On June 23, 1984, against the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field, Ryne Sandberg hit two late home runs off one of the best closers in baseball, Bruce Sutter, to tie the game twice, and the Cubs won in extra innings. It became known simply as “the Sandberg Game”, and it launched an MVP season and a Hall of Fame career. Sandberg died at his home on July 28, 2025, surrounded by his family, the Cubs said. He was 65. He had announced in January 2024 that he had metastatic prostate cancer.
Sandberg was born in Spokane, Washington, in 1959 and was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 20th round in 1978. In January 1982 the Phillies traded him to the Cubs with Larry Bowa for the shortstop Ivan De Jesus, a deal now remembered as one of the most lopsided in baseball history.
A complete second baseman
In Chicago Sandberg became one of the best all-round second basemen of his era. He won the National League MVP award in 1984 as the Cubs reached the playoffs for the first time since 1945. Over 15 years with the club he hit .285 with 282 home runs, 1,061 runs batted in and 344 stolen bases, made 10 All-Star teams, won nine Gold Gloves and won the Home Run Derby in 1990. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2005, and the Cubs retired his number 23.
After playing
Sandberg later managed in the minor leagues and was manager of the Phillies from 2013 to 2015. He remained close to the Cubs as an ambassador. After his diagnosis he said he was cancer-free in August 2024, but in December he announced that the cancer had returned and spread. Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said he would be remembered as one of the all-time greats of the franchise.
Sandberg played most of his career for teams that rarely won, but for Cubs fans of the 1980s and 1990s he was the reason to go to Wrigley Field.