Last week’s stunning announcement that Ryne Sandberg is returning to the Cubs seemed to provoke more questions than answers. Tribune Odds & Ins columnist Fred Mitchell, who covered the Cubs during Sandberg’s glory years (1983-88) and co-authored the book “Ryno” in 1985, sat down with the future Hall of Fame second baseman for a question-and-answer session about his return.
Question–What aspects of the game did you miss the most?
Answer–“I think I missed being at Wrigley Field, being in front of the fans and really being a part of the team and having fun. That’s what I’m going back for. I’m looking forward to it. I was a baseball player, I am still a baseball player. I don’t think it really left me.”
Q–Is it possible that taking a year-and-a-half off can actually help you become a better ballplayer?
A–“Taking a year-and-a-half off, I think I appreciate how good the players have it. And they should be enjoying what they’re doing and having fun with it. I think that (time off) was good for me. To be a fan of the game, which I will always be, and to go to the ballpark and really sit back and enjoy it . . . yeah, I think players sometimes get caught up in maybe putting too much pressure on themselves. Or not liking coming to the ballpark every day. Well, I have a different sense of that now.”
Q–Did you feel as if you quit on the team when you retired in the middle of the ’94 season?
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A–“I just felt like, under the circumstances, I couldn’t go out and be prepared to play the game. I just felt uncomfortable with that. That’s not what I was used to for 14 years. I just couldn’t go out there and fake it. But now I’m ready to go.”
Q–What role will your new wife and children play as far as your mental happiness and preparation for baseball?
A–“She (Margaret Koehnemann) is very supportive, and that’s a big thing. She’s a sports fan, and we have kids that play (sports). And the kids are very excited. It should be a good experience. I have five kids, two dogs and two iguanas.”
Q–What was a typical day for you during retirement?
A–“Everything imaginable. A lot of activities with the kids. Vacations. I got married. I’m building a house, and there are just a lot of things going on. This really tops it off.”
Q–What if the Cubs had said they were not interested in your return? Would you have gone to another team?
A–“I might have. I wanted to play baseball. Obviously, I wanted to work something out with the Cubs. And I was very optimistic that I would be able to do that. But I didn’t know until we asked.”
Q–At what physical level are you now?
A–“This is all new, and I’m just starting. I have time on my side. I have five months to get in shape and get it all back. I don’t know where I’m going to be. Going into each season throughout my career, I didn’t know where I would be the next year.
“I know that I have a lot of hard work in store for me. I started three weeks ago working out. I have to get back into baseball condition and get my body in shape to play major-league baseball. There’s no question about that. I think another plus is living out in the Phoenix area. I can maybe report to spring training a little bit early. Maybe I can go over to the facilities around the first part of February.”
Q–At what point did you realize that you wanted to return to baseball?
A–“After my visit to Wrigley Field. I was there for the last three or four games of the season. And when I returned to Phoenix, I called my agent, Jimmy Turner. . . . I asked him if he could get in contact with the Cubs . . . that I would like to go back and play.”
Q–Why did you sign just a one-year contract?
A–“That’s what we agreed upon. It’s good for both parties. Obviously, the Cubs had some concerns on me not playing for a year-and-a-half. And (the contract) is good. It’s good for my family. We can have fun and do it for a year and see what happens after that.
“I look at it that I can play more than one year. I’m 36 and I’m in good shape. By no means is this only a one-year thing. . . . I think it would be kind of silly to go into this as if I were just going to play one year. That’s not my frame of mind at all.”
Q–You have always been a perfectionist. What if your performance doesn’t meet your standards?
A–“Well, I can’t look into the future and see how I’m going to play. But I can work very hard, and I’m very confident that I can help the Cubs win a lot of games and still enjoy the game the way I want to.”
Q–How important is it to you to have other free agents, such as Mark Grace and Shawon Dunston, return to the team?
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A–“I haven’t talked about who is coming back, but the nucleus of the ballclub is very good. . . . The Cubs have some signings to do, and I don’t know what those are going to be. But I like what I saw last year. And I have a lot of confidence in the Cubs to put a winner on the field.”
Q–If Larry Himes were still general manager, would this comeback be possible?
A–“I don’t know if I would have got the feeling that I did at Wrigley Field last year if some changes weren’t made. That plays a big part in it.”
Q–How have you kept yourself in shape while you were out of baseball?
A–“A little bit of everything. I played basketball and I played tennis. I participated in water sports and I was playing around with five kids. I’ve been busy.”
Q–Regarding the broken hand you sustained (in spring training of ’94), is that strength coming back a little bit?
A–“The water skiing has definitely helped my hands. I don’t know if that (fracture) took any toll on me at all. I came back from that and did fairly well. That was something I had to personally battle back from, more mentally than physically, I think.
“I might have had a little mental thing about it, as far as pitches coming inside. But that’s all behind me.”
Q–Do you see your role changing on the team as a more outspoken veteran leader?
A–“If I can come back and be some kind of an influence on young players, that’s something I can do and help the ballclub in another way.”
Q–What did you think of the public reaction to your retirement in 1994?
A–“That was something I had to do personally. I couldn’t worry about what the public thought. That was something I had to do. Now this is what I want to do, to come back and enjoy the game that I played for so many years.”
Q–Will this return give you happier closure to your great career?
A–“Absolutely. To end it on a note of being on the team that has fun and wins . . . those are things that brought me back.”
Q–Did you ever second-guess your decision to retire?
A–“No. I did the retirement thing and I did the summer activities. And I think it just got to the point that now is the time to go back and play baseball.”