Ryne Dee Sandberg born September 18, , nicknamed " Ryno ", is an American former professional baseball player, coach , and manager. Following this, Sandberg established himself as a perennial All-Star and Gold Glove candidate, making ten consecutive All-Star appearances and winning nine consecutive Gold Gloves from to His career. He resigned from his managerial duties for the Phillies on June 26, , and was succeeded by Pete Mackanin. Sandberg was a three-sport star in high school at North Central and graduated in The school's baseball field was named in his honor in as "Ryne Sandberg Field", and his varsity number was retired in both football and baseball.
He opted not to attend after being selected in the 20th round of the baseball amateur draft by the Philadelphia Phillies. Sandberg was reportedly drafted after Bill Harper and Wilbur "Moose" Johnson, both Philadelphia Phillies scouts, persuaded Phillies director of scouting Dallas Green to draft Sandberg, despite his college football commitment. After the Phillies drafted Sandberg, Harper reportedly met with Sandberg, his parents, and brother Del at the Sandberg home.
In , at age 18, Sandberg began his professional career after being drafted by the Phillies. In his first professional season, Sandberg played exclusively at shortstop and hit. The three would advance through the Phillies system as teammates. In games, Sandberg hit. With Reading, Sandberg hit. Playing in games for Reading, Sandberg drew 73 bases on balls against 72 strikeouts.
In the field, Sandberg played games at shortstop and 4 at third base. Sandberg was selected to the Eastern League All-Star team [ 12 ] [ 11 ]. With Oklahoma City, Sandberg remained primarily at shortstop while playing 17 games at second base. Sandberg hit. Sandberg made his major-league debut as a shortstop for the Phillies in Playing in 13 games, Sandberg had one hit in six at-bats for a. The one hit occurred at Wrigley Field using a bat borrowed from starting shortstop Larry Bowa.
The Phillies soon concluded that Sandberg was not a successor to Bowa at shortstop. While Sandberg had played both second and third base in the minor leagues, he was blocked from those positions by Manny Trillo and Mike Schmidt. The trade, now reckoned as one of the most lopsided deals in baseball history, came about after negotiations for a new contract between Bowa and the Phillies broke down. Cubs general manager Dallas Green wanted a young prospect to go along with the aging Bowa as it turned out, Bowa's playing career ended after the season.
