Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg had an idea of what might be coming. He had seen the empty spots in “Statue Row” outside of Wrigley Field. But when he took his seat in the audience of the Ricketts family panel at the Cubs Convention on Saturday, he didn’t -expect the announcement.
“We do want to announce that our next statue is in progress,” chairman Tom Rickets said from the Sheraton Grand Chicago ballroom stage. “I’m sure that everyone in this room can guess who that is.”
Ricketts invited Sandberg to the stage, breaking the news to the Cubs great that a statue of him was in the early stages of production. The team has targeted 2024 for the unveiling, according to president of business operations Crane Kenney.
Sandberg said they haven’t settled on the statue’s pose.
“It might be hard because I was all about offense and defense equally,” Sandberg said, saying the process includes a committee and fan input. “And that was my goal, both to be the best at offense and defense. So I don’t know if I’ll be able to pick a pose.”
The announcement changed the subject after the second Sammy Sosa-related fan question of the session. And when Ricketts teased the subject of the next statue, someone in the crowd exclaimed, “Sammy Sosa?”
“Nothing’s really changed on that front,” Ricketts told the Sun-Times of his relationship with Sosa, which he reiterated Saturday. “I haven’t talked to him in a while.”
So the sides are not in the process of making amends. Sandberg, who played with Sosa, acknowledged the prickly relationship between Cubs ownership and Sosa. Then Sandberg alluded to the connection between Sosa’s career and performance-enhancing drugs — one Sosa denies.
“That was my Hall of Fame speech,” Sandberg said. “I think I said it 20 times: Respect the game, play the game the right way. There was a little problem there with the way that Sammy played the game. If that’s a roadblock, then that’s a roadblock.”
Sandberg was on the Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee, which unanimously elected Fred McGriff to the Hall of Fame last month. The ballot did not include Sosa, but it did include Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, whose careers also have been linked to performance-enhancing drugs. Both received fewer than four votes.
Sandberg joins fellow Hall of Famers Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams and — most recently added — Fergie Jenkins in bronze.
“To be part of a structure and be a part of Wrigley Field, that means so much to me,” Sandberg said. “Because Wrigley Field was always my friend and so friendly to me, and I love the atmosphere, and the fans, and WGN-TV 162 games broadcast, and the whole thing about it. The day games. I liked everything about that. And the biggest thing is it’s still the Wrigley Field that I know. It hasn’t changed that much, but it’s [a] state-of-the-art stadium.”
