It’s been a trip back to the 1990’s with the news of Sammy Sosa apologizing to the Chicago Cubs earlier this week, and Sosa’s former Cubs manager in Jim Riggleman was just as happy as the fans when he heard the news.

“I was very happy about it. I’ve mentioned a couple different times to various people that we got to get this connection back with Sammy and the Cubs,” Riggleman said on Cubs 360. “It looks like it’s getting real close to that. It’s nothing but positive. I know it’s going to be very exciting for Sammy, and I know most fans are going to be very welcoming to it.”

[WATCH: Full Cubs 360 episode]

With this news has come a look back at Sosa’s effort and impact he made on the game of baseball, and Riggleman highlighted not only his hitting but his baserunning as being a huge part of his work ethic and love towards the sport.

“Sammy played hard,”Riggleman said. “The element of his game where you could get a little exhausted, the way he ran the bases. He wanted to be out there in right field every day. He did not want a day off no matter who was pitching. You had a big argument with him if you ever tried to give him a day off.

“He hit [20] home runs in June [of 1998], and you couldn’t help but get caught up in ‘Oh my god. He’s hitting another one.’ It was almost unusual when he didn’t hit a homer because he was hitting them more days than he didn’t. I would add to that that that was our only losing month of the season. It kind of points to everyone’s contributions are so important.”

The next steps on what this relationship between the Cubs and Sosa remain to be seen, but Riggleman believes that this apology gave generational Cubs fans the ability to finally show and introduce their children to who ‘Sluggin’ Sammy’ was for not only them but also the city of Chicago.

“For fans to now be able to say ‘Here he is. He’s on TV today. He’s at the Cubs Convention. He’s in town for some ballgames’ or whatever, I think it’s going to be a great thing for the kids in town. Just his name itself ‘Sosa,’ the kids back in the day in the ’90s, if you were an 8-10 year old kid, it was such a catchy name. I think it’s going to be catchy all over again,” Riggleman said.

To hear more from Riggleman and his time managing Sammy Sosa, watch the full interview above.