Cubs legend Ryne Sandberg gives health update during ‘challenging' cancer fight
More than a year and a half after his initial diagnosis, Sandberg posted an update about his 'challenging' fight with prostate cancer to his Instagram on Wednesday.
'It's been a challenging few months as I have been going through treatment on a regular basis,' the 65-year-old wrote. 'While I am continuing to fight, I'm looking forward to making the most of every day with my loving family and friends.'
3 Ryne Sandberg threw out the ceremonial first pitch for the Cubs at their home opener this season.
MLB Photos via Getty Images
Sandberg revealed his diagnosis in January 2024 before announcing that he was cancer-free several months later in August.
But by December 2024, the cancer had not only returned, but had spread to other organs.
'This means that I'm back to more intensive treatment,' the former infielder said in December. 'We will continue to be positive, strong, and fight to beat this. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for me and my family.'
While the battle has continued, Sandberg made an appearance at Wrigley Field in April when he threw out the first pitch for the Cubs' home opener.
3 Sandberg in 2022 before the Cubs and Reds squared off at the Field of Dreams.
Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports
The Cubs have kept Sandberg entertained in the meantime, as the team boasts a 57-39 record, leading the National League Central and only trailing the 58-39 Dodgers for the best record in the NL.
'I haven't been to Wrigley Field as much as I hoped in the first half but I'm watching every game and am excited for the second half and to see Wrigley rocking like 1984!' Sandberg wrote in his post on Wednesday.
Aside from 13 games with the Phillies in his rookie season, Sandberg played his entire 16-year career with the Cubs.
3 Ryne Sandberg of the Chicago Cubs bats during an MLB game at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois during the 1986 season.
Getty Images
In 1984, the second baseman won the NL MVP award with his .314 batting average, 19 home runs and 84 RBIs. He also led MLB in triples (19) and runs scored (19) and was tops in the NL in WAR (8.5).
Sandberg was a 10-time All-Star, nine-time Gold Glove recipient and seven-time Silver Slugger.
The legend was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.
'Thank you for all the messages of support,' Sandberg concluded in his Instagram post. 'Go Cubs!'
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Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Nick Kurtz's historic 4-HR barrage is latest proof that 'The Big Amish' is slugging his way into AL Rookie of the Year race
For the first time in his young career, 22-year-old first baseman Nick Kurtz was named AL Player of the Week on Monday after his highly productive showing in the Athletics' first series of the second half vs. Cleveland. With the All-Star festivities having put a pause on the regular season, this award, doled out weekly by the league office, didn't cover the usual sample of six or seven games played over a week. Instead, it highlighted just the first weekend after the break. And in that abbreviated sample, Kurtz mashed to an outstanding degree, collecting multiple hits in all three games at Progressive Field, including five of the extra-base variety. On the surface, it's a modest accomplishment for the rookie first baseman, the first official accolade in a career that promises to feature plenty more. At the same time, 'player of the week' wholly undersells what Kurtz has been doing at the plate lately. Because he was not just the star of this past week(end). He has been the best hitter in baseball for the past nine weeks. Kurtz put the baseball world on further notice Friday with a historic night at the plate when he became the first rookie in MLB history to homer four times in a game in a 15-3 blowout of the Houston Astros. Kurtz went 6-for-6 with 8 RBI and 19 total bases. The A's broadcasters toasted the feat in the booth with a butter churn celebration, paying homage to Kurtz's "Big Amish" nickname given to him to acknowledge his Lancaster, Pennsylvania roots. "It's hard to think about this day being kind of real, it still feels like a dream," Kurtz said postgame via ESPN. Neither Aaron Judge nor Cal Raleigh nor Ronald Acuña Jr. nor Kurtz's NL Player of the Week counterpart, red-hot trade candidate Eugenio Suárez, has been as dominant with the bat as the A's rookie since the end of May. Over the past 42 games before Friday's explosion, Kurtz was hitting .327/.408/.782 with 18 home runs, good for a 1.190 OPS and 217 wRC+ that were both tops in baseball. [Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season] 'I think Nick's put himself, in a very short time, in conversation about Rookie of the Year,' A's manager Mark Kotsay said in Cleveland. 'We've got one on the team right now that's probably a little ahead of him in Jacob [Wilson]. But it's fun to watch these two, and it's going to be fun to watch them over the next 64 games and the progress they're able to make.' Indeed, Wilson's marvelous first half, which led to him starting the All-Star Game at shortstop for the AL, has somewhat overshadowed Kurtz's prolonged hot streak. But make no mistake: Both are succeeding to a degree achieved by very few rookie hitters as they emerge as one of the most promising young position-player duos in baseball. 'Nick, he's still learning the league,' Kotsay said. 'Jacob got a little head start on him. 'But Nick seems to be a quick learner.' 'Now it's go time' Three weeks of torching Triple-A pitching earned Kurtz his big-league call-up on April 23, roughly nine months after he was selected fourth overall in the 2024 MLB Draft. It wasn't smooth sailing at first: After he hit his first home run on May 13, Kurtz fell into an 0-for-21 skid that plummeted his OPS to a paltry .558. But Kurtz didn't panic. And those who observed how he went about his business in the earliest days of his big-league tenure were unsurprised when he began to not just dig himself out of that hole but also flourish in spectacular fashion upon finding his footing. 'He had to go through some struggles, like everybody does, and he didn't press,' A's hitting coach Chris Cron said. 'It wasn't a major deal. Of course he wanted to do well, but it wasn't the end of the world.' 'When you come billed with the kind of power he came with, to not be able to tap into that readily and immediately, I think you would see some guys start to scramble,' former A's pitcher and current broadcaster Dallas Braden said. 'Instead, what he did was cut the swing down and spray the baseball all over the yard until he got comfortable to a point where he could dip back into that power pool.' It took some time for Kurtz to tweak his patented patient approach, which he mastered as an amateur, to fit the unique challenge of hitting major-league pitching. 'If you wait for your pitch, you're probably striking out on three pitches,' he said. 'It's all about adjusting on the fly and pitch-to-pitch. Some guys, you need to be aggressive on pitches that aren't necessarily your pitch. When I first got up, I was trying to be a little too patient. Being down 0-1, 0-2, 1-2 so much … this game is so hard.' Kurtz realized early on that he needed to take control of his at-bats, rather than letting the pitcher dictate the terms of engagement. And behind the scenes, he was making adjustments to allow his strengths to manifest against more daunting competition. 'His ability just to communicate what he's trying to do, understand the information that we're throwing out there — that doesn't just happen with a snap of the finger,' Cron said. 'You tell him something, he can absorb, and he can apply. Application of the information is the hardest thing to grasp, and he does that.' Said All-Star teammate Brent Rooker: 'To have as high-level approaches as he has as a 22-year-old, and then to also go out and execute them and execute them with the power that he does … That makes him stand out.' Soon enough, Kurtz began to better understand when to unleash his thunderous left-handed swing — 'It's about playing the game and the situations,' he said — and the results followed. 'Once he found himself in 2-0, 2-1s, 3-0, 3-1s,' Braden said, 'now it's go time.' With that, Kurtz took off. On May 20, he snapped his hitless skid with a single and a home run against the Angels. Two more homers followed the next day. A strained left hip flexor put Kurtz on the injured list later that week and threatened to derail his newfound momentum, but the brief injury scare was no trouble. It took just one minor-league rehab game — he homered, of course — before Kurtz rejoined the A's lineup and resumed raking. 'It's kind of what you dream about' As the home runs kept coming, each seismic swing seemed to carry greater weight than the last: A go-ahead blast off Royals closer Carlos Estévez in the top of the ninth in Kansas City. Two walk-off homers against the Astros off elite relievers in Bryan Abreu and Josh Hader. A titanic, three-run shot in Detroit — the only home run ball to reach the shrubbery beyond the center-field wall at Comerica Park this season — that provided the only runs in a 3-0 victory over the Tigers. And that magical Friday night against the Astros. Whether in pregame batting practice or in high-stakes battles against some of the best pitchers on the planet, the power that was promised during Kurtz's brief time as a prospect has consistently been on display this season. Most remarkably, Kurtz's ability to clear the fence from foul pole to foul pole is nearly unrivaled; only Judge has hit more home runs to the opposite field or to straightaway center since the start of June entering Friday. And when Kurtz is going good, the homers tend to come in bunches. It happened last spring, when he hit 14 homers in a 10-game span after a cold start to his junior season at Wake Forest. It happened before his call-up this year, when he hit seven homers across 12 games in Triple-A. Now it's happening at the highest level, with a five-homers-in-six-games run in June and an 11-homers-in-14-games stretch in July. Kurtz did his best to describe what it's like to be so locked in: "It's probably one of the best feelings, knowing when you're up there — honestly, it doesn't matter whether you get a hit or not — but I know what I'm feeling in my swing, I know exactly where [the bat] is going. I'm seeing the ball — it's huge right now. It's kind of what you dream about.' "It amazes me,' said Rooker, who was also a first-round draft pick out of college but didn't blossom into an impact big-league bat until his age-28 season. 'I was a very, very good college player. And if you had thrown me in the big leagues at 22, I would've absolutely had no chance.' [Get more A's news: Athletics team feed] 'I don't think people realize how difficult that is' Rooker's more gradual development only increases his appreciation for how Kurtz and Wilson have hit the ground running as rookies. 'Their ability to just jump right in and have success immediately and adjust as quickly as they have, I don't think people realize how difficult that is,' he said. Adding to the unique dynamic of this unrivaled rookie duo is how drastically different they are as players. Wilson is a skinny, right-handed shortstop who thrives on a hyper-aggressive approach and succeeds thanks to his nearly unparalleled bat-to-ball skills. Kurtz is a gargantuan, left-handed first baseman who whiffs often but pulverizes the ball so frequently that the punchouts are entirely tolerable. 'I don't think there's one way, from a hitting standpoint, to tell somebody how to do it,' Kotsay said. 'Jacob has his unique style. He's a bat-to-ball guy that puts it in play and sometimes seems to have a magic wand where he can hit it where he wants to. I played with a guy like that — Tony Gwynn — who had that magic wand. 'And for Nick, when he touches it, he impacts the baseball, and he can leave anywhere in the yard. They're definitely two different styles of hitters, but they have an advanced approach for how young they are in knowing who they are and knowing what they're trying to do.' Said Wilson of his counterpart: 'When we drafted him, it was obviously a huge bat for us to go out and get, and as you can see, it's translating to the big-league level pretty nicely right now. Definitely happy to have him on the team, excited to hopefully play with him for a very long time.' Kurtz's and Wilson's Baseball Savant pages are opposites to a spectacular degree, a fitting reflection of each player leaning all the way in on what he does best. To Rooker, this is a great sign. "The key to having success here is knowing what you're good at and then just being as good as you possibly can be at those things,' he said. 'Everybody here is doing something at an elite level. ... You have to figure out what that thing is, and you have to be as good as you possibly can at that. There's a ton of value, obviously, in trying to improve your weaknesses. [But] I think there's more value in finding your superpower and doing that as well as you possibly can. And I think those two guys are perfect examples of that.' 'Yes ... I'm a big leaguer' For as impressive of a start to his career as Kurtz has had, he knows this is just the beginning. "I put zero expectations on myself in Year 1,' he said. 'I had no idea what I was getting into.' He also will not stay this hot forever; another round of adjustments is surely in store, a regression to reality that will put his advanced aptitude to the test once again. And for the Athletics as a whole — a franchise in a transition between cities, with an inexperienced yet ascendent roster still figuring out how to translate talent into victories — every game is another opportunity to grow together. 'That's the best part about what we've developed here with some of those young guys — they're coming up together,' Cron said. 'And these two guys, Jacob, with his lineage, with his dad playing [in the big leagues], he's been around the game. The maturity of Nick Kurtz is off the charts. Physically, they're not the same, but they have this mindset of, 'Yes,' — without being braggadocious —'I'm a big leaguer.' And there's nothing that really fazes either one of them.' Veterans such as Rooker will continue to play a critical role in these young players' development, and Kurtz is quick to credit the A's DH, as well as the recently released Seth Brown. But Kurtz also knows that the franchise's future depends on his generation becoming the driving force behind the team's success. 'We might not all know the answers,' he said, 'but we're in it together, and we're gonna figure it out.'
San Francisco Chronicle
34 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trans athlete ban part of Trump's quest to ruin L.A. Olympics and sports, one step at a time
How did the world ever hold an Olympic Games before Donald Trump came along to show us the way? That guy's latest move to fix the Games is his executive order barring transgender athletes from competing for the U.S. team in women's events at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. This is in the wake of Trump saving the city of L.A. from total annihilation at the hands of rampaging mobs. You can already feel the order, peace and love building for this Olympics, can't you? Try harder. Trump doesn't have the authority to ban American trans athletes from the Olympics, but, well, actually he does, because he can do whatever he wants to do until someone pushes back, and that's not happening here. By its federal charter, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee has exclusive authority over all matters regarding U.S. representation in the Olympics. The USOPC receives no federal funding. Its policy on trans athletes — which is that each U.S. sporting body sets its own rules — was formulated over years of study and discussion. Then the USOPC tossed that policy out the window like night water in a chamber pot. 'Our revised policy emphasizes the importance of ensuring fair and safe competition environments for women,' explained Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the USOPC. Whatever you do, make it sound like you're taking the high road, not that you've been bullied into submission. If rolling over and playing dead becomes an Olympic sport for '28, the USOPC 'leaders' have a shot at the gold. But they'll face stiff competition from heavyweight law firms, universities, TV empires, tech titans, big newspapers and elected officials. It's all for the better, especially in the world of sports, which has a true champion in Trump. For example: • He is leading the charge to restore abandoned team nicknames to the NFL's Washington Commanders and MLB's Cleveland Guardians. He is threatening to withhold federal wampum. • In baseball, Trump has coerced MLB into giving the dead and disgraced Pete Rose a shot at the Hall of Fame. • In golf, he patched up the rift between the PGA Tour and the LIV Tour. Wait, he didn't? He said he could fix that problem in 15 minutes, and it's already been six months? At least he's trying, maybe because the LIV Tour feeds his ego and fattens his wallet. • In pro football, he once destroyed an entire league, the USFL, but took a mulligan and saved the NFL by putting a stop to national anthem protests by 'son of a bitch' players. His bullying led the NFL to rule in 2018 that players were required to stand at attention, unless they opted to stay in the locker room. You could protest all you wanted, as long as you didn't let Trump see you. • Most recently, Trump issued an executive order setting in motion a plan to limit the earning ability of college athletes. These greedy kids have to be taught that there's more to life than money. To put teeth in his order, signed in an Oval Office decorated with more gold than King Tut's tomb, Trump will use the familiar threat of cutting federal funding. That penalty that would be administered by the Department of Education, which he is in the process of dismantling. But if one were to rank Trump's proudest sports accomplishments, his attack on trans folks would be at or near the top. It's where his heart is. He recently pulled the plug on a national suicide hotline for LGBTQ+ kids. In sports, to the man who has declared himself the winner of golf tournaments in which he didn't physically participate, the trans issue speaks to the heart of his idea of fair competition. It's also instant gratification. Trump might not be able to deliver on promises to end wars, his tariff follies might be throwing global commerce into turmoil, but with a bold stroke of his Sharpie, Trump can stop the invading horde of sports-wrecking trans athletes. Horde-lite, I should say. According to the International Olympic Committee, less than 0.001% of recent Olympians openly identify as trans and/or nonbinary. I did the math. About 11,000 athletes will compete at the L.A. Olympics. By statistical probability, one-tenth of one athlete at those Olympics will be a trans woman. If that athlete wins a medal, it should be the size of a dime. Granted, this is not a black-and-white issue. Recent polls show that a majority of Americans are not in favor of trans women and girls competing against cisgender women and girls. OK, if we're going to decide controversial issues simply on the basis of polls, then we should anticipate Trump signing executive orders to institute tough gun-control laws, restore female reproductive rights, and give back to immigrants the due process guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The trans athlete controversy isn't a yes-or-no deal. In 2021 the IOC released a lengthy document titled 'Framework on Fairness,' essentially a guidebook to help national Olympic committees formulate their rules regarding trans athletes. The document says, basically, let's weigh all the factors and not rush to emotional or political decisions. For instance, the Framework points out that there is no known instance of a male athlete proclaiming himself trans for the purpose of sneaking into women's competition, but the document does offer provisions to deal with that scenario. That document is way too touchy-feely for Trump. Like the part that says, 'The Framework asks sports bodies to consider the value of inclusion for, and the needs and rights of, trans athletes and athletes with sex variations.' As if. So you either go with the Framework suggestion that decisions be made after employing science, compassion, debate, fairness and all that, or you go with the Trump method, which is to trim the infant's fingernails with a chainsaw. Hold still, you little brat! It all adds to the excitement Trump is injecting into the L.A. Olympics. He has created the image of a city in chaos, overrun by violent mobs held at bay only by heavily armed federal troops. What potential Olympics visitor can't wait to wade into that party? Trump's visa restrictions, and his demonization of former allies like Canada and Mexico, figure to make the whole tourist experience much more interesting. Can you get into America? Can you get out? On the fields of play, more questions. Would Trump interfere with trans athletes from other countries getting visas? Will he try to stop them from competing? Will he have them thrown into an ICE pop-up gator gulag? Trump does not control the IOC. Not yet. But he could threaten to scuttle the L.A. Olympics if the IOC doesn't play by his rules. The charter under which the USOPC operates is not a presidential charter, but a congressional charter. Congress, for instance, created oversight mechanisms to ensure fairness to athletes. Now, though, Trump has seized the wheel from Congress and announced that he will steer this ship by himself. In a way, isn't it much simpler when one person makes all the rules and decisions for all of us? Eliminates so much mindless chatter and red tape. There should be a name for a guy who runs the whole show with unquestionable authority and ruthless, unchecked power. Any ideas, send 'em our way.
CNN
34 minutes ago
- CNN
Nick Kurtz becomes first MLB rookie to hit four home runs in one game
Nick Kurtz made baseball history on Friday night, becoming the first MLB rookie ever to hit four home runs in a single game, during the Athletics' 15-3 win over the Houston Astros. The 22-year-old's performance – one of the greatest in MLB history by any player, rookie or otherwise – also saw him rack up 19 total bases, tying the major league record set by Shawn Green in 2002. 'It still really hasn't sat in that it's actually just happened,' a near-speechless Kurtz told reporters afterward. 'That I had a game like that. It's stuff that you don't even dream about, because it doesn't really happen. So it's an unbelievable feeling.' Kurtz went six-for-six, going deep off each of the Astros pitchers in the second, sixth, eighth and ninth innings. He also added in a single in the first, as well as a 381-foot, fourth-inning double which would have been a home run in six MLB ballparks, per ESPN. He finished with six runs and eight RBIs. 'It's arguably the best game I've ever watched from a single player,' Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said afterward. 'This kid continues to have jaw-dropping moments.' Kurtz is just the 20th player in major league history – and the first in franchise history – to go deep four times in a single game. He did so far earlier in his career than anyone else has ever managed. Before Friday, Mark Whiten's four-homer outing in his 425th MLB game in 1993 was the record, per ESPN. Kurtz achieved the feat in just his 66th appearance. At the age of 22, he is also by far the youngest player ever to do so, surpassing Pat Seerey who was 25 when he hit four home runs for the Chicago White Sox on July 18, 1948. Kurtz's historic night came with his parents and godparents watching on from the stands at Daikin Park. 'This is the first time my godparents have been here, so they probably have to come the rest of the year, to every single game,' Kurtz said afterward. Having been picked fourth overall by the A's in the 2024 Draft, the speed at which Kurtz has become one of the league's top hitters is remarkable. The Pennsylvania native has 23 home runs this season and is now on a 12-game hitting streak, during which he has racked up 20 extra-base hits.
