Ryne Sandberg

I was a hard worker.

Steve Bartman was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

'The Sandberg Game' comes up all the time. Fans tell me where they were. They were driving down the highway, they were in the bleachers, they were downtown listening on the radio, they were on the farm on a tractor. I've heard all the stories where people have been. They're just amazed by the ending of the game and the thrill of it.

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.

One of the first benchmarks in a season are far as at-bats is 100.

I'm not interested in on-the-job learning or on-the-job training.

There is a lot to managing, and with almost four years under my belt, I believe I'm ready.

I knew nothing about managing when I started.

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.

My Hall of Fame speech was about respect for the game.

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.

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.

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.

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.

If you're in the minor leagues, you want to get to the majors.

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.

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 got into pro ball at 18 and played until I was almost 39, non-stop.

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.

At my growing years of 18 to 21 years old in the Minor Leagues, I dreamed of being a Philadelphia Phillie.