🎙️ REMEMBERING RYNO: A Tribute to Ryne Sandberg | Exclusive w/ Curtis Wilkerson 🔥
Wednesday major league playing around with them bats OG making plays on the tracks and technology we mix it in with facts every Wednesday lot of interviews with ballers and winners winners What’s going down good people? Yes. Yes, y’all. I know you heard the track. Y’all know what time it is, man. It’s my favorite time of the week. Wednesday every Wednesday. My boy Trip tell you, man. what you know what y’all know about it, man. Welcome, welcome, welcome to the show. A lot to talk about today, man. We got a very exciting show ahead for you, man. Special interviews with special folks. You know how we like to get things going, man. Over here, we ask all the good pertinent questions, right? And get the good information, man, that people want to know about. Get the good uh behind the scenes stories that you never heard before. Give you a little insight on your favorite athletes from time to time. You know, these interviews are uh very special to us. And uh we got a special guest, Curtis Wilson, coming on a little bit later. So strap up, man. You know, buckle your safety belt, whatever you want to call it, man. Protect yourself. Strap in for a good time, man. I’m your host Ja aka Jonathan Anderson here with my awesome co-host Ron Bware my own. What’s going down? Oh, nothing much, man. Just uh here today, as you see on my shirt, it say day. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. That mean today, not tomorrow, not yesterday. it up. So we so we good today on Wednesday know getting ready to you know give have a little school you know and then and then and this what I want the people to know that’s when I when I when I ring the bell and say school is in Yeah. It’s not just for them. It’s for me too. Yeah. Oh I I mean you know they might they might can school me on some things. Yeah. So if you think you can or if you got some information I need jump in the live chat and we’ll chitchat about it. Absolutely, man. If you see something, say something. What up, nephew? Nephew Ryan. Hey, congratulations, Ryan. Let’s go. Hey, Ryan say he got that head coaching gig, baby, at the middle school. Hey, they got him a hell of a coach, man. Shout out to my nephew Ryan. That’s beautiful right there, man. Hey, we going to have a good time today, bro. Basketball, you know. Hey, that boy got that boy got that Smith range, bro. They was just, you know, unfortunately. Yeah. Well, the rest of the world didn’t get to experience that like I did. Hey, tell R. I know he know a lot about basketball. Yeah, nephew. But if you need a strength and conditioning coach for volunteer, give Uncle You know what it is, Yeah. we get down in these sports around here, you know, very knowledgeable and uh giving people the game. Are you speaking to the Rangers Rookie of the Year for 1984? Oh, Curtis Wilkerson. Absolutely. That’s who you’re speaking. I’ll tell him I said hello. I think you can see me. But I hope you guys have a great show and uh I’ll be here watching live. So, thank you guys so much. I’ll see you I’ll see you next week. Love you lot. Yes, man. Love you too, girl. Be good. Let’s see why it’s always fun. Always. Yes, it is. Hey. Hey, Miss Cy, man. You know she going to tighten us up. You know, we got good information, man. every single time she comes through, she’s going to tighten us up with that good good information. But, uh, you know, without further ado, you know, I call him Silky. You know, he has graced us with his presence before. And it’s, uh, Miss Cyc 1984 Rookie of the Year. How you doing? Texas Rangers on very own. Also played with those Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals, and Chicago Cubs. Not in that order, but uh if you notice the jersey, I say it’s the I didn’t save the best for last, but in this certain conversation, absolutely save the best for last. Hey, city of Chicago, got one of your uh great wonders uh on this show today. Uh city of Arlington, Texas. One of our great wonders, the eighth, ninth wonder of our world around here. You know, Mr. Curtis Wilkinson joining us for a nice time today on Noonishness, man. Let me get them tapped in real people. Welcome to the show. Welcome. Let’s go. We love you around here, bro. Sick. You been good? Yes. Hanging in there. How you doing, huh? Good. Good, man. How you doing? Hey, good to see you. Good to see you, too, man. Hey, we got a we got a date we haven’t kept yet. I know it. Mhm. It’s going down though. It’s going down though, man. So, absolutely. Yes, sir. You know, it’s uh you know, we’ve been chopping it up. It’s good to see you again, sir. You know, appreciate you coming on the show for this uh special occasion today, man. Uh you know what’s been going down with you, S. You looking good, boy. You been them sprints, them sexes, or what? What’s going down? No, don’t start that, man. I ain’t trying to pop Achilles. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, man. But on on a serious note, we know what’s good, man. Um, you know, recently uh a beloved teammate of yours, right? Just uh passed away. And uh one of the, you know, I actually wanted you to come on and just speak about, you know, Ryan Sandberg, you know, is to you. And uh I’ve never seen anybody spell the name Ryan like that. He’s a special dude, you know, even from the spelling of his name. All by Ne. Yeah, we know. Yeah. And you know, it wasn’t only one 23 uh draft in 1984 uh that impacted the city of Chicago. It was another one on that diamond by the name of Ryan Sandberg. But, uh, Kurt, you know, that was what we was we was close. We he was a great teammate, man. We we had some fun and you learn a lot by watching him play. He was graceful. He he wasn’t uh flashy. He just was routine. Everything Everything he did was, you know, he had that presence on the field, man. He demanded respect and he earned it. Yeah. Yeah. He was you talk about 23, you know, he was 23 before Jordan, man. His baseball come first. Yeah, he was 23 Jordan. That’s true. Yep. So, yeah, you know, tell me, you know, a little bit about what made him great outside of let’s take baseball away from it. Let’s talk about the person Ryan Sandberg, right? uh you have to be around a city and around an organization uh for that matter, you know, um being a a good person first, you know, doing things for your community and uh really representing that that logo, right? You know, representing that shield correctly, you know, tell us what made him such an incredible person off the field, Kurt, in your opinion. Well, first of all, I want to send my condolence to the family. That’s a simple thing. You know, he’s going to be missed. But, you know, when you talk about Ryan Sandberg, it’s just the way he carried himself. He was quiet. He was very quiet. He always had a smile on his face when he when he was around people. He’ll stop and sign autographs. He was just a great guy. But when you know, it’s hard not to talk about baseball because that’s that’s what he is. Baseball. Yeah. And when when he went about his business, man, he didn’t uh he didn’t talk much. He just went out there and did his thing. Did his thing. He backed up everything. He, you know, when he went out there, he played played hard, worked hard, and he was very professional. Very, very professional. He went about his business the right way. Yeah. And y’all get to play up the middle with him, you know, short and second type of situation. I played I played Well, I remember in uh it was spring training, right? I’m playing shorts stop and man on first. The ball went up to the middle, right? So when I caught it, I flipped it like this to him. Yeah. And as as he come catch the ball, he said, “Hey, I don’t play that shit.” What? You know, he don’t like flashy stuff. Yeah. You know, you get he wants you to do it like that. But it was the play where I had to do it and I went like that. And when I did that, he said, “I don’t play that shit.” And boom, he and he turned the door play. And then he turned around, he looked at me, he laughed. Yeah. You backhanded it with the gloves. just kind of b swatted it at him real quick. He said, “I don’t play that shit.” And I was like, take that thing on, didn’t he? But man, watching him play, man, he was amazing, dude. He he could hit, he could run, and like I say, when he filled, but he, you know, he making errors. What? Nine, two gloves, something like that. Yeah. He so many games without making an error. It was It was amazing, man. Yeah. What do you have uh just a a story uh about an experience that you had with, you know, on the field, off the field, whatever, outside of the one you just gave us? Uh to he was he was a prankster, man. He was a prankster. And like like we go on the road and we come off the road, you know, I have my bag. I put all my stuff in there. So I get I get home and then the next road trip I clean my bag out. Yeah. So I look I got all the airplane stuff that you know the the snacks and everything in my bag and I’m like what the hell? And then he said how how do you like your snacks? And I was like you okay he was he was he was a prankster big time. And you know what? I remember in spring training, even during the season, if you go and pinch run for pinch, pinch run for him, like if they up, you know, they’ll take him out the game. And I go in there and I’m a pinch run for him. And so when you you get out there, he’ll run past you, right? He’ll go like this, right? Yeah. And then when I get do that, he’ll go and keep on running. I said, “You dirty dog.” He was just But we know it was fun, you know. It was very fun. He just He was good. Good teammate, man. man kept it fun on the field. Yeah. Professional, man. It’s amazing, man. It’s uh I remember Don Zimmer was the manager and you know, and Samberg, he he hit for power, you know, and uh he wanted to move he wanted to move Sanberg to third base so I could play second base. Rhyno said, “Bullshit. That ain’t happening. That ain’t happening.” Yeah. But, you know, I respect him. I’m like, “Hey, I just did my job. I was a role player. I did it. Played behind him and Sean Dunson. I mean, what are you gonna do?” Man, y’all had a squad, didn’t you? Yeah. That’s when I got traded over there and I’m like, I’m starting second base for the Rangers. I got traded over there. I’m like, you got Sandberg at second and Dustin at short. I’m like, where am I gonna play? And that’s all you knew really to that was the Rangers, huh? Yep. Yeah. That’s wild. That’s wild. Did you go to Pittsburgh after Chicago? Oh, the order mix between those Rangers, Cubs, Pittsburgh, Kansas City. Gotcha. Yeah, man. That’s crazy, man. That’s crazy. So, you know, I I know you said uh the team is you still you still pretty close to that Cubs team? You know, a lot of those guys from that organization. me and uh Dave Clark, we we talk talk a lot. He’s third place coach now for uh for Houston. Okay. He was general manager for a little bit there for be managing somewhere. Yeah. But but he called me last Monday. Last Monday he called me. Yeah. And with the news about Rhyno, they would expect him to make it through today. Yeah. But he made he made it a week, you know. But you know, we talked about it, man. He’s gonna fight. That’s just who he was as a player, you know. Yeah. But, you know, it’s, you know, you hate to see people leave leave us like that. Such a young guy, but at least he’s not suffering anymore. That’s the way I look at it, man. Yeah. And rest now, you know. Absolutely. He was at peace. From what I heard, he was at peace. So, uh recently he had been awarded what you know what did they fame like what was he awarded he had a ceremony a few years ago or the statue uh at regular field and uh I I hate that it was last year and he he had me on the list to to to come you know and that’s I regret I didn’t go but I had my my 14 youth team and it was their last uh tournament right yes and it in Florida. So, I decided to go ahead and go with the kids. I hate to go though. Pointing to the kids, man. That’s That’s crazy. And the fact that he had you on that list, you know, that means a lot. I know every teammate that he played with was on that list. You know, that’s a special group that to your character and who you are as a teammate. How long were you in Chicago? I was there two years. Yeah. Two years. That’s two years of a long career, you know, and and you made the list, p you know what I’m like, you know, speaks to the relationship and how highly he thought of you. You know, you you know, that’s that’s, you know, being impactful and short period of time up there, man. But, you know, I heard, you know, this is the first time, you know, since he’s been ill. This not the first time I’ve heard you mention Ryan S conversation telling me something about that guy for a while. I could go on and on and on, you know, but everything was was a respect though. Yeah. Because you you look at his Hall of Fame speech, man. It was it was amazing. He he his speech was like if you hit a home run, act like you’ve done it before. Put your back down. Put your head down and run, you know, stuff like that. That’s that’s the way he went about his business. Yeah. And in his respect, you know. He said he like one part. He said uh you know, when you hit a home run, it ain’t about the name on the back. It’s about what you wear. You represent the Cubs. That’s the way you went about his business. Old school mentality, man. You know, we miss that here in sports these days. We need that back. Absolutely. Because it’s all about we talking about Cam early and how Cam going after. It’s all about Superman me like you know all but you know it’s about this team when you got guys around you. I I I would I wish some of the kids, the players today or some even kids would listen to his speech of what he said. I love that when he said it ain’t about what’s on the back of on the back of your jersey, it’s what’s on the front of the jersey. And I love that. Absolutely, man. And that’s, you know, why he was in that league for so long, representing that shield, representing that ring, our ultimate professional, right? A professional baseball player is what he was and very good at it, you know. Uh yeah. Yeah. So what I mean last we got time you know just one more I’m I’mma drag one more body you know more story you know I know you say he was a prankster. Yeah. One last thing you know something I want you to dig deep. So this is this is how you we all he he invited us out to dinner. Yeah. Right. And this is funny but we all go out to dinner. He’s making the money. Right. Yeah. He bringing this. So we all sitting there. There’s about six of us. He’s sitting. We sitting down and then the lady brings the check. He gets the check. He goes, “Uh, it’ll be $60.” Everybody $60 a piece. Everybody, you’re not coming to town. We all looked at each other go you. But then we get on. Then we get in the clubhouse. He looks and laugh. Yeah. You know just go ahead $6. $6. So he gave the club gave you money back. Yeah. Gave us money back. But you know I can’t anything that there’s nothing negative you can say about it. Yeah. I still have he’s gone now. God bless his soul. But I swear I we was on the road trip one day and it’s it’s like 10 minutes before the bus go leave the hotel to go to ballpark. Get away. Get away. I’m I got my suit on. I’m clean. And so someone knocks on my door. No, man. I look through the people. I don’t see nobody. Then I open the door. There’s a trash can full of water. Killed it. And when I open the door, the water just all over my pants. And it’s time to get on the bus, man. You know, from my knees, from my knees down to my feet, my stuff was wet. I’m walking to the bus. My my pants are all wet. The lady they up, man. I said, “Okay.” I swear it was Rhino. Rhino did that, too. Oh, I know you were hot too, boy. I was like, you kidding me? Yeah, man. We taking all this fun, you know. Yeah, that’s too, man. That’s all that’s all. You just got to get them back, you know. Got pranks up waiting on you to try to get them back. Yeah, I get to the ballpark. I just hand my pants to the uh clubhouse guys. Hey, uh can you get these clean right quick? No problem. Big deal, you know. I was not gonna prank him though. Is he gonna go? Yeah. You know, boy was snapping on second base. But the thing was too is uh you know, you don’t uh you just take it, man. Take it in goodness. Yeah, absolutely. There was some guys mad. I’m like, more you get mad, dude, the worse you it’s gonna get. Yeah. Just go with it, man. Yeah. Yeah. That’s it. That’s it, man. Now that’s great. Definitely appreciate you, you know, coming through, man. One more story, though. Yeah. One more story. Yeah. So, story. So, this is true, too. A pop up in the infield. Yeah. And you know what Sandberg does? He points like, “Sean, you got it. Nothing. No problems.” show up. He did not pop up or what? Wow. It’s a little different than an infield catching a popup. You got to know you end up on your booty if you don’t if you don’t know your space too well cuz that wind was crazy. He always go Sean Sean. Yep. You got it. Cold blooded. Yeah. Yeah, man. No, that’s great, man. Beautiful. Great stories, man. Uh, you know, we wanted to pay homage and a legend, man. Chicago legend. Yeah. Appreciate you wearing that jersey. Oh, you had to had to do it, man. You had the blue one on last week, you know. Yeah, that’s right. 19 on the back. Yeah, man. Yeah. What’ you say? That’s Manny. Oh, so what were you on the Cubs then? I know. Yeah. What number you were on the Cubs? 19. But he was before me. That’s why I said that. Okay. Well, yeah. I’m gonna go back. What’ you say? Go back. I have to go back and get all my jerseys. Yeah. Do that, man. Do that. I probably I probably get 23 straight up. I probably will. Yeah, if you can I’ll pay for let me know, man. Yes, sir. Appreciate you. All right. Appreciate you in the building, man. Yes, sir.
Ryne “Ryno” Sandberg wasn’t just a Hall of Famer, he was a symbol of Chicago grit and greatness. In this exclusive interview, Curtis Wilkerson shares memories and untold stories about Sandberg’s impact on the game, the city, and his teammates. This tribute honors Ryno’s legacy, both on and off the field.
Whether you’re a lifelong Cubs fan or new to baseball, this is a must-watch celebration of a legend. #RyneSandberg #RIPRyno #ChicagoCubs #BaseballTribute #CurtisWilkerson
🙏 RIP Ryne Sandberg. Your glove, your bat, and your heart changed the game forever.
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