Ryne Sandberg and Paul Molitor make a little bit of history

Paul Molitor is a 21-year veteran of Major League Baseball, having put in over two decades of cumulatively hitting over .300, winning one of his four Silver Sluggers with 225 hits in 161 games as a 39-year-old. He was an All-Star seven times, received MVP votes up and down his career, and could read pitchers for weaknesses like a cyborg.

Surfacing in the majors around the same time, Ryne Sandberg's career wound up full of All-Star Games (10) and Silver Sluggers too (7), with a few Gold Gloves (9) thrown in. Both players were enshrined in Cooperstown, immortalizing them in baseball lore; Molitor in 2004, Sandberg in 2005.

Molitor and Sandberg, "The Ignitor" and "Ryno," were back on the field today, but not as the players whose jerseys currently sit in the Hall of Fame. They're managers now, part of a wave of ex-player hirings by teams over the past few years to fill the role. Robin Ventura, A.J. Hinch, Mike Redmond, Mike Matheny, and Matt Williams are all managers too, but Molitor and Sandberg's meeting today at Bright House Field carried special distinction.

As the years go by, this will likely become a far more common occurence, but today, it had never before happened. Hopefully this will take over the top of Ryne Sandberg trivia lists from his

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