1988 Topps Big Cartoon Deep Dive: Ryne Sandberg

Not sure where this is, maybe Philadelphia or Pittsburgh? Nice photo, though.

It's a bit odd that the cartoonist went with a ghost-writer joke. Ryno was co-authored by Fred Mitchell, who presumably did the actual writing of the book. 

 

I was aware that Ryne Sandberg was named for Yankees star reliever Ryne Duren, though before this I hadn't caught that "Ryne Dee" was also part of the naming for ol' Ryne D. This in turn brings up the interesting history of the name Ryne in the United States. "Ryne" Duren was a nickname for Rinold, which is a German name related to Reynold. Duren had his first great season in 1958, and made his All-Star Game debut that year. Not coincidentally, the name "Ryne" made it's debut in the records of U.S. baby name data, with the first 21 recorded Ryne's being born in the US that year, a substantial number for a name's debut. 31 more were born the next year, including the son of Spokane mortician Derwent Sandberg. Duren had a down year in 1960 and so did the name Ryne, with only 10 more that year. As Duren's MLB career faded so did the name Ryne, with none born between 1965 and 1982. 

1982 was the first full year in the major leagues for Ryne Sandberg, and he had an excellent season, quickly becoming one of the young stars of the National League. The name Ryne came back with him, with 31 Rynes born in 1982 and 38 more in 1983. As the first cartoon notes, Ryne was selected MVP of NL in 1984, and this boosted Ryne into the top 1000, with 199 Rynes that year (605th place) and 286 more in 1985 (516th place). There were at least 150 Rynes born in the US each year until Sandberg retired in 1995, though the name shot back up again in his 1996-1997 comeback. The name started a steady decline since Sandberg's retirement, with the only 100+ year coming in 2006, a year after Sandberg was inducted into the Hall of Fame. For the past 10 years Ryne has been in marked decline, topping the 50-baby mark just once in that time, the Cubs' magical World Series year of 2016.