Patrick Mooney, writing for The Athletic on Monday:

Ryne Sandberg, an iconic player for generations of Chicago Cubs fans and a distinguished member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, died Monday at the age of 65 from metastatic prostate cancer, the team announced. Sandberg passed away at his home, surrounded by his family, the Cubs shared.

Jay Cohen, AP:

Sandberg announced in January 2024 that he had been diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer. He had chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and then said in August 2024 that he was cancer-free.

But he posted on Instagram on Dec. 10 that his cancer had returned and spread to other organs. He announced this month that he was still fighting, while “looking forward to making the most of every day with my loving family and friends.”

Absolutely Fuck Cancer.

Eli Ong, WGN, Chicago’s Very Own broadcast home of the Cubs:

In all, Sandberg played 15 seasons on the North Side and finished his career as a Cub in 1997. By the time he hung up his cleats, he had become a ten-time all-star, nine-time Gold Glove winner (all consecutively), a seven-time Silver Slugger, and the 1990 home run derby champion (the same season he led the NL in home runs).

Growing up in New York in the mid-’80s and early ’90s, I watched “Ryno” play a lot against my beloved Mets. He was one of the best-hitting, best-fielding second basemen of my youth—much to our great frustration.

He played the game hard, he played it right, and he played it with “respect,” as he called it in his wonderful Hall of Fame induction speech:

Everything I am today, everything I have today, everything I will ever be is because of the game of baseball. Not the game you see on TV or in movies—Baseball. The one we all know. The one we played with whiffle ball bats, pretending to be Yaz or Fisk or Rose, in dirt fields and in alleys. We all know that game. The game fit me because it was right, it was all about doing things right. If you played the game the right way, played the game for the team, good things would happen. That’s what I loved most about the game, how a ground out to second with a man on second and nobody out was a great thing. Respect.

[…]

I was taught you never, ever disrespect your opponent or your teammates or your organization or your manager and never, ever your uniform. Make a great play? Act like you’ve done it before. Get a big hit? Look for the third base coach and get ready to run the bases. Hit a home run? Put your head down, drop the bat, run around the bases, because the name on the front is a lot more important than the name on the back. That’s respect.

Today’s players could learn a lot about “respect” from Ryno.

My condolences to his family, friends, and fans.