Ryne Sandberg dies at 65 as Cubs fans of an entire generation lose their favorite player

When it was announced Monday evening that Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg died at 65, so many thoughts circled through my memory banks. The one, overarching theme that I couldn’t shake was how an entire generation of Cubs fans lost their favorite player. He wasn’t even Ryne Sandberg to this group. For us he was, simply, Ryno. 

Let’s go back to 1984. Van Halen’s “Jump” was the main theme music for Cubs baseball on WGN, a national network that reached millions of baseball fans. The Cubs hadn’t been to the postseason since 1945. Ryno announced his presence with authority on a “Game of the Week” when he took Hall of Famer closer Bruce Sutter deep twice in a dramatic Cubs win over the Cardinals. He would go on to win MVP that season while the Cubs won the NL East and advanced to the NLCS. Sandberg hit second behind center fielder Bob Dernier, and they were known as the “Daily Double.” 

In the hearts and minds of Cubs fans everywhere, though, Sandberg stood behind no one. He was the popular No. 23 in Chicago before someone else starred with it on the basketball court. 

The Cubs would again make the playoffs in 1989 with Sandberg as their best player. At that point, he was already entering Legend territory for Cubs fans. His prime would last through 1992. From 1982-92, the durable Sandberg played at least 153 games 10 out of the 11 seasons. He had a record errorless streak in there, even though he also had exceptional range at second base. He once stole 54 bases in a season and topped 30 steals five times. He topped out at 40 homers and retired as the career leader in home runs by a second baseman. He once tripled 19 times in a season. He hit over .300 five times. He slugged over .500 four times and that was when the overwhelming majority of second basemen were light hitters. 

Ryno was good at everything. 

Let’s circle back to this all happening at the right time for him to gain widespread popularity. The rise of cable television saw swaths of Cubs fans across the nation getting to watch the games every day. The Cubs finally were good enough to make the playoffs twice in a six-year span. He didn’t make mistakes in the field. He was a fun-to-watch power-speed combo. He had high-profile clutch hits. 

Now picture all the kids watching baseball with their parents. Of course Ryno was adored by an entire generation of Cubs fans. 

People of a certain generation will remember in Little League when annual pictures were made to look like baseball cards and they gave you stickers to put on the back with stuff like your height, weight and favorite team. There was a favorite player spot on there and I swear 75% of our league had RYNE SANDBERG listed in that spot. When a kid wanted to play a different position and was put at second base, an easy coax from the coach was always, “that’s what Ryno plays!” It worked every time. Pretty much every kid had a batting stance slightly hunched over in the upper torso like Ryno. 

In just a quick glance through social media platforms Monday night, the point was further driven home. People I knew from elementary school through high school who rarely or never post anything about Major League Baseball were saying stuff like, “Ryno was my favorite player growing up.” It was just an avalanche of it. 

And I wasn’t even remotely surprised. I knew it was coming. I grew up in Central Indiana, roughly a 3.5-hour drive from Chicago, but it was predominantly Cubs country and Ryno was the favorite. People who didn’t even follow baseball had heard of “Ryno” (and, yeah, frustratingly would call him “Ryan” sometimes, much to the chagrin of all of us kids who emulated how he played and knew that it was actually Ryne). 

Picture how many basketball-playing kids in the late-’90s wanted to be Michael Jordan. That was Ryno in the Midwest through the ’80s. 

So many of us can still picture him wearing his flip-down sunglasses at second base on a sunny day in Wrigley. We can see him making a tough play on a grounder up the middle look routine. We can envision him taking the first pitch of an at-bat and smoothing the dirt in front of him with one foot and then the other, ritually. We can picture his unassuming trot around the bases, acting as if he’s homered a million times and it’s no big deal. 

He was our guy. He was the heart and soul of the Cubs for a decade. He was the favorite player of an entire generation of Cubs fans.

Thanks, Ryno, for the memories. You left your mark on so many people, myself included.