Cubs honoring Ryne Sandberg with ceremonial uniform patch

MILWAUKEE — The Chicago Cubs have unveiled a ceremonial patch on their uniform in memory of Ryne Sandberg one day after the Hall of Famer’s death.

Sandberg, who made 10 All-Star teams with the Cubs before his retirement in 1997, died Monday at age 65. The blue patch has a red 23 — Sandberg’s uniform number — and features his signature in white lettering. It sits over the Cubs logo on an arm sleeve.

The Cubs posted a video on social media of the patch being sewn onto the uniforms before Tuesday night’s game at Milwaukee. While warming up before the game, the Cubs wore T-shirts with the message, “FO23VER.”

“It’s sad because it kind of hits home I think a little more, but in the other way, you want to honor Ryno the best we can and shine a spotlight on a great life lived, for all the great things he represented as a man and as a Chicago Cub,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said.

There was a moment of silence to honor Sandberg before Tuesday’s game.

As Sandberg dealt with his cancer diagnosis last year, the Cubs unveiled a statue outside Wrigley Field that showed the second baseman in his familiar defensive crouch. As he talked about Sandberg before Tuesday’s game, Counsell looked back on that ceremony from June 2024.

“I was thinking about the day the statue was unveiled,” Counsell said. “That’s my favorite day as a Chicago Cub, just the team being there and fans in a different setting than in the ballpark, and watching Ryno and his family and knowing what he was going through and everything.”

Sandberg hit .285 with 282 homers, 1,061 RBIs and 344 steals in 15 years with the Cubs and was voted NL MVP in 1984. The second baseman played 13 games for Philadelphia in 1981 but was traded to Chicago the following January.