Cubs dedicate broadcast to Ryne Sandberg

Friday’s game between the Chicago Cubs and the Baltimore Orioles marked the first time that the Cubs have been back at Wrigley Field since the death of franchise legend Ryne Sandberg. And upon returning to Chicago, both the Cubs organization and Marquee Sports Network went all out in honoring Sandberg for all he did for the Cubs organization.

During the Marquee Sports Network pregame coverage, several of Sandberg’s longtime teammates turned close friends discussed their late teammate when Andre Dawson and Shawon Dunston joined Marquee’s pregame hosts Cole Wright and Rick Sutcliffe.

“Playing against him, you could see the talent,” said Dawson of first playing against Sandberg as an opponent before joining him as a teammate in 1987. “It was very visible, and [you know] this is going to be a superstar in the making. What I remember the most about him during my playing days that he just gave it his all each and every day.”

“Ryno helped me tremendously,” said Dunston. “We’re the complete opposite. He’s calm, I’m wild. If I would have played with a player like me, it would have been problems out there. He allowed me to be myself at all times and when you want to be successful, you have to let people be themselves. He never stopped me. He just said, ‘Shawon, go out there and play. I’m not going to run into you, always go around you. You can cut in front of me and just play.’ So, I enjoyed it.”

Later, Dunston, and Sutcliffe, and another of Sandberg’s former teammates, Jody Davis, would honor Sandberg by wearing a shirt dedicated to him while they walked to second base and replaced the honorary second base bag with the official one used during games.

Rick Sutcliffe, Shawon Dunston, and Jody Davis delivered the official 2nd base for today’s game wearing Ryne Sandberg shirts 🩵 pic.twitter.com/PBs1ZUHofj