‘It was a long haul’: Spokane native, Chicago Cub legend Ryne Sandberg details cancer journey, Living Legend Award

Spokane native and Chicago Cubs great Ryne Sandberg battled major league pitchers for 16 years over his Hall of Fame career.

He faced a much different battle this year – cancer. But, just like many of his duels with hard-throwing big league arms, he won.

Next month, Sandberg, 65, will accept the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory’s Living Legend Award after overcoming prostate cancer and for his stellar Major League Baseball career where the North Central High School graduate earned 10 All-Star appearances, nine Gold Gloves and seven Silver Sluggers.

Sandberg said he looked forward to joining an elite group of players, like Hank Aaron and Ken Griffey Jr., who received the award. He’s also proud to be honored by a company that is synonymous with baseball.

“That’s a name for me that takes me way back,” Sandberg said of the Louisville Slugger bat, which he used during his career.

The Philadelphia Phillies drafted Sandberg, a three-sport athlete at North Central, in 1978 in the 20th round of the MLB draft.

Sandberg was headed to Washington State University to play quarterback, but ultimately chose baseball over football and headed to Helena, Montana, for the minor leagues. He spent four years in the Phillies’ farm system before he was traded to Chicago, where he played his first full major league season in 1982.

Sandberg went on to play 15 years for the Cubs and retired after the 1997 season. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.

Sandberg, who serves as an ambassador for the Cubs, announced on Instagram in January that he was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer. He underwent chemotherapy and radiation through early August while receiving good news in May when scans and tests revealed no cancer detection.

“It was a long haul,” Sandberg said. “I have a new appreciation for people that have cancer or families that have somebody with cancer. It takes a toll on everybody around you.”

Sandberg credited his wife of 30 years, Margaret, for handling everything during the last several months.

“I don’t know if I could have done that without her,” he said.

Sandberg said he feels terrific and stayed active during his treatment. He threw out the ceremonial first pitch for the Cubs’ opening -day game at Wrigley Field and at his statue unveiling almost three months later.

“I was up and about and on my two feet and doing stuff in the yard, so that was my way of dealing with it,” Sandberg said.

Sandberg said he couldn’t feel his feet touching the ground, had no feeling in his hands and had double vision and dizziness during his opening -day first pitch. Still, with his blue Cubs hat, blue Cubs jersey and black sunglasses, he waved to the crowd and threw a successful first pitch.

He said visiting Wrigley Field, working in his ambassador role for the team and interacting with fans was uplifting during his battle with cancer.

Sandberg, who still attends about 50 home games per season, said he received a standing ovation from fans every time he appeared on Wrigley Field’s big screen in April and May.

“I think that was also about as good as medicine as I could have felt,” he said.

Sandberg updated family, friends and fans on Instagram during his treatment and said the positive messages he received also were encouraging and improved his already optimistic mindset.

He said he felt better than he did on opening day during his June 23 statue unveiling outside Wrigley Field, where he again threw out the first pitch.

“It was an awesome day,” Sandberg said. “Everything went great.”

The date marked the 40th anniversary of the “Sandberg Game,” a breakout game for the infielder that put his name on the map in front of a national television audience.

Sandberg drove in seven runs, including two game-tying home runs against St. Louis Cardinals pitcher and future Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter, in a 12-11 win in 11 innings at Wrigley Field.

The game, which came to be known as the “Sandberg game,” propelled the 24-year-old to the National League MVP that year in 1984, and the Cubs made the playoffs for the first time in 39 years.

It was Sandberg’s third full season in the major leagues and he had won a Gold Glove the year before.

“I would say after that game and after the ’84 season, I think that’s when I felt like I was a major -league player,” Sandberg said.

Besides the MVP award, Sandberg earned his second Gold Glove, first All-Star game start and first Silver Slugger that year. Those awards set a new standard for him as a player, he said.

Sandberg said he was most fond of the 1984 season. He was young, surrounded by veteran players and got his first taste of the playoffs. He said the season also re-energized Cub fans who packed Wrigley Field.

Forty years later, Sandberg is still a regular at the historic Chicago stadium.

As an ambassador for the Cubs, he meets with fans, season ticket holders and Cubs ownership. Sandberg, who lives about an hour north of Chicago, follows young star Cub players joining the club from the minor leagues. He goes to Cubs spring training games each year in Arizona.

He also continues to follow Northwest teams, like WSU football and baseball and Gonzaga basketball.

He comes back to his home state every year, visiting family in Western Washington and spending time during the summer on a string of lakes in the Colville National Forest. He said he’s enjoyed his drives through Spokane on the way to the lakes, noting downtown improvements and the recent additions of ONE Spokane Stadium and The Podium.

Sandberg fondly recalled playing football at Joe Albi Stadium, basketball at Spokane Coliseum and American Legion baseball games under the lights at Shadle Park. Joe Albi and the coliseum have since been torn down.

“I had great pride in playing my sports there,” Sandberg said of Spokane.

He said he stayed in the Chicago area for his ambassador position and to stay close to his children and grandchildren, most of whom live in the Midwest.

Sandberg said he’s an avid golfer, loves to fish and has started to travel with his wife, including going on a recent Alaskan cruise.

He and his wife will attend the Living Legend Award ceremony where he will be honored Nov. 15 at the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory in Louisville, Kentucky.

Established in 2007, the accolade celebrates individuals whose contributions to baseball and society attained “legendary status, epitomizing the essence of talent, accomplishment, and personal integrity,” according to a release from the museum.