(La Porte, IN) - A La Porte man was there when the late Ryne Sandberg was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

 

Dave Pendergast has had season tickets at Wrigley Field for a long time even when Sandberg was playing for the Cubs.

 

He said being in Cooperstown, New York for Sandberg’s Hall of Fame induction and speech in 2005 was an incredible experience.

 

“It was quite a great event,” he said.

 

Pendergast, 67, said Sandberg fans who haven’t viewed his speech should find it online and watch it.

 

“It really talks about what kind of a person he was and what kind of a player he was for the Cubs. If you’re of an age, all you can remember is how good Ryne Sandberg was,” he said.

 

Sandberg passed away yesterday.  He was 65.

 

Pendergast said he also once waited in line to meet Sandberg when he came to South Bend as manager of the Peoria Chiefs for a minor league game.  He was just a half dozen or so people away from Sandberg when he had to leave.

 

“That’s as close as I got,” he said.

 

Brian Johnston, a board member at the Biggest Little Baseball Museum in Three Oaks, Michigan, was at the unveiling of the Ryne Sandberg statue outside Wrigley Field last year.

 

The 40 year old Johnston, who became a Cubs fan during Sandberg’s last two seasons in 1996 and 1997, said Sandberg hit a home run while he was enjoying his first game as a child at Wrigley Field.

 

“So that was kind of the one highlight from that day that I’ve taken with me throughout the rest of my life until now,” he said.

 

Johnston said Sandberg’s death from cancer was expected since the return of his cancer was announced in December but he still feels a loss.

 

“I felt like part of my own childhood was dying or a chapter in my life had closed,” he said.