Ryne Sandberg
My mom was at every single game I played as a kid, rain or shine.Collection: Mom
I was in the postseason twice and I'm thankful for that.Collection: Thankful
In baseball, there's always the next day.
I didn't play the game right because I saw a reward at the end of the tunnel.
I'd rather play a double-header than speak at a banquet, and if I went to Wrigley Field knowing I had to be somewhere two hours after the game, it would bother me all day.
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 was a hard worker.
A lot of people say this honor validates my career, but I didn't work hard for validation.
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.
I'm not a sportswriter. I don't get to vote. I don't get the ballot in the mail, so it's out of my hands either way. I can say that in the history of the Hall of Fame, there are no suspicions about guys who are in the Hall of Fame.
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.
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.
I have great memories of being a Cub, and I'm happy building new ones with the Phillies.
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.
I had too much respect for the game to leave it behind or to make it my second or third sport in college.
If you played the game the right way, played the game for the team, good things would happen.
The fourth major league game I ever saw in person, I was in uniform.
I was in awe every time I walked on to the field.
I was taught you never, ever disrespect your opponent or your teammates or your organization or your manager and never, ever your uniform.
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.
When did it - When did it become okay for someone to hit home runs and forget how to play the rest of the game?
I played it right because that's what you're supposed to do - play it right and with respect.
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.
There was Shawon Dunston and Mark Grace, and together we were a double play combination for ten years.
No player in baseball history worked harder, suffered more, or did it better than Andre Dawson. He's the best I've ever seen.
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.
Baseball wasn't easy for me.
I struggled many times when maybe it didn't look like I was struggling, and I had to work hard every day.
I had to prepare physically every day, and I didn't leave many scraps for the writers.
My wife Margaret is the best thing that's ever happened to me.
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 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 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.
At my growing years of 18 to 21 years old in the Minor Leagues, I dreamed of being a Philadelphia Phillie.
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 got into pro ball at 18 and played until I was almost 39, non-stop.
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.
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.
If you're in the minor leagues, you want to get to the majors.
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.
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.
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.
My Hall of Fame speech was about respect for the game.
Get your work in. Work hard at it. Give it your best effort. And if you get an opportunity, be ready for it. That's respect for the game.
I knew nothing about managing when I started.
There is a lot to managing, and with almost four years under my belt, I believe I'm ready.
I'm not interested in on-the-job learning or on-the-job training.
One of the first benchmarks in a season are far as at-bats is 100.
Any time you're in the coaching business or managing in the minor leagues, when you see a player who has made it to the major leagues, you get a thrill out of that.
They use the word 'integrity' in describing a Hall of Famer in the logo of the Hall of Fame, and I think there are gonna be quite a few players that are not going to get in.