I checked Ryne Sandberg's "autobiography", Second to Home, out from the library over the weekend, and I finally got a chance to open it up last night. It was published in 1995, after his first retirement but before his comeback, which is interesting considering how strongly he claims that he is done with baseball.
Some interesting things so far:
1) He claims that Ho-Bag (Cindy) was not the reason he retired, and that it was coincidence that they split up 10 days later. He reiterates this same point about 10 times during the first chapter, which seems a bit excessive.
2) He says that he was planning on retiring after the 1994 season anyway, as his kids were only 6 and 8 years from college. This makes his unretirement seem even weirder, unless there was some sort of nasty custody fight or something.
3) His retirement was not caused by his bad play, but by his sudden lack of desire to play. He thought his focus had been bad during his pre-retirement slump, but he says that it was just one morning when he woke up and didn't want to play baseball that he decided he was going to retire.
I will update this thread as I get through more of the book.
Can't say I believe the Cindy thing, but keep us informed...
Just take it in context. He had just retired / divorced when he wrote all that. The whore was the primary reason --- maybe not the sole reason for retirement stuff. It's not like his kids got younger over teh following 18 months.
Also, its never been in his character to bad mouth anyone. Sosa and Himes catch a little hell in that particular book, but that's about it.
Come to think of it, why the hell did Sandberg even write that book?
What's his issue with Himes?
Do you even have to ask?
The only "good" thing he did was acquire sosa.
Himes completely fucked up the Maddux deal. He sent Dawson packing, as well as Sutcliffe. I can understand Sutcliffe a little more than Dawson because Sut had had some injury issues. Dawson had done nothing but play his ass off and produce.
I'm sure Beef will get to it in the book. I doubt that Himes was as bad as sandberg leads on, but as far as GMs go, he was pretty bad.
Sandberg's complaint with Sosa was more or less indirect. He considered Sammy as "himes's boy."
Himey, as he liked to be called.
Quote from: BeeJay on 03/15/06, 12:38:29 PM
Himey, as he liked to be called.
Don't let me down. . .. . . don't let me down. . . . . Himeytown. . . .
i think himes let dawson go because of the hawk's open invitation for children to copulate him.
you can't have that michael jackson type of vibe going in the clubhouse.