The baseball world has not yet stopped mourning the death of the legendary Ryne Sandberg – the immortal symbol of the Chicago Cubs, Hall of Famer, the heart of Wrigley Field – at the age of 65 after a long battle with cancer. But behind the wreaths and the shared lines from former teammates, is the silent pain of his wife, the one who has been with him through all the ups and downs – Margaret “Margie” Sandberg. More than anyone, she is the one who witnessed not only the creation of a legend, but also a beautiful and heartbreaking love – now only in memory.
They met not on the field, but at a small party in Phoenix in the early 1980s – when Ryne Sandberg was still a young player struggling to find his place. Margie once said:
“He didn’t say much. But when he looked at me and smiled, I knew I had met the one I would spend the rest of my life with.”
From the days when he rode his old car to practice, to when he became a Cubs star, she sat in the stands, holding a sign that read: “Go, Ryno!”
When Sandberg won MVP in 1984, he said in a press conference:
“Every swing I took had a woman behind it – someone who never let me doubt myself.”
Their love was not loud, not lavish, but as solid as the glove he held throughout his career – simple, honest and unwavering.
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When Ryne was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in late 2023, he chose to keep it a secret, sharing it only with his family. Margie said that the night he received the results, he held her hand and said,
“I’m not afraid of dying, I’m just afraid of leaving you too soon.”
During the last months of his life, Margie barely left her hospital bed. Fans still saw her at Cubs tribute events – always smiling, but her eyes filled with unspoken fear.
A close friend recalled: “Even when he was weak, Ryne would ask his wife every morning, ‘Is it sunny in Chicago today?’ He missed the stadium, he missed the fans, but most of all – he missed the way she smiled.”
The day he died, the Cubs flags were flown at half-mast, and Wrigley Field was transformed into a sea of blue and white flowers. At the memorial service, Margie stood silently, looking at a picture of her husband on a large screen. When the microphone was brought up, she said in a trembling voice,
“You said baseball was your first love… but I know, I’m your last.”
At that moment, thousands of people in the stadium were in tears. Older fans recalled the amazing catches, the home runs that shook Chicago – but the image that they could not forget was the small wife standing in the middle of the crowd, holding her husband’s portrait, smiling tearfully.
After the funeral, Mrs. Margie returned to the small house in Arizona – where the two of them had planted dozens of cacti that Ryne loved. Every morning, she still poured two cups of coffee, still turned on the sports channel as if he were sitting there, quietly smiling.
“I still talk to him every day. I tell him when the Cubs win or lose, and I know – somewhere, he is still listening,” – she said in her latest interview, leaving millions of fans choked up.
The legend Ryne Sandberg may have left the field, but his love has not. It remains – in the heart of his wife, in every corner of Wrigley Field, and in the memories of those who believe that some love stories don’t need endings to be eternal.
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