a moment for ryne sandberg

i have mentioned previously (here, here, and here are good examples) my fandom and affection for ryne sandberg, but i couldn't let his passing go without doing so again.

in 1984 i caught cubs fever. sandberg's coming out party that year, along with the fact that he was a second baseman (a position i was transitioning too at the time) made him an easy choice for me to follow. of course, ron cey was in chicago at the time, and davey lopes joined the cubs later in the season, but ryno was the one that i focused on.

i had a nice pc of his cards going from that point on through 2002, with his 1983 topps rookie card

being the anchor.

i have a couple of dozen ryno cards in my double play collection, including one of my all-time favorite dp cards - his 1994 topps card

which was one of the first cards i scanned when i started my first blog (you can tell by the blue background). i later had this card signed through the mail, which was shown in one of the linked posts above.

sandberg exists in my steve garvey collection, too, thanks to this 2004 donruss leather & lumber rivals insert

that reunites the clubs from the 1984 nlcs. sandberg was more of a "rival" of tony gwynn, but i am not going to complain about having a garvey/sandberg card to collect!

i had read recently that sandberg's cancer had returned or spread, but nothing in the news i read would have indicated that his death was imminent. i am really feeling for his family, friends, teammates and fans.

one of my favorite final tribute cards of his is this 1998 pacific invincible card

one last tip of the cap for the hall of famer. rest in peace, ryno.