Ryne Sandberg Shares Cancer Diagnosis Via Instagram
This news was tough to hear and not easy to share. Ryne Sandberg, who was my Cubs hero growing up, recently announced via Instagram that he has been diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer. He asked for fans to keep him and his family in their thoughts and prayers as he fights this battle.
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It was just confirmed at Cubs Convention, from which Ryno was absent this year for the first time since rejoining the organization following his tenure as the Phillies’ manager, that his statue will be unveiled outside of Wrigley Field on June 23. As you probably don’t need me to remind you, that’s the date of the iconic Sandberg Game that catapaulted him to the MVP and made him a household name.
That performance and his Hall of Fame career also ensured that his name will continue in the form of hundreds or even thousands of Cubs fans. There was a big spike, relatively speaking, in the popularity of the name Ryne in 1985 for obvious reasons and I’d be willing to bet there was another one roughly 20-25 years later as kids who became fans in the early 80s grew up and had kids of their own.
My son, Ryne, was born in 2008 and has gotten a chance to meet Sandberg a few times. The most recent was a little over a month ago as the legendary second baseman hosted a baseball camp at a nearby facility. We talked about some of those previous meetings and all the other namesakes who had been in attendance that day.
Sorry if this all seems a little disjointed, I’m honestly just having a tough time trying to put words together. I want to offer all the best up to Ryno as he fights to kick cancer’s ass.