My Hall of Fame speech was about respect for the game.
— Ryne Sandberg
There were a lot of players who worked just as hard as I did, and if you didn't, you didn't stay in the big leagues.
If you're in the minor leagues, you want to get to the majors.
I got into pro ball at 18 and played until I was almost 39, non-stop.
I think sometimes Hall of Famers might get labeled as guys who aren't suited for a coaching job or to be back at the Major League level.
There's not too many guys that spend their whole career with one team and I think it's very fortunate and a blessing for me.
I had to prepare physically every day, and I didn't leave many scraps for the writers.
It didn't happen, but I feel fortunate for the two chances we had and it's just a shame we didn't go to a World Series for Cub fans.
No player in baseball history worked harder, suffered more, or did it better than Andre Dawson. He's the best I've ever seen.
I played it right because that's what you're supposed to do - play it right and with respect.
When did it - When did it become okay for someone to hit home runs and forget how to play the rest of the game?
The fourth major league game I ever saw in person, I was in uniform.
I had too much respect for the game to leave it behind or to make it my second or third sport in college.
Hit a home run - put your head down, drop the bat, run around the bases, because the name on the front is more - a lot more important than the name on the back.
I played high school football at a hundred and eighty-five pounds and played big league baseball at a hundred and eighty-two. I'd get up to maybe 188 in the off-season because every summer I'd lose eight to ten pounds.
As great a public speaker as I am, I don't know have - I don't - I don't have the words to describe Cub fans who welcomed me as a rookie, were patient through my 1-for-32 start, and took me into their homes and into their hearts and treated me like a member of their family. You picked me up when I was down.
I was taught coming up in the Phillies organization to be seen and not heard by people like Pete Rose, my hero growing up, and players like Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton and Manny Trillo.
I never forgot the four years I spent with the Phillies, my September call-ups and my big league Spring Trainings. I never forgot that.
I learned a lot in the Minor Leagues, spending six years there. I honed my skills, as far as coaching goes. I was able to work with the players in a lot of facets of the game.
I've been proud to be a lifelong Chicago Cub and still be with the Cubs. That's always been important to me and I think it's always been special.
I struggled many times when maybe it didn't look like I was struggling, and I had to work hard every day.
In baseball, there's always the next day.
There was Shawon Dunston and Mark Grace, and together we were a double play combination for ten years.
I didn't play the game right because I saw a reward at the end of the tunnel.
I was taught you never, ever disrespect your opponent or your teammates or your organization or your manager and never, ever your uniform.
My mom was at every single game I played as a kid, rain or shine.
I love to play baseball. I'm a baseball player. I've always been a baseball player. I'm still a baseball player. That's who I am.
When we went home every winter, they warned us not to lift heavy weights because they didn't want us to lose flexibility. They wanted us to be baseball players, not only home run hitters.
I don't expect any red carpet to the big leagues. If the opportunity comes, then it comes. But I don't think I'm owed anything.
I was a baseball player at North Central High School in Spokane, Washington even though I was all-city in basketball, even when I signed a letter of intent to play quarterback at Washington State.
At my growing years of 18 to 21 years old in the Minor Leagues, I dreamed of being a Philadelphia Phillie.
I have great memories of being a Cub, and I'm happy building new ones with the Phillies.
My wife Margaret is the best thing that's ever happened to me.
Baseball wasn't easy for me.
I was in the postseason twice and I'm thankful for that.
If this validates anything, it's that learning how to bunt and hit and run and turning two is more important than knowing where to find the little red light at the dug out camera.
A lot of people say this honor validates my career, but I didn't work hard for validation.
I was in awe every time I walked on to the field.
If you played the game the right way, played the game for the team, good things would happen.
The reason I am here, they tell me, is that I played the game a certain way, that I played the game the way it was supposed to be played.
