Ryne Sandberg was, is, and always will be MY second baseman. No offense to the Cubs' current second baseman, but Todd Walker makes it look tough whereas Ryno made everything look sooo easy!
I've never one to hide my Cub fandom, but this weekend, I was unabashedly proud of my Cubbie blue. Ryne Dee Sandberg joined the ranks of the baseball immortals and my heart swelled!
Since I was attending Sunday's Cubs game with Arizona (don't ask about the result!), I missed the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. I did get to watch some of the "Sandberg game" on ESPN Classic at Murphy's. The game in question is an extra-inning game in June 1984 where Ryno hit not one, but two homeruns off Cardinals ace (and nasty beard-wearer) Bruce Sutter. Ryno went 5-for-6 with 7 RBIs that day!
The summer of '84 all came back to me, watching Sandberg field ground balls effortlessly and turning a doubleplay with the grace of Baryshnikov. Boy, I miss those days! Watching the classic game, I was able to name the Cubs pitcher (Lee Smith), catcher (Jody Davis), first baseman (Leon Durham) and at least one outfielder (Keith Moreland). It's no big deal to name today's Cubs, but this was 21 YEARS AGO!!! (pardon me, while I fix my support hose!)
The best moment of the weekend, for me, was Ryno's induction speech. (I saw a bit on the news). He mentioned that he played the game the way it is supposed to be played. He was more concerned with moving the runner over, hitting the cutoff man and turning the doubleplay than he was with knowing where the red light was on the dugout camera! Take that, Sosa!!! Ryno is definitely the right person to take that stance against today's showoffs. In 15 years with the Cubs, he never showed up a pitcher or a teammate. The team always came first.
And now Ryno is where he should be...in the Hall.
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