Ryne Sandberg to be honored on Wrigley Field’s Statue Row originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
In a panel with Cubs fans Saturday morning at this year’s Cubs Convention, team chairman Tom Ricketts revealed that the newly-crafted Statue Row outside Wrigley Field will be getting an addition prior to the 2023 season.
Hall of Famer, 10-time All-Star and former NL MVP Ryne Sandberg will be honored with a statue outside the Friendly Confines, making the upcoming bronze work the fifth statue of a Cubs player to be erected outside the park.
Statues of Cubs legends Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams and Fergie Jenkins are currently lined up near Gallagher Way as Statue Row, an arrangement that began before the 2022 season when the Jenkins statue was constructed.
Sandberg played 15 seasons as a Cub from 1982 to 1997, including a one-season hiatus in 1995.
Long known as one of the strongest hitting second basemen of his generation, Sandberg’s elite glove made him one of the most complete players of the era, collecting seven Silver Slugger awards and nine Gold Gloves.
Sandberg’s hallmark season came in just his third full MLB campaign in 1984, leading the Cubs to the postseason for the first time in 39 years behind a campaign that won Ryno the NL MVP.
Sandberg hit .314/.367/.520, while leading the majors with 19 triples in 1984, posting a 140 OPS+ and winning a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger.
The Hall of Famer led the Cubs to the playoffs once more, posting a top-five MVP finish in 1989 in a 30 home run campaign in which Sandberg led the senior circuit with 104 runs scored.
Sandberg retired in 1997 after 2,151 games with the North Siders, totaling 282 home runs, 1,061 RBI, 2,385 hits and 344 stolen bases across his Cubs career.
The Cubs icon was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on the third ballot in 2005 with 76.2 percent of the vote.
Sandberg, alongside his future Statue Row neighbors and Greg Maddux, are the only Cubs to have their numbers retired.
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