Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg had an idea of what might be coming . He’d 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 Cubs Convention on Saturday, he wasn’t expecting 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 up to the stage, breaking the news to the Cubs great that a statue of him was in the early stages of production. The team is targeting 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.”
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 I think 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.”
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 tie between Sosa’s career and performance enhancing drugs – one Sosa denies.
“That was my Hall of Fame speech, I think I said it 20 times: respect the game, play the game the right way.” Sandberg said.”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 have also been linked to performance-enhancing drugs. Both received fewer than four votes.