Baseball legend Ryne Sandberg says his cancer has returned
Chicago Cubs legend Ryne Sandberg’s prostate cancer has returned and spread to other organs.
The National Baseball Hall of Famer and Spokane native shared the news on Instagram Tuesday morning. Sandberg, 65, will undergo more intensive treatment.
“We will continue to be positive, strong, and fight to beat this,” Sandberg said in a statement. “Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for me and my family.”
Sandberg revealed his metastatic prostate cancer diagnosis in January and announced in August he was free of cancer after getting clear scans.
In October, the Spokane native detailed his cancer battle to The Spokesman-Review as he looked forward to accepting the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory’s Living Legend Award the following month.
“Unfortunately, we recently learned the cancer has (returned) and it has spread to other organs,” Sandberg wrote Tuesday on Instagram. “This means that I am back to more intensive treatment.”
Sandberg
is a distinguished member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In recent years, he has remained a regular presence around Wrigley Field as both an ambassador for the Cubs and a grandfather who maintains a home on Chicago’s suburban North Shore.
“Ryne is an inspiration to cancer survivors everywhere,” Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said in a statement released by the team. “I know all Cubs fans join my family and me in sending positive thoughts to Ryne and keeping him and his family in our prayers as he faces this next round of treatments to defeat cancer. Ryne has the heart and soul of a champion and that will serve him well in this challenge.”
This past summer, the Cubs unveiled a Sandberg statue outside Wrigley Field, recognizing his enormous impact as a 10-time All-Star who won seven Silver Sluggers and nine Gold Gloves.
The statue ceremony came on the 40th anniversary of “The Sandberg Game” (June 23, 1984), when he hit a pair of game-tying home runs in the ninth and 10th innings in a 12-11 victory.
Sandberg said going through the cancer treatment – and seeing the turnout for the event – had given him more perspective.
“I’ve learned about the people in my life,” Sandberg said that day. “From my family to my friends to my neighbors to my teammates to the Cubs fans, it’s all about the relationships that I have with people. And there’s a lot of them, so it’s just a reflection on that. To see everybody here today, that’s kind of what I’m talking about – how special it is. I’ve felt it.”
A three-sport star at North Central High School, Sandberg graduated in 1978 and was named as one of eight quarterbacks to Parade Magazine’s high school All-America football team.
He signed a letter of intent to play football for Washington State but instead signed with the Philadelphia Phillies after being selected in the 20th round of the 1978 MLB draft.
Sandberg made his MLB debut with the Phillies in 1981, but was traded to the Cubs prior to the 1982 season.
The Athletic and Tribune News Service contributed to this story.