Yeah, I mean, it's always interesting when someone's not local to a team how they get into it.

Sandberg’s Backstory And The Phillies Trade

Speaker 1 3:26

Hello, and welcome to Fungos and Fastballs, the podcast of baseball history and trivia. I'm your host, Jerry Dynes. Let's jump into today's episode. Well, Jay James, we want to focus today on your favorite player, as you said, Ryne Sandberg, and what you remember of him. And you you you said you started in the 80s, and as you said, that's uh around the time he he came to the Cubs. From from Phillies. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, I mean, I don't know if you know you're gonna say it, James, but I mean, we'll go into his slight backstory, like a superhero. Born and spoke in Washington in 59. His father was a mortician, which is yeah, I found kind of interesting. The name Ryne, R-Y-N-E, is named for relief pitcher Ryne Durin, who was with the O's and the uh Yankees and the A's. Uh, he was actually in the 1958 World Series Yanks. Ryan Sandberg’s brother, Dell, is named for Philly slugger Del Innes. So they really liked baseball names. You know. Yeah. Seinfeld fans, you know, you'll you'll know the reference about calling a child seven in honor of Mickey Mantle. Uh I've already had my kids. I can't, I can't be experimental with naming, but as you said, he was drafted by the Phillies and got his start there. And and but soon moved over to the Cubs and again, take it from there.

Speaker 3 4:56

And he was actually gonna be a quarterback because he played football for he was he went he was gonna go to Washington State. And then when he when he got drafted, then he decided that he wasn't gonna go to Washington State. So it ended up turning out to be a great, a great deal for him. And if I remember correctly, when he was with the Phillies, they were gonna they were gonna replace shortstop Larry Boa with him. He was gonna be the heir apparent to Larry Bowa, and of course that didn't work out. He ended up playing second base. And the funny thing is in 1983, when he came to the Cubs, he came over to the Cubs with Larry Bowa. So he and Larry Bowa came to the Cubs together, and I think it was for Ivan de Jesus, I think is the player that they traded for.

Speaker 1 5:41

Not a great trade there.

Speaker 3 5:42

No, not a great trade for the Phillies, yeah. For the Phillies, right? Although, you know, then that that year, 83, Ivan De Jesus wins the World Series with the with the Phillies, right? So I guess in a way, Ryne Sandberg could have said, oh man, if I just would have stuck around one more year, I would have had a World Series. But it's funny that he came over with the guy that he was really going to replace, and Larry Boa had another season with the Cubs, and you had the infield of the two of them in the middle, and we had Leon Durham over at first base, and we had Ron Cey, who had been traded over from the Dodgers at third. So it was a good infield. It was a it was a uh, I guess a powerful infield, a very good defensive infield, and obviously Ryne Sandberg is is primarily known for his defense. So it worked out really well, I think, you know, in the long run, not only for the 83 season, but then definitely when 84 rolled around.

Speaker 1 6:40

Yeah, you mentioned Ron Cey coming over, and the Dodgers were breaking up that killer infield they had through the 70s. A Garvey a year later, Steve Garvey, first baseman, will go to the Padres. And of course, uh Davy Lopes actually that year, 82, went to the Oakland A's. So and you know, rest in peace, Davy Lopes actually just passed.

Speaker 3 7:01

He ended up becoming a cub later in the 80s. Late 80s.

Speaker 1 7:05

So you had your second baseman there, and you know, starting in 83, uh, he was tremendous.

Speaker 3 7:12

Yeah, I he I mean he was like I said, he was really known for his for his defense. And growing up, I only played a little little league ball. And I was A little Little League? A little little league.

Speaker 1 7:26

Little as opposed to a a big little league or a little big league. Right.

Speaker 3 7:31

I I played just a little bit, like two years of little league ball, because the you know, the the the uh fat four-eyed kid was not really going to get too much, especially since I had no idea how to hit. But I was pretty good at first base. I was stocky and I was able to block the ball. So I was a first baseman. So, you know, even before Ryne Sandberg came around, I was a fan of Steve Garvey because he was a first baseman, and I I was kind of you know watching him play the play the position. So when I would watch a really good play at second base from Ryan Sandberg and get it over to Leon Durham, I was like, boy, I wish I could play with a guy that could, you know, dive to his right like that and dive to his left and be able to get back up on his feet and fire the ball over. So yeah.

Speaker 1 8:16

I played a scoche of little league myself, James. I don't even know if Brooke knows knows about those great years, but you know, I we I should have stuck with it. Should have stuck with it.

Speaker 3 8:26

I had my own little I had my own little baseball card.

Speaker 1 8:29

Did you really?

Speaker 3 8:30

Yeah, yeah. We were the Goretti Saints for the little with me on my one knee getting the getting the ball.

Speaker 1 8:37

Yeah. I feel robbed. Uh yeah, my my my coach didn't have that, they didn't break out the butts for that.

Speaker 3 8:43

So I'll I'll have to find out. I don't think it was a tops or a donor series.

Speaker 1 8:47

Yeah. No, no silver silver foil.

Speaker 3 8:51

No, none of that.

Gold Glove Defense And The 1984 Breakout

Speaker 1 8:53

Well, you you mentioned Sandberg's, you know, i in 83. I mean, that was his first gold glove season. He won nine consecutive gold gloves from 83 to 91. And at the time, the record was eight. Uh Bill Mazeroski , Frank White, and just a tremendous defensive player. But his breakout season was 84, and I want you to tell us a little more about that, and certainly culminating in the game that put him on the map naturally. Sure.

Speaker 3 9:20

80. I mean 84, I would have been in seventh or seventh grade at that time. And, you know, it they had lost 90 games in 83. So everybody was like, well, you know, we'll see what happens. You know, the Cubs haven't finished first place in a generation. So it's probably not going to happen. But hey, Hope Springs Eternal in Chicago, which was another reason why I liked Chicago, because I grew up a New Orleans Saints fan, and they were really good at breaking our hearts, and we were used to them losing. So everybody's used to the Cubs losing. So it was kind of a natural marriage for a experience. Yeah. So when he came, we came in that year, and we're thinking, and of course, I was, you know, 12, so I wasn't really thinking about, oh, you know, they're going to go to the World Series. But then we started watching the games, and you know, they were winning and they were doing well, and they were moving up the standings, and they ended up in first place. And, you know, the summer was really exciting, and we had a lot of good games, and it was just a lot of fun to watch Rick Sutcliffe pitching and Dennis Eckersley pitching. And, you know, you had Bob Derner and Keith Moreland and Gary Matthews and Jody Davis behind the plate and that infield. And people were hitting and people were were playing well. And of course, Sandberg did. I mean, he was almost the first player ever to have 200 hits and then also 20 doubles, triples, and home runs and stolen bases in a season. I think he I think he missed it by like one home run and maybe one triple or something like that.

Speaker 1 10:49

So all of that impressive season. Yeah, he he led the National League and runs in triples that year. I mean, it's tremendous.

Speaker 3 10:56

Yeah. So all of that was coming together. And and so, and then of course, you know, they end up they end up winning the division. And it's just amazing the fact that they won the division. And they won the first two games of the playoffs against San Diego and then promptly lost the next three games and lost the series. So the Padres went to the World Series. And once again, we were brokenhearted, but we were used to that. So, you know, we're we were used to it.

Speaker 1 11:22

Right. And we and we persevered as fans. Yes, we did. Yeah, I mean, you mentioned the Padres. We we in fact covered the Padres that year with Tony Gwynn. We mentioned Steve Garvey had gone over that. That was the episode 15 of our podcast about Tony Gwynn. They wound up losing to the Tigers, of course, four to one. And uh it was there, it was the first Cubs playoff game since 1945. Wow. Oh, tremendously. And and you mentioned uh Sandberg was second, right? He batted second. He batted second behind Bob Dornier. The leadoff behind Bob Dornier and Harry Carey christened them, right?

Speaker 3 11:59

Right, the daily double. Right.

Speaker 1 12:01

The daily double. I love that.

Speaker 3 12:04

I always count on them. So yeah.

Speaker 1 12:06

So it was a great year, but again, uh, you know, unless you were just getting cable or unless you're in the Chicago region, you know, you may not have heard of Sandberg's uh tremendous, tremendous abilities there,

The Sandberg Game And Harry Caray Voice

Speaker 1 12:21

skills. And then June 23rd, 1984, what has since been christened the Sandberg Game. And and I don't know, you were young, you may not have watched it, but you certainly have remembered it watch the highlights, James, right?

Speaker 3 12:34

Well, it was uh it was a Saturday game, of course, the 23rd, which is ironic, right? Because his number is 23rd. And but it was a Saturday game. And of course, back then, I mean, outside of WGN, you weren't gonna see a Cubs game unless it was on the Saturday afternoon game for NBC. So we were, I don't remember the game again, because I was 12 or 13 years old. But then on top of that, being in being down south, Saturday afternoon is usually mid-south wrestling. So my guess is probably 2 p.m. was when mid-south wrestling was on. So all the kids are outside playing and 2 p.m. hits and everybody walks in to watch wrestling. So I probably didn't watch the game, but then again, looking at the game, I think the Cubs were down a whole bunch of runs early, right? Like five or six runs early. So if I did start watching the game, I probably was like, oh, I'm not gonna watch this. This is not an exciting, this is not an exciting game at all.

Speaker 1 13:29

So I think the Cardinals went up to like a 7-1 lead, then a 9-3 lead. So, yeah, we we'd forgive fans if they if they turned it off, right?

Speaker 3 13:37

Right, turn it off, and then they end up missing two incredibly great things. First of all, was Willie McGee for the Cardinals hitting for the cycle, which is really what the game should have been known for. It's sad.

Speaker 1 13:49

The Willie McGee game. Right or Willie McGee. Right. I have sent you a copy of Harry Carey, The Call That Day. I want you to read it in your best Harry Carey, the long-standing announcer of the Cubs. His style. I want you to do your best. Frank Caliando, older people, Rich Little. I don't know who the younger impressionists are these days.

Speaker 3 14:14

Well, they say Will Farrell knows a good one, but Will Farrell's is pretty lame. Uh but I I can do I think I can do an impersonation of Frank Caliando doing an impersonation of Harry Carroll. You're better than Will Farrell? I think I'm better than Will Farrell. We'll have to see.

Speaker 1 14:28

In all fairness, Will Farrell cannot doesn't have time to practice his impersonations because he drums for the red hot chili peppers. That's that's very they look alike. Yeah. Give it okay. I'll do it.

Speaker 3 14:42

I'll do it. And then you can always, uh listeners, viewers, you can always respond and let me know how good or bad it is. All right, let's see.

Speaker 2 14:51

Holy cow! Listen to this crowd. Everybody's going bananas. Who would be what would be the odds if I told you that twice Samber would hit home runs off Bruce Sutter?

Speaker 1 15:06

Awesome. I love it. Thank you. I love it. Should we, Brooke, should we get him to sing a take-ass football game now?

Speaker 2 15:16

Good job. Good job.

Speaker 1 15:18

Very good. Very good. So, no, great. And and you're you're right. I mean, Harry Carey is right, and James is right. I mean, the the closer, you know, for the cars was Bruce Souter. He's uh he's a Hall of Famer now. He had a league leading 45 saves that season. Yeah. And so no one expected, at least, least of all Stanberg to get two home runs off him in crucial time.

Speaker 3 15:42

Right. This little slight second baseman to come in and down a run, you know, barely in the league. He's what probably his third season. And second season, because he started in 83, so it'd be second season. And so here he is. He hits a hits a home run to make it 9-9 in the ninth. And then the Cubs get down two runs in the 10th inning. So now it's 11-9, and he hits a two-run homer there in the 10th inning. And I mean, that's against Bruce Sutter, who, you know, was locked down. He was locked down. He was Trevor Hoffman before Trevor Hoffman.

Speaker 1 16:20

Yeah. On NBC, national TV. I love the quote to put it in perspective, because Chicago is known for its number 23 jersey numbers, as you know. He points out Michael Jordan began with the Bill Bulls in the fall of 1984. That's right. He says, Costas says, quote, in the summer of 84, number 23 in Chicago met Ryan Sandberg.

Speaker 3 16:47

Absolutely. In fact, I've heard people say, well, you know, Jordan picked 23 because the biggest name at the time was Ryan Sandberg.

Speaker 1 16:55

That's great. That's great. I love that. Love that story.

Playoff Heartbreak, Power Peak, And The Strike

Speaker 1 16:58

So after that, uh, you know, the Cubs would make the playoffs again, right? In 89?

Speaker 3 17:04

Yeah, they make it in 89. And again, it was another one of those heartbreaking things. They took on the Giants and Matt Williams. Yeah. I ended up liking Matt Williams later because he I became a diamond. I liked the Diamondbacks when I lived in Arizona, right when the Diamondbacks were coming up. So I liked Matt Williams after the Diamondbacks started, but for the eight, eight or nine years before that, I hated Matt Williams. And it was mainly because of the playoff series in '89.

Speaker 1 17:35

So yeah, the Cubs got eliminated by the Giants. The Giants would eventually lose to uh the A's for nothing in the earthquake series. Right. Right. Which we have to do and have to set on that, Brooke. Definitely.

Speaker 17:48

I've got it. I've got it. I promise.

Speaker 3 17:50

One of those things that it's one of those sports moments where I remember I was. I was I was a freshman in college, and I was in a computer lab, you know, the guy looking over all the kids with their HP, HP uh computers and and whatnot. And I had brought a little teeny little black and white TV so I could watch the first game of the World Series. And then I end up watching the you know the big news of the earthquake. Yeah. That was pretty crazy. I mean, I don't know, you know, would the Cubs have done any better against the the A's? Probably not. Because the A's had former Cub Dennis Eckersley as their you know club. And boy, they were a they were a tough team.

Speaker 1 18:29

Oh, we got some crossover here. Now we have to do an episode.

Speaker 3 18:32

Right. Well, you we talked about Bruce Souter who was a cub too. So there's a lot of Davy Lopes and all these other people. There's a whole lot of crossovers.

Speaker 1 18:41

Well, in 1990, Sandberg would lead the National League in home runs uh with 40. Uh he was only the third second baseman to hit that mark after Rogers Hornsby and Davy Johnson that hit 42. And and as I said, I think in addition to that, I mean that that's a pop there. He he had not hit that kind of uh home run power earlier, but his defense was tremendous. Yeah, the the the no error streak, right? I mean, that was eight what it was 8990, James. Right, 120 something? 123.

unknown 19:13

23.

Speaker 1 19:14

123, the 23rd for the for the Sandberg game. Look at this. It's all coming together. I mean, with for a second baseman, a record 123 games without an error, breaking uh Joe Morgan's uh record. And and then you you might have been watching wrestling back uh for the Sandberg game, but did you tune into the home run derby in 1990, James?

Speaker 3 19:36

Oh, right. At at home. I mean, you know, nobody is going to nobody is gonna win that other than Ryan Sandberg in Wrigley. Because, you know, he he knew all the he knew, you know, where's the wind blowing? You know, because if the wind's blowing the right, and I know where to hit it if I and and you know, the wind's swirling, it and who knows, man. I don't remember if the wind was swirling that night or whatever, but he just happened to know where everything was. And yeah, winning the home run duty at home is is the best of all things, I think.

Speaker 1 20:06

Yeah, that is fantastic. So he he continued, you know. I think uh to to I'm gonna borrow from Costas again. I mean, Costas called him a flawless, more than a spectacular player. And in most cases, that's it. He was a workman, he fit the uh Chicago personality a lot. Uh people loved him, uh, just uh just a quiet confidence, but but didn't do so great, you know, as we get into the 90s and he decides to retire in 1994. He was hitting 238. That was his career low. And and uh that's not the end of him, right?

Speaker 3 20:41

No, he ended up coming back. Now, I'll I'll be in in full honesty, in 94, 94 was the strike year, and that was the year that we lost the World Series to the strike. And I got super bitter about that.

Speaker 1 20:54

I thought the Expos lost the World Series to the strike.

Speaker 3 20:56

Well, the Expos did lose the World Series to the strike. That's very true.

Speaker 1 21:00

There's a debate, right?

Speaker 3 21:02

And Tony Gwynn, you know, lost his chance at 400 to the Tony Gwynn again.

Speaker 1 21:06

Yeah, six degrees of fungos and fastballs.

Speaker 3 21:08

Yes. So so I was really, really bitter and I swore baseball off after that. So like 95 through the time I moved to Arizona in 95, and probably until the Diamondbacks were born, I didn't follow baseball much at all. So like 94 to 98, I wasn't watching any of it, you know. And I knew that he had retired, but I knew that he came back, you know, a couple of years, a couple of years later to kind of finish up.

Speaker 1 21:35

So yeah, and finally retired in 1997. So you weren't alone, James, in your uh moving away from baseball with that 94 strike, huh?

unknown 21:44

Yeah.

Speaker 3 21:44

No, I certainly certainly wasn't. A lot of my friends were like, I'm not even, you know, watching the watching the standings anymore. My brother was one of those original fantasy baseball guys where they would look in the newspaper every day and write down their own stats, and he wasn't even participating in draft. Those years. So yeah, it was a tough time.

Speaker 1 22:04

So Sam Berg retires, and his number 23 is retired by the Cubs, of course.

Cubs Retired Numbers And Hall Of Fame Values

Speaker 1 22:10

And James. Man, we're really putting James through the ringer today. Next, we see James is a trivia host, so it's good for me to flip the tables on him. Gotta work the brain. And uh hopefully he won't complain to me like I complained to him about the question. Well, James, you're quote, halftime trivia. Uh the Cubs have retired seven total numbers. We mentioned Sandberg, of course, Jackie Robinson, like every team has retired. So can you name the other five?

unknown 22:38

Okay.

Speaker 3 22:41

I'm looking at the flags on the flagpoles at Wrigley Field, and I can I can envision your mind. In my mind, yes.

Speaker 1 22:50

Does that happen often? Yes.

Speaker 3 22:52

I can envision Ernie Banks is number 14.

Speaker 1 22:55

Ernie Banks.

Speaker 3 22:56

I can envision Billy Williams is number 20, I think.

Speaker 1 23:00

Ding, ding, ding, 26. 26. 26.

Speaker 3 23:03

Okay, 26. If Greg Maddox is 31.

Speaker 1 23:07

Greg Maddox, very true. Greg Maddux, I would not have gotten Greg Maddox, of course, you know, soon soon after went to the Braves, you know, in the in the in the 90s, but uh yeah, it was retired there. But yes, Greg Maddux, very good.

Speaker 3 23:19

Two more. Two more. Would Ron Santo be on there?

Speaker 1 23:23

Ron Santo, number 10. Very good. Oh, and I was gonna say number 10, so that's good. I was only off on one number, 26. I would have thought James would have gotten this next one after Ernie Banks, but uh big name. Wow. Uh Andre Dawson.

Speaker 3 23:38

Long name. Oh, long name. Oh, oh, Ferguson Jenkins.

Speaker 1 23:42

Ferguson Jenkins. Excellent, excellent. Well done. Well done. Kudos to you, sir.

Speaker 3 23:47

Bravo, bravo. That will be a halftime question, probably next week.

Speaker 1 23:52

That will be oh, we're gonna go there. And and he was, Ryan Sandberg was elected to the Hall of Fame Cooperstown in 2005. I think it was the third ballot where he got 76.2 percent. You have to get over 75. And I love this line from his Hall of Fame speech. He says the name on the front of the jersey is more important than the name on the back. And I think that that just fits him. Absolutely.

Statue Day, Cancer Battle, And A Final Memory

Speaker 1 24:18

Have you seen his uh statue in Gallagher Way outside Wrigley Field?

Speaker 3 24:22

Well, they just they just unveiled that statue two years ago.

Speaker 1 24:26

Yeah, 2024.

Speaker 3 24:28

We were gonna go that weekend, and unfortunately, some tragic stuff happened in the family, and I was we weren't able to go that weekend, but but I'm still planning on going back. This season, I've already got a couple of couple of ideas as when I can get out to Wrigley. It's been way too long. I think it's probably been seven or eight years since I've been out to Wrigley. So I've got a friend who actually is going passing through Chicago, and I said, Well, if you've never been to a Cubs game, then let me be the one to take you to your first Cubs game. So I'm really trying to work that out. So we'll see if that happens. Oh, that's wonderful.

Speaker 1 24:59

Yeah, they unveiled it on the 40th anniversary of the Sandberg game show, June 23rd, 2024.

Speaker 3 25:05

And it was I watch it on television, or it's marquee now, it's not a GN, but yeah, I watched the whole thing.

Speaker 1 25:12

And those statues joined Santo, Banks, Williams, and Jenkins. They are the statues. So uh he uh Sandberg would manage for a little while, wound up managing his original team, the Phillies, from 2013, 2015. And then sadly developed uh metastatic prostate cancer and seemed like he was beating it. He was deemed cancer free, but then it came back and just passed away uh last year, you know, last July at age 65. So I mean, just far too young.

Speaker 3 25:41

And uh we were glad that he was there for the unveiling of the statue. Uh that was really good. And because I think, if I remember correctly, it wasn't long before the unveiling that he had announced that it had come back. So I think it was probably about a year after he announced it that he passed. Yeah.

unknown 26:00

Yeah.

Speaker 1 26:01

And and the you know, really the the next uh just a few days later, every Cubs player, of course, wore number 23.

Speaker 3 26:07

So that was great. That was a smooth thing. That was a very emotional game for everybody. I obviously I was wearing this one.

unknown 26:14

Yeah.

Speaker 1 26:15

And you know, these these biographies are always great, but unfortunately, because we deal with older players or players who passed on, I never like to end on that final note. But so James, any any other great memories, thoughts about uh this uh this player, your favorite?

Speaker 3 26:29

Well, uh, you know, something that I did something I didn't mention earlier about when we were kids and coming home from school and watching the Cubs on television every day, is that you know, my my mom would always get on our case to do our homework first before we would watch any television or anything else. Well, we also found out that she had a huge crush on Ryan Sandberg. She thought he was gorgeous. So whenever we would come home, that's a cutie batootie. It certainly was.

Speaker 26:57

There will be many photos of him on this video.

Speaker 3 27:00

So when we would get home, we'd say, All right, we're gonna watch the Cubs game. She goes, No, you're not. You got homework to do. I said, Yeah, but Ryne Sandberg's batting second. It was like, okay, we'll watch it. So she was Well, I guess this time. Yeah, that's right. We'll watch it this time. It just became a habit after that.

Speaker 1 27:14

So thank you, James, so much for joining us. Uh, with uh just another tremendous player, a Hall of Famer, who meant so much to Cubs fans and really baseball fans. Uh and thanks always to Brooke. And a shout out to Ric. Ric from the Hot Nuts Trivia team, where James hosts Trivia because he assured me he'd be listening. Uh and we're always happy you're listening. Hope you'll keep listening. Don't forget to subscribe on your podcast platform. Heading back to the locker room. This is Jerry Dynes with Fungoes and Fastballs.