Sandberg’s accomplishments elicit minimal reaction at NC

On the day of Ryne Sandberg’s election into the Baseball Hall of Fame, word spread quickly through North Central High School.

“I heard from a friend,” NC sophomore Sarah Curtis said. “I guess it’s cool. Was he, like, famous?”

It’s been almost 27 years since Sandberg graduated from NC. His 1984 National League Most Valuable Player season occurred before any current students were born.

To the kids of NC, Sandberg is little more than the guy in the glass case.

But he’s not there anymore.

“We had to move his stuff for Groovy Shoes,” NC baseball coach and social studies teacher Scott Harmon said. “We don’t have Hall of Fame stuff. He’s got collectibles worth things. He gave back some, but he wasn’t going to make this his personal museum.”

Besides the glass case, the only other proof a Hall of Famer attended NC is the faded orange “Ryne Sandberg Field” sign on the school’s frozen baseball field.

“Eighty percent of students, possibly more, won’t know what he did,” Harmon said. “This is a huge, huge accomplishment. North Central’s been around for over a hundred years. It’s probably our biggest claim to fame.”

Only a handful of teachers and administrators remain at NC from Sandberg’s days, and they were proud of the announcement.

“He deserves it,” said Karen Armor, a business manager in her 30th year at the school. “He was a good baseball player and a good kid.”

“I’m excited. It’s great,” said Chuck Filippini, a health and fitness teacher and former baseball coach who began at NC the year Sandberg left. “He’s earned it, he was quite an athlete.”

Early plans are being put together to bring Sandberg back to NC to honor him, a ceremony Harmon hopes for in the fall after his July 31 induction into Cooperstown. Harmon realizes the difficulty involved, considering Sandberg has returned to the school only a couple times since he graduated.

“It would be fun to have him come back. We would love to honor him, but if he doesn’t want to come back, that’s his prerogative.”

Sandberg has been disconnected from the city where he grew up, a separation magnified by the return of John Stockton and the involvement of Mark Rypien in area youth sports.

“He has been away from the Spokane scene,” Harmon said. “Maybe the memory of him has faded a little bit.”

Even those that lived through Sandberg’s career have forgotten a little about his 16 years with the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs.

“I had a teacher come up to me today and ask me to get one of his (Seattle) Mariner hats,” Harmon laughed.

But NC plans to turn Sandberg’s induction into a point of pride.

“There are very strong ties at this school,” athletic director Travis Schulhauser said. “We’ve got strong backing and strong alumni, and a lot of that is because the ties go back to him. It’s neat to be a part of something like that.”