On August 28th, 1990, Ryne Sandberg of the Chicago Cubs becomes the first second baseman in history to notch consecutive 30-home run seasons.

I had a chance in 2006 to spend a little time talking to Ryne Sandberg. He joined Paul Molitor, Harmon Killebrew, and a bunch of retired Twins at the opening night of the Baseball As America exhibit at the Minnesota History Center. 

In an audience of several hundred people dressed up for the fancy event, I was the only person wearing a baseball cap (it happened to be my Cubs cap). Wearing that, I had an instant “in” with the Cubs Hall-of-Famer.

Sandberg played 16 years in the majors. He came up in the Phillies organization and even played 13 games for the Phillies in 1981 before being traded to the Cubs for Ivan DeJesus. DeJesus was a pretty good shortstop but certainly not worth a Hall of Famer like Sandberg.

One of the things Sandberg talked about that evening was what it was like to be in the Phillies locker room as a rookie with Mike Schmidt and Pete Rose.

Sandberg was born in 1959 in Spokane, Washington, making him a year older than I am. From 1966 to 1972 I lived just outside of Spokane. He was traded to the Chicago Cubs in 1982. While I was living in Chicago.

There were a lot of reasons for Ryno to be one of my favorite players even before I met him. Since he was so warm and friendly when did I meet him almost 20 years ago now, his place as my favorite 2nd basemen of all time is forever secured.

I am glad that I got to meet Ryne Sandberg, and just as glad that I got to see him play so many times in person.