A Legend Lost: Ryne Sandberg

Over the past two years, I have occasionally had the urge to post again on this blog, but nothing ever moved the needle enough for that to happen. The death of Ryne Sandberg yesterday changed that. I would be remiss not to say something noting the passing of this great ballplayer, my favorite player growing up and the subject of my first player collection. It's hard to put into words why the passing of a favorite player has meaning. But I think it is something at the intersection of the hopes of youth, the loss of youth, the grief of things lost along the way, and the recognition that everything is so fragile in life. 

So today, I just feel compelled to share an appreciation for what Ryne Sandberg meant to me. Even though I never met him (Chicago is a long way from here), many accounts vouch for his great treatment of fans. A few years ago, I sent him a card in the mail to be signed, along with his very reasonable fee. That card is my one direct connection of any sort to the man. But he meant a lot to us Cubs fans and played the game the right way. He seemed to be a man of character, which certainly showed up in the way he played the game. Anyway, the news of his passing was a gut punch for me, almost unexpectedly, so I felt compelled to share some of my collection of Ryno today.

Cover photo from my card collection binder: 

A bat I purchased probably 10 or more years ago on eBay. I always wanted one as a kid:

The front page of my player collection binder:

Some miscellaneous figures as well as a ball I've had since I was a kid. It was a send-in prize from a Wheaties cereal offer.

Finally, the card that I sent Ryno a few years back. It is one of my favorites, as I explained in this post: Wax Pack Wonders: The Best of Ryno

Not pictured are the only player jersey I own (home Cubs jersey of #23) as well as a Sandberg jersey shirt that I have.

As for blogging generally, I wanted to offer my apologies for not providing a proper message explaining I would be going on hiatus. It wasn't really planned, and a couple years slipped by in the struggles and responsibilities of life. I don't plan to be back on any permanent basis as a poster, but am grateful to all of you, especially those of you I've been able to still connect with during my time away. 

Rest in the peace of Christ, Mr. Sandberg. 

A Repack Courtesy of Night Owl

Night Owl recently celebrated his 5,000 post, which is an incredible feat. It's even more incredible when you consider that the 5,000 posts were high-quality posts. At least I assume so. I've been following the blog for about 3 years, and have never read a post and thought, "that was underwhelming." N.O. is always either entertaining, educational, insightful, and usually all three at the same time. The fact that he decided to send out cards to his readers as a thank you is just a bonus, because he's the one already providing awesome content for all of us. But what a bonus it was!

My repack of 250 cards (probably closer to 300 cards) greeted me with this card on top. So yeah, I knew this was going to be great.

I wanted to highlight just a few of the many great cards that I received. As I flipped through, I often spotted cards that almost had to be hand-selected for me, which was an additional thoughtful touch. 

Love me some vintage, and the repack did not disappoint in that area.

The Hostess Carlton Fisk is super cool, and until very recently, I didn't have a single Hostess card in my collection. This one came around the same time I found a Thurman Munson in an 8 for a dollar box. I like this one better. Also, my first buyback (and it's a Cub)!

More fantastic vintage. My favorite here has to be the Ron Santo game card. Just super cool. But the others are each great in their own way, too, so they must be shown. N.O. probably didn't know I've started working on the 73 Topps set, but he sent a card I needed for that set. 

Cards for my player collections, and two of them are new to me!

Some fantastic horizontal action shots. I have a back-burner project of a horizontal Frankenset of only All-Star players. If I've mentioned this on my blog, I only did so one time, so either N.O. is a mind reader or incredibly thoughtful, or possibly both.

And finally.....

Tony Orlando! Because, why not Tony Orlando, right?! Might not be surprising to you, but this is my first Tony Orlando card. There were a few music cards in the repack, which was a neat change of pace. 

Thanks so much Night Owl and congrats on 5,000 posts!

The A to Z Player Challenge

The Diamond King recently posted his favorite card for his favorite player A to Z and challenged others to follow suit. I thought it seemed like a fun idea, so thought I would jump in. Along with each player is an actual card from my collection.

A - Grover Cleveland Alexander

Old Pete Alexander was a complex and troubled man, but a highly talented pitcher. He won 373 games and closed out game 7 of the 1926 World Series for the Cardinals at age 39. He was also a star pitcher for my Cubs for 9 seasons. Still need a Cub card of him.

Other favorite: Hank Aaron

B - Ernie Banks

Banks is a true legend. There are some other players that I really like, but I can't argue with Mr. Cub.

Other favorites: Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown, Jim Banning, Jeff Bittiger, Kris Bryant, Chief Bender

C - Chris Coste

From my hometown, Coste was my favorite non-major leaguer growing up when he played for our city's independent minor league team. He later went on to make the major leagues. 

Other favorites: Tony Campana, Ty Cobb, Roberto Clemente

D - Dave Dravecky

Dravecky's biography Comeback was one of the first baseball books I read and was really inspiring. I later got a chance to meet Dave, and he is a truly good guy.

E - Darin Erstad

Another local favorite, Erstad grew up about 90 miles from my hometown. A favorite memory is him and the Angels winning the 2002 World Series. He also won Gold Gloves at first base and center field and had 240 hits one season.

F - Julio Franco

I always liked Franco's batting stance and as well as players that seemed to play forever. Fun fact: Franco hit .222 in 27 at-bats playing independent baseball in 2014. He was 55 at the time.

G - Mark Grace

A close second for my favorite Cub, behind Ryne Sandberg. Grace played the game hard, had an awesome swing, was a great fielder, and just a true pro for many years. I was upset when he left Chicago for Arizona, but loved seeing him win it all in 2001 with the Diamondbacks.

Other favorites: Mudcat Grant, Tom Glavine, Dave Goltz

H - Rick Helling

A graduate of my high school (14 years my senior), Helling had a solid pitching career and even won 20 games one year.

Other favorites: Travis Hafner, Billy Hamilton (21st century player), Charlie Hough

I - Monte Irvin

Not many to choose from for this letter, but you really can't go wrong with this Hall of Famer. Plus, he was a Cub for a year!

J - Bo Jackson

Bo was a once in a generation talent. 

Other favorites: Walter Johnson, Jay Johnstone

K - Sandy Koufax

Koufax had one of the best, if not THE best, 5 year stretch of any pitcher ever. Plus, he's a really interesting guy in my opinion.

Other favorites: Harmon Killebrew, Jim Kaat

L - Nap Lajoie

This guy was so great he got a team named after him (the Cleveland Naps). Incidentally, I'd love to see that be their "new" name. Would be cool if this card wasn't a reprint.

Other favorite: Kenny Lofton, Michael Lorenzen

M - Roger Maris

I really like a lot of "M" players. But Maris is pretty much a no brainer here. An alumnus of my high school and a legend in my town.

Other favorites: Gus Munch, Greg Maddux, Minnie Minoso, Jamie Moyer, Christy Mathewson, Darryl Motley, Biz Mackey

N - Phil Niekro

Not a ton of players to choose from here, but can't go wrong with a guy who was effective into his late 40s. 

O - Buck O'Neil

I honestly don't know the purpose of having a Baseball Hall of Fame without having this guy in it.

Other favorites: Sadaharu Oh, Tony Oliva, Shohei Ohtani

P - Deacon Phillippe

To my surprise, this turn of the century great who won nearly 200 games played a season in my hometown, Fargo, ND. He was one of the players I researched when I wrote my book on the 1897 Red River Valley League. This is the oldest card in my collection, too.

Other favorite: Satchel Paige

Q - Dan Quisenberry

Not many to choose from here, but Quiz was a cool dude with an awesome delivery.

R - Old Hoss Radbourn

This pick is due in large part to a  fantastic baseball read called 59 in '84, by Edward Achorn. Radbourn is now credited with 60 wins for the 1884 season. He also gave a subtle middle finger to the camera nearly a century before Billy Martin did on his 1972 Topps card. In fact, that's the photo featured in the card shown above.

Other favorites: Nolan Ryan, Anthony Rizzo, Jackie Robinson

S - Ryne Sandberg

Ryno's my all-time favorite. A no brainer here.

Other favorites: Ron Santo

T - Jim Thorpe

Thorpe was the original all-around athlete. Baseball was not even close to his best sport, yet he still played parts of 6 seasons in the majors.

Other favorite: Luis Tiant

U - Bob Unglaub

This one's due to a local connection. Unglaub had just finished his third season as player/manager of the Fargo-Moorhead Graingrowers when he died in a tragic accident while repairing a locomotive. He was just 36 years old. I'm in the market for a non-reprint of Unglaub.

V - Omar Vizquel

I was never an Indians fan, but Vizquel was just too good not to like. 

W - Kerry Wood

Kerry Wood stole the hearts of many Cubs fans in 1998 as a dominant 20-year-old. Striking out 20 Astros in a game certainly helped. 

Other favorites: Maury Wills, Rube Waddell

Y - Michael Young

I became a Rangers fan in the mid-2000s after getting a chance to visit the Ballpark in Arlington. Young and Mark Teixeira were my favorites.

Other favorite: Cy Young

Z - Ben Zobrist

I first liked Zobrist when he helped the Royals win the World Series, so I was excited when he signed with Chicago. He came up clutch for the Cubs in 2016, too.

Other favorite: Bill Zink

Thanks for reading!

The Best of Ryno

The best way for me to find topics for non-Frankenset posts is to just look through a stack (or binder) of cards. Inevitably, I'll find something quirky, fun, or otherwise interesting to share. I've been combing through a variety of binders and boxes recently looking for cards that I call "favorites." These aren't necessarily cards that fit any specific category, but are generally just cards that I enjoy. It's a fun exercise, as I am discovering cards that I hadn't appreciated before. 

In going this direction, I recently ended up going through my Ryne Sandberg and Mark Grace cards. I had kind of done this last spring and planned to write a post about it, but never got around to it. But I figured the time should be now. After all, I have a pretty healthy collection to choose from for each player. Today's post will take you through some of my favorite Ryne Sandberg cards. Lists of favorites are always fun, in my opinion, because everyone has a slightly different taste and experience with a given group of cards. That is certainly true for my Ryno collection. I think they naturally fit into a few different categories, so I grouped them:

Early Acquisitions

I'll start with a few cards that I enjoy because I've had a copy for about as long as I can remember:

1994 Topps - Measures of Greatness #602

I'm pretty sure I first got a copy of this card in a pack the same year it came out. That didn't happen very often as a kid.

1989 Donruss #105

1989 Donruss packs and boxes used to be quite plentiful and quite cheap. So I opened a lot of them. I always enjoyed the simple nature of this card. So much so that I keep every copy I can get my hands on.

1992 Topps All-Star #387

I remember getting the 1992 All-Star subset from K-Mart as a kid. Loved the league leader stats on the back.

Ryno the Athlete

Cards that display Ryno's athleticism. Ryno was a three sport athlete in high school (football, basketball, and baseball) and early in his career was a formidable stolen base threat. 

1990 Upper Deck #324

1993 Upper Deck #175

1991 Fleer #431

I'm as surprised as you are that a 1991 Fleer card made this list. But it's really unique, as it shows him batting during the 1990 All-Star Game Home Run Derby at Wrigley Field. Ryno won the event, and also hit a career high and National League-leading 40 home runs in 1990.

The Rookies

1983 Topps #83

I really like the simple, clean look of this card. 

1983 Fleer #507

Love the uniform and the Ryno's follow through on this card.

I could swear I once had a copy of the 1983 Donruss rookie. If I did, I have no idea what happened to it. I'll have to get around to snatching up a copy sometime soon. 

Card Design Favorites

1993 Triple Play "Nicknames" #3

I've always loved this nickname.

1994 Collector's Choice CL #335

I like the simple close-up picture on this card and have always enjoyed the look of the Collectors Choice cards.

1997 Collector's Choice #66

Another Collectors Choice card, which I like for its design and as a bonus, it shows Ryno signing for fans. 

1993 Donruss Spirit of the Game #SG14

I really like how this card shows snapshots of Ryno fielding a ball, and it uses both sides of the card to do so. It's superior to multiple exposure renditions, in my opinion.

1993 Donruss Diamond Kings #DK2

The 1992 and 1993 Diamond Kings are some of my favorite cards of all time.

Maybe you were a Sandberg fan or maybe you weren't, but what's your favorite Sandberg card of this group? (Or, if you are a Sandberg aficionado, maybe you can think of one not shown that you like best). 

Thanks for reading!