Aug 28: Unlikely source

AUGUST 28, 1990 | HOUSTON, TEXASRyne Sandburg of the Chicago Cubs hit his 30th home run of the season on this date in 1990. It helped the Cubs beat the Houston Astros at the Astrodome. It was the second year in a row the future Hall of Famer hit at least 30 home runs, the first major league second baseman to do that.

Sandburg wasn’t done in 1990 either. He ended up with 40 home runs that year. He hit an even 30 in 1989.

Ryne Sandburg played 16 years in the major leagues, his first with the Philadelphia Phillies, but as a result of a classic ill-advised trade on the part of Philadelphia, was sent to the Cubs in year-2 and played the next 15 seasons on the northside. He was a career .285 hitter, appeared in ten all-star games, was National League Most Valuable Player in 1984, and elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005. Not bad for a kid from Spokane drafted in the 20th round in 1976.

Contributing Sources:
August 28, 1990 box score
Ryne Sandberg Stats

Published by

Bill Grimes

I'm from Chicago. I worked in broadcast journalism for much of the 1970's and 80's. In 1990 I became a litigation consultant, retiring in 2017. Around 2005 I recall flipping through the sports section of the newspaper coming across "On this day in baseball history Willie Mays hit his 600th home run." I enjoyed the one-liners, but I wanted more. I wanted a story. I took my news reporting skills and started researching and telling baseball stories, one for every day of the year. TodayinBaseball.com is the result.