My Sandberg post

Everyone who was a Cubs fan in the 1980s and 90s has their own thoughts and feelings as Ryne Sandberg. And the tributes and article have been plentiful. But as someone who started watching the Cubs in the Summer of 1982 — when Sandberg debuted at Wrigley — I can’t help but feel a special connection.

My recollections of that 1982 season are fairly vague. For me, it was the summer after 3rd grade, and there was never too much to do in my hometown of Urbana, Illinois. We managed to have basic cable, and so one afternoon I found a baseball game playing on WGN. The biggest rival on a summer afternoon from a sports perspective was Australian Rule Football replays on ESPN, and I wasn’t big on game shows or soap operas. And the good cartoons, like Thundercats and Transformers, didn’t come on until later in the afternoon.

My grandfather was very big into Illini college football and basketball and the NFL, and I watched lots of those games with him. But baseball was not a sport anyone in my family watched, so my love of the sport had to grow organically. Having a entertaining announcer like Harry Caray helped. I’m not sure the current me would love to hear him call games, as he never got very deep into strategy or stats, but for a 9-year-old, his boisterous personality and enthusiasm for the Cubs was a magnet.

My favorite player was the Cubs left-handed hitting first baseman, Bill Buckner, a great contact hitter. I remember Fergie Jenkins was the top starter and Lee Smith was the closer. Jody Davis was at catcher, Leon Durham in right field, Junior Kennedy platooning with Bump Wills at second base, Larry Bowa at shortstop, and a rookie third baseman name Ryne Sandberg.

The team wasn’t all that good, but I still had fun watching the games and listening to Harry, almost exclusively when they played at Wrigley, where all the games were still during the day. I ws disappointed that Sandberg finished 6th in the rookie of the year voting, behind both Steve Sax and Johnny Ray, two second basement who would not have careers anywhere near Sandberg’s.

When I started watching, I did not know the history of the futility of the Cubs. But when I mentioned how I had become a fan, I was reminded by anyone who followed baseball — especially the local Cardinal fans in Central Illinois — that the Cubs were losers. Lovable losers, but still losers. And of course, that season the Cardinals went on to beat the Milwaukee Brewers in the World Series

Looking back now, a kid who was becoming a fan of the Chicago Cubs and Bill Buckner was going to suffer some serious heartache in his baseball life.

1983 was another sub-.500 season for the Cubs, and I don’t remember much about the season except that the Cubs had picked up a veteran third baseman in Ron Cey, allowing Sandberg to move over to his natural position at second, where he’d play the rest of his career. But with the team 20 games under .500, my interest in baseball was waning. I vaguely even remember rooting for the White Sox in the ALCS, but was not too disappointed when they lost to the Orioles.

But 1984 changed everything, and solidified a lifetime fandom of baseball and the Cubs. And Ryne Sandberg was a huge part of that. He got off to an extremely hot start. He slashed an ok .259/.337/.444 in April, but in May jumped up to .373/.412./527 and in June .376/.414/.720. By June 22, the Cubs were still contenders, with a 36-31 record, only 1.5 games behind the Mets in the NL East.

And then it happened. The Ryne Sandberg game.

The Cubs have played roughly 6900 regular season games since I started following them, and there are very few of those games that I remember that well, or had that much of an impact.

But June 23, 1984 would be different. The Cubs had a nationally televised game on NBC, with Bob Costas and Tony Kubek on the call. While every Cubs game was televised on WGN, there was just something special about being on National television, where Sandberg and the rest of the Cubs could be viewed on a national stage. And it was a chance to beat the hated Cardinals for the 8th time in 11 games.

With the Cubs best second best starter, Steve Trout on the mound (the Sutcliffe trade had been made)and a unproven young pitcher, Ralph Citarella, going for the Cardinals, there was reason for optimism.

But The Cardinals got off to a great start, knocking Trout out in the 2nd inning after a 3-run triple to Willie McGee, who had an amazing game, going 4 for 6 with 3 runs scored and 6 RBIs, and hitting for the cycle.

The Cubs got a couple runs in the 5th, but a McGee homer in the 6th put it back to a 6-run deficit. But the Cubs got back into the game off of Citarella and Neil Allen, scoring 5 in the bottom of the 6th, including a 2-run single for Sandberg.

No one scored the next few innings, and the Cubs were facing Cardinals closer and former Cubs, Bruce Sutter. Leon Durham was the player the Cubs received for Sutter, so it wasn’t a Lou Brock situation, but Sutter had become a dominant closer. At that point in the season, he had a 1.19 ERA. He entered the game in the 7th, as closers would typically go up to 3 innings in a game, but were used less frequently, as there were many more complete games from the starters.

Things were looking bleak, as Sutter had only given up 3 home runs that season, and would give up only 4 the remainder of the year. But Sandberg led off the inning and deposited a ball into the left centerfield bleachers, tying things up at 9.

My hope was short lived, and Willie McGee came through again in the top of the 10th off of Lee Smith, doubling in Ozzie Smith and scoring on a ground out.

After 2 ground outs in the bottom of the 10th off Sutter, it looked like the comeback would be squandered. But Bobby Dernier coaxed a walk. And the “daily double” paid off with Sandberg coming through again on a 1-1 pitch.

Here are the calls of those 2 home runs:

Smith piched around a walk in the top of the 11th, and after a Durham walked, stole second and moved to third on an error by the catcher on the steal, the Cubs had the winning run on 3rd with nobody out. Proclaimed genius, Whitey Herzog, the manager of the Cardinals chose to walk the next 2 hitters, to get to the pitchers spot in the order.

That’s when little-used utility infielder Dave Owen, who slashed .194/.269/.290, managed to sneak a ball into right field to win the game. Here are the highlights from that inning.

Beyond anything else, that game showed me that the Cubs could be winners. Despite history, or adversity, there was always hope, even when things look bleak. And even the heartbreaking playoff loss in ’84 to the Padres could not dampen my love for the Cubs.

That hope really came in handy for the next 20 years, as the Cubs made the playoffs only 3 more times (1989, 1998 and 2003). And the end of the 2003 season was really tough to recover from.

But Sandberg’s career was much more than that game or that MVP season. He was my favorite Cubs player until 1987, when Andre Dawson arrived. And as I got older, I’m not sure I really had a “favorite” player.

I remember being very excited when he led the league in home runs as a second baseman in 1990, as that was a rare feat for someone at his position. As he got older, and was less of a triple or stolen base threat, he made up for it by upping his slugging percentage and home run power.

As I look back, I really took Sandberg for granted. He was just so consistently great. I looks forward to every year seeing him announced as the starting second baseman in the All-Star game. And it was just assumed he would win the gold glove every year with his smooth, error-free play at second.

It stings that he would only participate in one more playoff season with the Cubs. But his playoff numbers in 10 games were excellent, as he slashed .385/.457/.641.

After a one season, temporary retirement in 1995, he played two more season before his permanent retirement in 1997, one year before the Cubs would make the playoffs again.

It felt very odd when he was gone from the Cubs, as he had been a fixture for my whole fandom. But it was great to see him inducted into the Hall of Fame and have his number retired by the Cubs.

R.I.P. Ryno, and thank you for the gift and the curse of my Chicago Cubs fandom.

Here the full “Sandberg game” for anyone who would like to re-live the magic: