Ryne Sandberg Quotes on Respect (3 Quotes)

To be with Sparky Anderson and Al Kaline, Fergie Jenkins and be with them and be a part of that group, it's still pretty incredible to me. I'm just a big fan of the game. What's neat about this exhibit is just the history that's behind it. I get kicks just walking from window to window and just seeing the history and seeing how far the game has come, kind of how the game was played way back when. It's come a long way. There's a lot of history there that I respect. You really get a good feel coming to an exhibit like this.

I played it right because that's what you're supposed to do - play it right and with respect.

It was all about doing things right. If you played the game the right way, played the game for the team, good things would happen. That's what I loved most about the game, how a ground out to second with a man on second and nobody out was a great thing. In my day, if a guy came to spring training 20 pounds heavier than what he left, he was considered out of shape and was probably in trouble. He'd be under a microscope and the first time he couldn't beat out a base hit or missed a fly ball, he was probably shipped out. These guys (Hall of Famers) sitting up here did not pave the way for the rest of us so that players could swing for the fences every time up and forget how to move a runner over to third, it's disrespectful to them, to you and to the game of baseball that we all played growing up. Respect.