MESA, Ariz. – On the flight to Arizona, Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg calculated the number of spring training camps he’d attended in uniform, from the time he was 18 years old until now.
His count included his rise through the Phillies’ system, drafted in 1978 and debuted in 1981. It then picked up with the Cubs and the 15 seasons he played for Chicago. After hanging up his cleats, Sandberg kept coming back – as a guest, coach, Phillies manager and Cubs ambassador.
There were two notable exceptions. In 2021, COVID-19 restrictions limited spring training access. And last year, Sandberg was undergoing cancer treatment.
“I even have my spring training dreams of being late on the field or late to the ballpark,” Sandberg said Sunday, standing on the edge of the agility field at the Cubs’ spring training complex. “Which has been going on for 40-some years.”
In the dream, he shows up at the ballpark, and the team’s already taking the field. He tries to pull his socks on, and they just won’t go. He looks up to check that the first pitch hasn’t happened yet – he could still make it.
“This goes on for hours of the whole night,” Sandberg said. “And there’s never a conclusion there. But I know the feeling of being late, and that was one of my No. 1 pet peeves as a player, so I was always hours early to the ballpark. And so I still have those dreams today, which is funny. And that’s how I know that it’s spring training and it’s baseball season again.”
Sandberg is back in spring training despite resuming intensive treatment after announcing in December that his prostate cancer had returned and spread. He said Sunday that it’s a “consistent battle,” but he’s doing well.
“Like I told the players, people like Ryno and Hall of Famers, they make an impact like when they step in the room,” manager Craig Counsell said over the weekend. “And that’s what Ryno has done for us already.”
Second baseman Nico Hoerner has appreciated over the years that even after all Sandberg accomplished in his career, he’s remained curious.
“He doesn’t talk like he has all the answers to everything,” Hoerner told the Sun-Times, “and he’s still interested in the game and learning about what we’re doing, and differences in training between then and now, or similarities.”
The feeling is mutual. Word got around to Sandberg that Hoerner was curious about the gloves the nine-time Gold Glove second baseman played with. So, Sandberg brought his gloves from 1984 and 1989 – both playoff years and Gold Glove seasons – with him to spring training this year.
“Really cool to see those gloves, try them on, talk to him in person about them, and just hearing about the way he would break in his gloves,” Hoerner said. “Obviously, one of the best to ever do it at second base.”
Sandberg has been impressed over the past decade or so at how comfortable Cubs players have been approaching him to seek his expertise.
He met Matt Shaw, now the Cubs’ top prospect and the favorite to win the third base job out of camp, during the 2023 first-round picks’ Wrigley Field visit a year and a half ago. Then Shaw initiated a conversation with Sandberg at Cubs Convention.
“My impression: very, very sharp,” Sandberg said. “I’d call him a ball player; he knows the game, knows how to play the game. … I’m impressed with his headsiness, as far as baseball goes.”
Shaw also joined a conversation between Sandberg and his former teammates Friday, beaming as he stood in a huddle of Cubs legends.
“Long after we’re all done playing the game, hopefully we still have the relationships we made,” Shaw said. “And those guys are just proving it that they do. It feels like just yesterday when they were all playing together. So it was cool to talk to them and see the camaraderie and just kind of hang out with them for a little bit.”
On Friday, Shawon Dunston and Mark Grace, members of the Cubs Hall of Fame, surprised Sandberg in camp.
Sandberg was engrossed in conversation with two other former teammates, fellow Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins and Cubs great Rick Sutcliffe, when Dunston and Grace snuck up behind him.
“Plenty of room,” the pair called, poking fun at Sandberg for passing off popup duties to the younger players on either side of him when they shared the field.
“Totally unexpected,” Sandberg said. “But took all three of us back to our spring training days…. In a lot of ways, takes us back to our late 20s and 30s, being players, and the stories just continue and pick right up as if I saw them last week.”
His face was bright as he spoke, lit by both the memories and the warm weather.
“Feels good to be out here,” Sandberg said. “Fresh air, sunshine, around the guys – that feels really good.”