Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame 2nd baseman Ryne Sandberg, whose hitting exploits led the Cubs to NL East Division championships in 1984 and 1989, had many a great game and great season during his storied 16 year career, the last 15 years of which were with the Cubs.

Sandberg hit 30 homers in 1989 while batting .290, 40 homers and 100 RBIs with a .306 BA in 1990 followed by 26 homers and 100 RBIs and a .291 BA in 1991 — at the zenith of his career.  But there is one game which, with a little help from the infamous Wrigley Field wind, will always be fondly remembered by all Cub fans as one of Sandberg’s greatest.

Baseball Library describes the scene 24 years ago to the day, on June 23, 1984;

At Wrigley Field‚ in game that will be known as the Sandberg game‚ the Cubs Ryne Sandberg goes 5-for-6 with game-tying home runs off Cardinals relief ace Bruce Sutter in both the 9th and 10th innings. He drives in 7 runs to lead Chicago to a 12-11 win in 11 innings. It is the first time Sutter has given up two HRs to the same batter in the same game. Dave Owens’ base-loaded single wins it. Willie McGee hits for the cycle and drives in 6 runs in a losing cause.

While the Cubs went on to win the NL East Division crown in 1984 by 6 1/2 games over the 2nd place Mets, St. Louis finished a distant 3rd, 12 1/2 games behind the Cubbies.  

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 6:48 am and is filed under All Time Baseball Highlights, Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary, All Time Hitting Highlights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.