WRIGLEY FIELD — A number of hundred somber Cubs followers got here to Wrigley Subject on Friday to pay their remaining respects to the person remembered most for his respect of the sport.
Cubs Corridor of Fame second basemen Ryne Sandberg was laid to relaxation Friday in a service at Outdated St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, 700 W. Adams St. It was broadcast at Wrigley Subject’s Gallagher Approach plaza.
Sandberg, who blended energy hitting with elementary fielding for the Cubs from 1982 to 1994, and once more from 1996 to 1997, was Chicago’s No. 23 earlier than Michael Jordan. He died final month at 65 years previous from metastatic prostate most cancers.
“He made historical past with out histrionics,” stated famed broadcaster Bob Costas, who spoke on the service. “The Cubs had been nonetheless beloved, certain; however after him, they had been cool.”
A line stretched from the plaza towards the marquee as followers waited to view memorabilia from Sandberg’s residence donated to the staff upon his demise, together with two of his 9 Gold Gloves and certainly one of his seven Silver Sluggers. Sandberg was named league MVP in 1984 and inducted into the Baseball Corridor of Fame in 2005.
Most followers stayed for the whole lot of the two-hour service regardless of the warmth and the staff being out of city. One fan wept after he laid his jersey on Sandberg’s statue.
For some, the loss was like that of a member of the family. For others, the grief was for a ballplayer whose hustle and coronary heart offered an virtually religious life drive.
“His drive and work ethic — my dad all the time used him for instance for me,” Cubs fan Stacey Matson stated. “I discuss that now with my boys.”
Diane Leone took the time without work work to be at Wrigley Subject in her Sandberg jersey. She wasn’t the one one.
“I got here right here as a result of Ryne was my hero,” stated Leone, who was 15 years previous and having the “finest summer season of my life” the season Sandberg obtained MVP and the Cubs broke a 40-year playoff drought by successful the pennant. She retains an outsized pin of Sandberg purchased that yr in a “field of treasures.”
“I’m going to attempt to get by way of this with out crying,” Leone stated. “He was humble, wasn’t flashy, spoke by way of his bat and protection. He embodied the spirit of Chicago: not all the time profitable, however achieved with quite a lot of coronary heart.”
Attendees at Sandberg’s service included baseball legends Andre Dawson, Joe Torre, Jim Thome, Ozzie Smith, Fergie Jenkins and “Candy Swinging” Billy Williams, Costas stated.
Sandberg’s 11 grandchildren, who knew the Cubs legend solely as “Pappy,” gave blessings. The Rev. Tom Hurley stated on the service that Sandberg had transformed to Catholicism later in life to be nearer together with his spouse, Margaret.
“He held the sunshine towards others,” stated Hurley, sporting a stole stitched with Cubs logos. “I’ll not have grown up a Cubs fan, however I certain am a Sandberg fan.”
Matson, whose childhood room and center college locker had been plastered with Sandberg posters, introduced her 19-year-old son, Aidan Matson, along with her to Wrigley Friday.
“I grew up extra on Rizzo and Bryant,” Aidan Matson stated. “However just about every time the Cubs are on TV, my mother will say, ‘Sandberg would have made that play.’”
Talking on the service, Sandberg’s daughter, Lindsey Newton, stated they performed a aggressive sport of pickleball simply three months in the past, whilst her father was within the midst of most cancers therapy.
“It was a superb day. And naturally he needed to win,” Newton stated. “These final two years had been treasured. … Thanks for ensuring you had nothing left unsaid.”
Again exterior Wrigley, 91-year-old Cubs fan Ken Gebhardt remembered when he was on a jog and listening to the fabled “Sandberg sport” in 1984 on his Sony Walkman. The burgeoning star hit two residence runs off dominant Cardinals reliever Bruce Sutter to win the sport in further innings.
“It was so thrilling, I forgot I used to be working,” Gebhardt stated. “Sandberg is such part of Chicago historical past, of my time as a baseball fan.”
Amongst Sandberg’s mementos on show was a three-page letter legendary Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray wrote him after his second retirement in 1997.
“Simply depend sometime what number of younger mother and father have named their first born Ryne or Ryno,” Caray wrote.
Ryne is Gerbhardt’s nephew’s center title.
“It’s a disgrace Sandberg is gone so quickly,” Gerbhardt stated. “Throughout his time, you don’t understand it’s a giant deal.”
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