CHICAGO — In 2005, the Cubs made Ryne Sandberg’s iconic No. 23 a piece of franchise history forever. Not a single Cub had worn it since Sandberg finished his 15-year career on the North Side in 1997.

[MORE: How Cubs plan to honor legend Ryne Sandberg at Wrigley Field]

That changed in the most heartfelt of ways on Saturday.

Six days after Sandberg passed away at the age of 65 following a battle with prostate cancer, the Cubs took their positions under the 1:20 p.m. sun at Wrigley Field with a red No. 23 emblazoned on their backs. Their jerseys were royal blue and nameless, just as home uniforms were for much of Sandberg’s Cubs career.

Before the game, National Anthem singer John Vincent’s booming voice echoed through the stadium, earning rousing cheers from a crowd of over 40,000 as he altered ‘The Star Spangled Banner’s penultimate bar from “the land of the free” to “the land of 23.”

In that moment, it’s what Wrigley was exactly — a sea of 23s in the stadium that Sandberg made his own.

“It was a really beautiful way of doing it.”

Nico Hoerner on the Cubs wearing No. 23 jerseys in honor of Ryne Sandberg. pic.twitter.com/KkXO5xevkW

— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) August 2, 2025

“I thought it was a really beautiful way of doing it,” Nico Hoerner said after the Cubs’ 4-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. “Simple, but it was hard to look at every ballplayer on the field and not think about him.”

Hoerner, a second baseman like Sandberg, wore the Cubs legend’s iconic flip-down sunglasses during warmups. For Hoerner, it was “just one small thing” that he could do to honor Sandberg.

That was the theme throughout the day, which Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd echoed in his postgame press conference.

“When you talked about Ryno, it was stuff of legend … if we can all have a little bit of him and learn from that, we’re all gonna be better people.”

Matthew Boyd on Ryne Sandberg’s legacy. pic.twitter.com/FiwBEGtCn3

— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) August 2, 2025

“Anything we can do to honor his life, his career — he was an amazing person,” Boyd said after his seven-inning, scoreless start. “When you talked about Ryno, it was stuff of legend. It’s really cool to even just bring that to the forefront these last few days, and to see the impact that he had — not only on his teammates — but on the community in Chicago.

“If we can all have a little bit of him and learn from that, you know, we’re all going to be better people.”