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Now it can be told: When Ryne Sandberg joined the Cubs before the 1982 season, he asked for uniform No. 14, “my high school number.” Yosh Kawano, the Cubs’ clubhouse manager, rolled his eyes. “I’d heard of Ernie Banks, I knew he was a Hall of Famer,” Sandberg said. “But I didn’t know he wore No. 14, and I didn’t know the Cubs had retired the number.” Kawano gave Sandberg No. 23 and suggested “I wear it until I get a hit or something,” Sandberg said, recalling his 0-for-19 and 1-for-32 starts. But it went pretty well for him after that, so well that the Cubs will retire No. 23 in August, three weeks after Sandberg joins Banks in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
