Baseball legend Ryne Sandberg has died at the age of 65.
Sandberg’s former team the Chicago Cubs announced his death on Monday, July 28, via X.
“With great sadness, we share that Ryne Sandberg has passed away today,” their statement read alongside a photo of the athlete.
No cause of death was given.
Sandberg revealed in January 2024 that he was battling metastatic prostate cancer. He announced that he was cancer-free seven months later. In December 2024, he shared that his cancer had returned and had spread.
“Ryne Sandberg was a hero to a generation of Chicago Cubs fans and will be remembered as one of the all-time greats in nearly 150 years of this historic franchise,” Cubs executive chairman Tom Ricketts said in a statement on behalf of the team and Sandberg’s family. “His dedication to and respect for the game, along with his unrelenting integrity, grit, hustle, and competitive fire were hallmarks of his career.”
Continued Ricketts: “He was immensely proud of his teammates and his role as a global ambassador of the game of baseball, but most of all, he was proud of Margaret, his children and his role as husband, father and grandfather.”
Sandberg, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005, spent most of his 16 seasons in Major League Baseball as a second baseman for the Cubs. He started his pro career with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1981 before he was traded to Chicago the following year. In 1984, Sandberg was named the National League’s MVP; in 1990, he hit 40 home runs, more than any other player that year. Sandberg hit 282 homers and had a batting average of .285 during his big-league tenure. He also stole 344 bases, drove in 1,061 runs and scored nine Gold Glove awards.
In 1992, Sandberg signed an unprecedented, $28.4 million contract to play another four years at Wrigley Field. (He eventually retired in 1997.)
According The New York Times, a Sports Illustrated report published around the time of Sandberg’s contract signing described him as “a shy, unassuming guy who is a lock for the Hall of Fame. He doesn’t drink, test positive, ram his wife’s car, kick the dog, walk out of camp or say dumb things to the press. The most controversial thing he does is boot a grounder every 25 games or so.”
Sandberg was married to first wife Cindy from 1979 to July 1995. The exes shared two children, Justin and Lindsey. In August 1995, he married his second wife, Margaret, who had three children from a previous marriage.
While he had made history with the Cubs, and was beloved by the fans, a World Series victory remained elusive for Sandberg.
“I think the Cubs fans are wearing thin on the ‘Lovable Losers’ title,” he said in 2011, adding, “I think it’d be the biggest party ever for a winning team, and the party would be all over the world.”
Five years later, the team finally won the Series for the first time in 108 years. Sandberg had, by that time, returned to the Cubs as an ambassador. He received an honorary World Series ring.
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