Cubs introduce ceremonial patch on their uniform to honor Ryne Sandberg

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Chicago Cubs have unveiled a ceremonial patch on their uniform in memory of Ryne Sandberg one day after the Hall of Famer’s death.

Sandberg, who made 10 All-Star teams with the Cubs before his retirement in 1997, died Monday at the age of 65. The blue patch has a red 23 — Sandberg’s uniform number — and features his signature in white lettering. It sits over the Cubs logo on an arm sleeve.

The Cubs posted a video on social media of the patch being sewn onto the uniforms before Tuesday night's game at Milwaukee. During pregame warmups, the Cubs wore T-shirts with the message, “FO23VER.”

“It’s sad because it kind of hits home I think a little more, but in the other way, you want to honor Ryno the best we can and shine a spotlight on a great life lived, for all the great things he represented as a man and as a Chicago Cub,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said.

There was a moment of silence to honor Sandberg before Tuesday's game.

As Sandberg fought cancer last year, the Cubs unveiled a statue outside Wrigley Field that showed the second baseman in his familiar defensive crouch. As he talked about Sandberg before Tuesday’s game, Counsell looked back on that ceremony from June 2024.

“I was thinking about the day the statue was unveiled,” Counsell said. “That’s my favorite day as a Chicago Cub, just the team being there and fans in a different setting than in the ballpark, and watching Ryno and his family and knowing what he was going through and everything."

Sandberg hit .285 with 282 homers, 1,061 RBIs and 344 steals in 15 years with the Cubs and was named NL MVP in 1984. The second baseman played 13 games for Philadelphia in 1981 but got traded to Chicago the following January.

The Cubs also designated Chris Flexen for assignment before their matchup with the Brewers. Fellow right-hander Gavin Hollowell was recalled from Triple-A Iowa.

The 31-year-old Flexen got off to a strong start this year, but he had surrendered 15 runs and 22 hits in 14 2/3 innings over his last five appearances at the time of the move.

“It wasn’t a fun conversation,” Counsell said. “It never is. Chris has been a contributor on this team. He’s contributed in some big ways to this team. Sometimes it doesn’t feel fair."

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Fans visit as they leave flowers and other items at a makeshift memorial in front of the statue of Chicago Cubs' Hall of Fame second baseman Ryne Sandberg, Tuesday, July 29, 2025, outside Wrigley Field in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Fans leave flowers and other items at a makeshift memorial in front of the statue of Chicago Cubs' Hall of Fame second baseman Ryne Sandberg, Tuesday, July 29, 2025, outside Wrigley Field in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell speaks to reporters while wearing a T-shirt honoring Hall of Fame Ryne Sandberg on Tuesday in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Steve Megargee)

Chicago Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong gestures after hitting a single during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)

Chicago Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong wears a patch honoring Ryne Sandberg before a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)

Fans visit as they leave flowers and other items at a makeshift memorial in front of the statue of Chicago Cubs' Hall of Fame second baseman Ryne Sandberg, Tuesday, July 29, 2025, outside Wrigley Field in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Fans leave flowers and other items at a makeshift memorial in front of the statue of Chicago Cubs' Hall of Fame second baseman Ryne Sandberg, Tuesday, July 29, 2025, outside Wrigley Field in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell speaks to reporters while wearing a T-shirt honoring Hall of Fame Ryne Sandberg on Tuesday in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Steve Megargee)

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A Brazilian Supreme Court Justice on Thursday ordered the transfer of former President Jair Bolsonaro from the federal police headquarters in Brasilia to a much bigger cell with an outside area in the Papuda Penitentiary Complex, also in the capital.

The transfer was described as a move to a facility with “more favorable conditions” for high-profile detainees.

Since November, Bolsonaro has been carrying out a 27-year prison sentence for attempting a coup despite his 2022 electoral defeat. His lawyers have been pushing for a transfer to house arrest on medical grounds.

Michelle Bolsonaro, his wife, and his sons have regularly said that Bolsonaro is being mistreated and not getting adequate medical attention.

In the court decision, Justice Alexandre de Moraes denied the accusations. “Regrettably and falsely, there has been a systematic attempt to delegitimize the regular and lawful execution of the custodial sentence of Jair Messias Bolsonaro, which has been carried out with full respect for human dignity."

Bolsonaro had been in a 12-square-meter room with a bed, a private bathroom, air conditioning, a TV set and a desk, and Moraes ordered Bolsonaro's transfer to an even more comfortable situation. He determined that Bolsonaro be transferred to a 54-square-meter room with a 10-square-meter outside area that he can access at will.

Following the transfer, Bolsonaro will also have increased time for family visits and physiotherapy equipment such as a treadmill and bicycle will be installed. The new area resembles an apartment, with a double bed, a kitchen, a laundry, a living room and an outdoor area.

The Supreme Court’s press office said the transfer had already happened.

Since starting his sentence, Bolsonaro has made several trips to a nearby hospital, most recently after falling out of bed and hitting his head.

Moraes decided that Bolsonaro can have “full assistance, 24 (twenty-four) hours a day, from previously registered private doctors, without the need for prior notification.”

Moraes also ordered a medical examination to assess Bolsonaro's health and determine whether he needs to be transferred to a penitentiary hospital.

Bolsonaro has been hospitalized multiple times since being stabbed at a campaign event before the 2018 presidential election.

The former president and several of his allies were convicted by a panel of Supreme Court justices for attempting to overthrow Brazil’s democracy following his 2022 election defeat.

The plot included plans to kill President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Justice de Moraes. The plan also involved encouraging an insurrection in early 2023.

The former president was also found guilty of charges including leading an armed criminal organization and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law.

Bolsonaro has always denied wrongdoing.

In Thursday’s court order, Moraes said that Bolsonaro was convicted of extremely serious crimes and that his custodial sentence was not a “hotel stay or a vacation colony” as statements from Bolsonaro’s sons’ cited in the decision “mistakenly seem to demand.”

FILE - Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro stands at the entrance of his home while he is under house arrest in Brasilia, Brazil, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Luis Nova, File)