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Ryne Sandberg’s dream of managing at the major-league level became a reality Friday (Aug. 16) when the Philadelphia Phillies replaced Charlie Manuel with the Hall of Fame second baseman. Of course, Sandberg — who initially was in the Phillies organization before being traded to the Chicago Cubs — most likely was thinking of the Cubs when he started envisioning himself as a big-league manager.
Softball icon Jennie Finch takes time to chat at the Chicago Badits game Friday. Credit: Alison Moran
That the Cubs — with Theo Epstein in charge of the baseball side of the operation — let Sandberg depart after a successful tenure as a minor-league manager no doubt disappointed but did not deter him from his aspirations of managing at the big-league level.
Sandberg’s new job comes with an “interim” tag. Meaning his days as a manager are even less certain than those without an interim status. Permanence is not part of any managerial job description. Something says skipper Dale Sveum will have another season or so to be caretaker for a rebuilding Cubs club. But at some point he will have to win — regardless of how well the rebuilding goes.
In a dream world (certainly for some fans and perhaps even for Sandberg himself), Sandburg returns some day to manage the Cubs. And not merely manage the team that he starred for in the 1980s and ’90s. But to manage them to their first World Series championship since 1908. OK, so that is a script straight from Hollywood rather than from the friendly confines of Wrigley Field executive offices.
But you can’t blame someone for dreaming, can you?
Speaking of sports involving bats and balls, there was a contest in the Chicago area that drew a capacity crowd Friday night. It was the USSSA Pride playing the Chicago Bandits in a National Pro Fastpitch game at the Ballpark at Rosemont. The Pride prevailed 4-1 to set up a game for all the marbles. Or, in this case, all the days off.
The winner of Saturday’s game will be the regular-season champion and advance to the championship contest of the NPF finals. And while that is interesting and everything, the reason for the sellout crowd Friday probably had more to do with the past than the present or future.
Softball legend Jennie Finch, who used to pitch for the Bandits, was at the ballpark to sign autographs, promote the sport and even watch some of the game.
Even though she was on her way out of the park after sitting in the Bandits broadcast booth for an extensive interview, she was gracious enough to take some time to chat with your humble correspondent. As in the past, Jennie tolerated whatever goofy questions came her way.
Here is where we go for a daily dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks to the endless efforts of the editorial and video departments at elliottharris.com and the delightful definition of “gratuitous”):
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