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Cubs Legend Shawon Dunston Shares Emotional Final Conversations With Ryne Sandberg

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Jake Elman | Last updated Jul 29, 2025 3:47 PM ET

Longtime Chicago Cubs teammates Ryne Sandberg and Shawon Dunston spent a decade as double-play partners, celebrating the highs of a 1989 NL East title and enduring the lows of seven losing seasons in an eight-year span.

Nearly 30 years after their final game together, Dunston and Sandberg remained friends to the end. The Sandberg family announced his death on Monday night, roughly seven months after the Hall of Fame second baseman revealed that his prostate cancer had relapsed and spread to other organs.

An emotional Dunston mourned Sandberg during a Tuesday morning appearance on MLB Network. Dunston said that he, along with former teammates Andre Dawson and Mark Grace, had a group phone call in recent days.

“He spoke to me, and told me and Andre and Grace that he loves us,” Dunston said. “And he loves all you Cubs fans, too. ‘Go Cubs.’”

"The last couple of days, he wanted to speak to me, Andre [Dawson] and Mark Grace. He told us that he loved us and he loved all you @Cubs fans too. Go Cubs."

An emotional Shawon Dunston speaks on the impact his legendary double play partner, Ryne Sandberg, made on him. pic.twitter.com/OiHCJpAEcD
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) July 29, 2025

Sandberg shared a health update earlier this month and said that he was still undergoing treatment. At the time, Sandberg wrote that he was “making the most of every day with my loving family and friends.”

Dunston called his final conversations with Sandberg “touching.”

“We as men, we don’t know how to express our feelings to each other,” Dunston said. “Men don’t know how to say we love each other.”

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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