Ryne Sandberg was a good man. It’s just that simple.

The Baseball Hall of Fame second baseman passed away last week at the age of 65 after a long battle against metastatic prostate cancer. For a time, it appeared he had beaten the disease until it returned last December.

There aren’t many hall of fame players that go into managing, but Sandberg loved the game of baseball, and he chose that path. Not only did he choose to manage, he started in Class-A with the Peoria Chiefs and spent two seasons there. Then, a season at Double-A and a season at Triple-A with the Iowa Cubs. He was the heir apparent to the Cubs job when Lou Piniella left in the middle of the 2010 season, but the job went to Mike Quade, causing a split between Sandberg and the team he spent 16 seasons of his MLB career playing for.

Meanwhile, the Phillies fired Dave Huppert, the manager of the team for its first three seasons, following the 2010 season, opening the door for Sandberg to come back to the Phillies organization.

Sandberg was a breath of fresh air. He brought a passion for the game that Huppert simply didn’t have. Watching Sandberg interact with players, it was easy to see that he was in his element. Whether it was throwing batting practice or working literally side-by-side with infielders, Sandberg was comfortable.

Another big change was in his approach to the media. Sandberg simply enjoyed talking about baseball. Whether it was about the past or the present, he was relaxed and as forthcoming as he could be about what was going on with the team. He engaged the media. He wanted to know about us and our families.

He would ask Jeff Schuler, a former Morning Call reporter, about his son who had entered the military after high school. When Sandberg asked and was told it was a tough experience, Sandberg scribbled a word of encouragement and his autograph onto a baseball and had Schuler send it to his son. I missed a homestand because of an illness and he made a point of coming over and asking me how I was on my first day back.

Before every game – and many times after – he would sit and just talk with the media. It never felt like he was going out of his way or fulfilling a duty. It was just some folks talking baseball.

I remember asking if a particular player was hurt because he had missed a couple of games. He uncharacteristically asked, “can we talk later about that?” After our group session ended, he pulled me aside and explained that the player was dealing with a personal issue but didn’t want to add to the problem by making it public. He also didn’t want to avoid my question. I told him I understood and was not looking to hurt anybody. I simply wrote around the issue saying that the player was “not available.” I got an answer, and he protected his player.

Sandberg truly was one of the good guys. Sandberg still stands as the only Hall of Fame player to have managed in the International League. It’s not surprising, because it takes a special person to achieve what he did in baseball and then humble himself to again work his way back to the majors through long bus rides and hot nights in small towns. We were truly lucky to have Ryne Sandberg in our corner of the world.

THE G.O.A.T…. When Lehigh Valley beat Worcester on Saturday, manager Anthony Contreras tied Dave Brundage in all-time wins as the manager of the IronPigs. After falling in Sunday’s game, Contreras remains tied with Brundage at 286 wins with the team. While Contreras would have rather gotten the win, it gives him the chance to become the winningest manager this week in front of the home crowd at Coca-Cola Park against rival Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

DON’T LOOK NOW… There are just 43 games left in the second half of the International League season. The team that finishes with the best IL record in the second half of the season will face the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, the Miami Marlins affiliate, in the league championship. The IronPigs are currently 16-16, 9.5 games behind Syracuse for the top spot with Scranton just a half-game off the pace being set by the Mets. If you look back at the traditional system where the East Division champion plays the West Division champion, Lehigh Valley would be 2.5 games behind Jacksonville, 2 games behind Scranton, and 1.5 games behind Durham for the East Division title.

NOLA NIGHT… Lehigh Valley has not announced their pitching rotation for the series against the RailRiders, but Aaron Nola will be in there somewhere. The best guess is that he could start one of the games of the doubleheader on Wednesday, or start the Thursday night game.