Cubs great Ryne Sandberg: 'A guy doesn't get a statue without teammates'

(670 The Score) Forty years to the date of the game affectionately known as “The Ryne Sandberg Game,” the Cubs will honor one of their all-time greats. Hall of Fame second baseman Ryne Sandberg will be immortalized outside of Wrigley Field on Sunday with a statue.

Sandberg’s statue will be unveiled in a ceremony at 3 p.m. in Gallagher Way. Sandberg will join Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo and Ferguson Jenkins as former Cubs to have statues outside of Wrigley Field. The statue will be unveiled in a ceremony that will include legendary broadcaster Bob Costas, who called the Ryne Sandberg Game – a 12-11 win for the Cubs over the Cardinals in which Sandberg had five hits, including two home runs, and seven RBIs.

But what will make the ceremony special for Sandberg is having a long list of former teammates in attendance to support him.

“My career will be well-represented by my teammates, and that goes a long way with me,” Sandberg said on the Mully & Haugh Show on Friday. “I’ve always talked about my teammates and what they’ve meant. A guy doesn’t get a statue without teammates. No question about that.”

Sandberg will be recognized amid a difficult year in which he has fought prostate cancer. His diagnosis was announced in January, and he has undergone treatment since. Sandberg's health is now moving in a positive direction, he said.

“I have a new appreciation for anyone who’s gone through cancer and gone through chemotherapy,” Sandberg said. “Mine is a very unusual type, very aggressive and will never go away completely. So, I'm getting it down to the bare minimum with chemo and now I'm going through radiation. But from Day 1, I never laid around. I walked around outside, I walked the dog. My wife and I walk around the town we live in.

“My strategy just took me back to my playing days of playing hurt, playing with the flu. Getting a couple hits and running the bases was pretty good medicine back in the day. Playing with bumps and bruises. I took my mentality and my makeup, that’s kind of how my strategy with this was. With my family, the kids and the grandkids, I've always been upbeat and I’ve always sounded good. What I say is I feel good. Because comparatively speaking, in December and early January, that did not feel good. With medicine that was working, that was very positive. All I can stay is blessed.

“These teammates have stepped up in the last six months, calling and texting, some that I haven’t even heard from in the last 20 years. But we’re teammates for life. That’s the small world of baseball. What great medicine that was to have them reach out in the last six months and check in with me.

“They definitely will be a big part of the weekend for me.”