New Chicago Cubs Owner Tom Ricketts: "We Are Here To Win"
"We are here for the long term and we are here to win."
Of all the things new Chicago Cubs owners Tom Ricketts and his sibling partners said Friday afternoon in their introductory press conference, the most basic, but most important, was that they intended to bring a ring to the Cubs.
Ricketts began by introducing his two brothers and sister, who, along with Tom, will make up the Ricketts family board of directors. The new Cubs chairman spoke of his family's "deep roots" in Chicago and their love for the team.
Ricketts went on to thank several members of the Cubs organization and the fans of Chicago for being patient as he and his family completed their purchase of the team. To long-suffering Cubs fans, Ricketts promised three things:
"No. 1, we're gonna win the World Series. We're gonna win the World Series by striving in every day and every way to be the best franchise in baseball. We're going to invest in the best facilities in baseball; world class facilities where every player wants to play and every coach wants to coach. We're going to invest in the best personnel and we're going to hold them to the highest standards of excellence and accountability.
The second thing we want to say to the fans--fans like us--is: we love
Wrigley Field and we're going to do everything we can to improve the
Wrigley Field experience for the fans who are coming today and to
preserve the Wrigley Field experience for the future generations of
fans to come, so that they can share in that special, unique magic that
is Wrigley Field.
Thirdly, we want to tell everyone how much we love the city of Chicago.
Wrigley Field is a ballpark in a neighborhood and we intend to be very
good neighbors. We also know the Chicago Cubs are part of the fabric of
the city of Chicago and we intend to be active in giving back to the
city of Chicago and the surrounding areas."
Ricketts had to field some tough questions, including those relating to ticket prices, payroll and executive hirings. He avoided some hot button issues like stadium naming rights by telling reporters that he and his team hadn't yet discussed the issue.
As for changes to the Friendly Confines, he said he'd like to base any improvements to Wrigley Field on those made to Boston's Fenway Park, meaning alterations will likely come gradually and unobtrusively.
"We've talked to the Red Sox. Obviously that's an analogy for stadium improvement that we would like to copy. The fact that they were able to make dramatic stadium improvements over a series of years without ever closing the stadium...that's our plan."
When a reporter asked Ricketts if he believed in curses, he smiled and gave the answer any true Cubs fan would want to hear:
"There
is no curse. There is no curse. There is no curse. If anybody on our
team thinks he's cursed, we'll move him to a lesser cursed team. We're
not gonna put up with that. Cubs fans have to look forward, not
backward. From this day forward let's just get that behind us."
The Ricketts family may not be able to change things overnight, but I
think most Cubs fans would agree that a family of fans is
easier to believe in than a corporate honcho. If Tom Ricketts stands by his words, he and his family will do whatever it takes to make the Cubs winners. And that's all anyone can ask of them.
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