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Cubs still dear to Dunston's heart

By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com
09/26/09 12:43 AM ET

SAN FRANCISCO -- Shawon Dunston wanted to set the record straight. The former Cubs shortstop wasn't trying to stop the sale of the team.

Dunston sent a handwritten letter to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, saying he was entitled to college scholarship funds from the team as part of his contract. On Friday, Dunston, now a part-time coach for the Giants, said he wrote the note because his financial advisor told him to. The matter has been resolved.

On Saturday, the Cubs and Giants will meet on FOX in Game 3 of their four-game series.

Perhaps broadcasters Chris Rose and Jose Mota can find some tape of Dunston, one of the most acrobatic shortstops in the game, who played for the Cubs from 1985-95 and again in 1997.

Besides keeping the Giants' clubhouse loose and coaching, Dunston is lobbying for another former Cubs player, Andre Dawson, to get into the Hall of Fame. Dunston recalls a game when the Cubs were leading 10-0 against Houston, and Dawson dove for a ball in right field. The right fielder battled knee injuries, and Cubs manager Don Zimmer didn't want Dawson to get hurt. A 10-run lead was enough of a cushion.

"[Zimmer] said, 'Andre, please don't dive,'" Dunston said. "And, he said, 'That's the only way I play.' That impressed me."

Dunston's locker at Wrigley Field was located between Dawson and Ryne Sandberg.

"I said, 'Why did they put me next to these two guys? They don't say 10 words a day,'" said Dunston, who can out-talk anyone.

Sandberg just completed his third season as manager, leading the Cubs' Double-A Tennessee team to the Southern League championship. Dunston was surprised to see his former infield mate managing.

"I can understand it with his credentials," Dunston said, "but Ryno doesn't talk. They said he gets kicked out of games. He never got mad [when he played]. If he got mad in the field, he'd spit in his glove, or when he's in the dugout, he'd get the fingernail clipper and would do his nails. That's when you know he's ticked. Otherwise, I wouldn't know if there was anything wrong with him. He can go 0-for-4 or 4-for-4 and doesn't say anything. He's a real good poker player."

Sandberg has said he wants to manage in the big leagues.

"Ryno would have to talk first," Dunston quipped. "I saw [former Cubs first baseman Mark] Grace, and I said, 'Ryno's a manager. How can he be a manager?' He'd say a couple words -- he'd say, 'Good morning' and 'Shawon, you've got everything.'"

OK, so back to the sale of the Cubs. Dunston may be wearing the Giants' uniform, but he is still loyal to the Cubs.

"I'm not trying to get a settlement," he said. "I'm going on the advice of my financial advisor. No, I'm not trying for a settlement, and no, I'm not going to college."

Hard to believe, but two of Dunston's four kids are in college now.

"The Cubs are paying for that," he said, laughing. "They gave me a good salary."

Dunston was a little jealous when the Cubs came close to getting to the World Series in 2003.

"They always called us lovable losers, and I hated that," Dunston said. "We really tried. We just didn't do it. It's not because we didn't have lights. We just didn't do it.

"Their fans, they deserve more than that," he said of the Cubs' faithful. "I knew they'd win Game 7 [of the 2003 NL Championship Series] when Kerry Wood hit that home run. I said, 'The Cubs are going to go to the World Series.' My daughter said, 'You don't play for the Cubs.' I said, 'We live in this house because the Cubs paid for it.'"