Sandberg next to get statue at Wrigley, sounds off on Cubs-Sosa relationship
Ryne Sandberg admitted he had considered the possibility of getting a statue outside Wrigley Field.
"Yeah, I have to say I thought about it," he said. "I saw a couple of empty (pedestals) over there, that was a little giveaway."
But Sandberg insisted he had no idea the official announcement would be made by chairman Tom Ricketts on Saturday morning at the Cubs Convention.
"Evidently, they told my family yesterday, which they kept a secret from me," Sandberg said to reporters backstage. "Then I'm wondering, I'm here at the Cubs Convention, I'm usually up on a panel doing something and here I am in the audience. A little bit fishy there."
Ricketts himself admitted everyone in the ballroom could probably guess who would get the next statue, joining Fergie Jenkins, Billy Williams, Ron Santo and Ernie Banks. Someone yelled, "Sammy Sosa," which drew some laughter.
Sandberg was willing to address the awkward situation between the Cubs and his former teammate Sosa. The former MVP has been noticeably absent from Wrigley Field since he retired, having been lumped together with a group of suspected steroid users.
"Sometimes to mend something in life there needs to be apologies and things like that," Sandberg said. "I think that's how relationships work.
"I said during my Hall of Fame speech, respect the game and play the game the right way. And there was a little problem there with the way Sammy played the game. If that's a roadblock, that's a roadblock."
Sandberg is part of the Contemporary Era Committee that bypassed the steroid suspects and chose Fred McGriff to join the Hall of Fame. That committee also considered Don Mattingly, Curt Schilling, Dale Murphy and others. Steroid suspects like Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, Roger Clemens received less than four of the 16 votes.
"He (McGriff) followed the rules and integrity and played the game the right way," Sandberg said. "Integrity is on the seal of the Baseball Hall of Fame."
The longtime Cubs second baseman was excited to see former teammates Shawon Dunston and Mark Grace announced as new additions to the Cubs Hall of Fame on Friday.
"This is one of my favorite Cubs Conventions already because I got to spend an hour and a half with Mark Grace and Shawon Dunston," Sandberg said. "We were talking about at-bats and facing Nolan Ryan yesterday and laughing.
"The teammates I had, it was a little bit different in some regards. We didn't have iPads and cellphones. We had one little TV up there that nobody watched, so we had a lot of conversations and talked."
Sandberg is working as a Cubs ambassador these days and is looking forward to serving again as a roving instructor during spring training.
He understands there's still a tough task ahead: Deciding what his statue pose will be.
"It might be hard because I was all about equal offense and defense," Sandberg said. "That was my goal, to be the best at offense and defense, so I don't know if I'll be able to pick a pose. It'll get done and it's supposed to be a fun process.
"I was just told it's the start of the process and it's quite the process. Maybe this goes up in 2024, it sounds like to me. It sounds like it's quite the process of looking at old pictures and there's a small little committee and what the fans might like and what they think an iconic pose."
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