On June 13, 1994, Ryne Sandberg of the Chicago Cubs gives up $16 million in salary by announcing his retirement at the age of 34. Sandberg, a notoriously slow early-season starter, found himself struggling even more so than usual early in the 1994 season. With his average at a career-low .238 and having recorded only fifty-three hits in fifty-seven games. Sandberg announced he was retiring because “I am certainly not the type of person who can ask the Cubs organization and the Chicago Cubs fans to pay my salary when I am not happy with my mental approach and my performance.”

In his book, Second to Home, Sandberg said,

“ The reason I retired is simple: I lost the desire that got me ready to play on an everyday basis for so many years. Without it, I didn’t think I could perform at the same level I had in the past, and I didn’t want to play at a level less than what was expected of me by my teammates, coaches, ownership, and most of all, myself.

“Ryno” missed the 1994 strike and sat out the abbreviated 1995 season as well. When he went to Wrigley Field to see the knock-down, drag-out final series of the year between the Cubs and the Houston Astros, he knew his place was still on the field, not in the stands.

By spring training 1996, Sandberg had signed on again with the Cubs and was back to business as usual.

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