Tom Ricketts on breaking Chicago Cubs curse, World Series rain delay & celebration | Ross & Rizzo

Hobby. I think Hobby sneakly was a lot of people's
favorite player on that team.
Like I talk to people, they I mean I cried
when we traded him, like great story, like he We're
out on a family vacation and and you know is
you know everybody's getting traded. It's it's the red wedding.
That whole week. It was awful, like but the that's good,
That's what Randy Borsh called it. And uh, like I'm
really just down on the whole thing. It's just kind
of a bummer. And I walked back to the to
the to the to the family and I'm like, hey,
we just we just traded a hobby and uh and
then and then uh and then one of my kids
like who we get. I'm like, oh, this first round
named Pete peul Armstrong. So my son Nick goes, oh,
that dude that keeps up on my couch Like yeah.
So it turns out PC as friends with the one
of Nick's friends and literally like spent spring break on
his couch like the year before.
Wait a minute, what was going on that week? We
gotta we gotta nix this trade immediately.
Yeah, right, cancel and cancel yeah, or that was a
good story.
You gotywhere to be?
No, I'm all good, let's go, let's go.
All right, got to run the show.
This is gonna be the only intro I read off
the paper because I can't mess this up, because you're
too important. So Anthony Rizzo, David Ross, Tom Ricketts kills me.
Say Tom, Welcome back to another episode of the Level
of Reunion. Today we have our most important guests of
them all, the man and family who had a vision
that started as a dream and along the way build
something bigger than baseball, a culture, a family, and a
team that people everywhere could believe in, and delivered a
moment that Cubs fans will never forget. It's hard for
me to call you anything other than mister Ris, but
today I'm gonna call you Tom. Hey. Thanks, Thanks, Welcome
Tom Rickets to the show.
Yeah, beautiful intro. Thank you.
I have a hard time calling you Tom. And I
used to always call you mister Ricketts, and you used
to always say, please just call me Tom. And now
through the years I found out it actually made you
annoyed that I called you mister Ricketts.
Yeah, you can go back to that if you want. Now,
Uh no, it's yeah, a lot of guys. It's kind
of funny. Is the only place I get called mister
Rickets is by the players.
I think when the boss man walks in, though, yeah,
you feel a little bit of that. I felt I
was telling we were having kind of story time before,
and I'm like, I remember being the manager. All of
a sudden you have a different perspective about the boss
and you're like, wait a minute, he bought this trash can,
he bought his rug, He's paid for everything.
I bought that left fielder.
Do you ever think like when you came to my
wedding right? Yea, yeah, and it was a great time.
Is there ever a time you thought I paid for this? No,
because I would if I, like I put myself in
dream as being an owner, I'd be like, oh, that's cool.
Like sometimes I would see you in the parking lot
and I'd have my nice car, and I'd be like,
what if everything's like I'm just this little name.
For everybody's everybody's nice rides.
Yeah? No, no, I never would think that way. I
would think you earned this.
Thank you, I appreciate it. That's nice. So the dream
of buying the Cubs, Right, you grew up a Cubs
fan and you and your family get together really turn
a dream into reality and you buy the team. What
can you still can you believe that you're the owner
of the Chicago Cubs or the chairman everything.
I mean, you talk about a dream coming true, you
talk about winning the World Series, the dream come true.
It's kind of a dream come true for me as well.
Like the you know, we grew up in Omaha, you know,
pretty pretty modest background, you know, regular childhood, like worked
at bur King, did all the things regular kids do.
We just had a normal life. Came out to university
here at University of Chicago, and I started in eighty three.
Eighty four was of course the eighty four team, which is,
you know, one of the most iconic teams in the
history of the club, and all these great players and
all these really compelling guys that you just wanted to
cheer for, and it just swept the city up. And
my first baseball game was it as it was a
Wriggly and I was kind of a Cub fan, but
I cheered for the Royals as well because I was
in Omaha. But then once once that eighty four team hit.
I was hooked.
And so then we you know, we cheered for that,
you know, we cheered for them. And then after college
we moved around every every year, moved different apartments, but
we always you know, went to Cubs games, and that
was our thing. That was like our every Saturday and
Sunday we would have like ten bleacher tickets. And in fact,
one year we lived literally right above the sports Corner bar, really,
and so people would come by and goes, hey, Riggets,
I got some tickets. Or one night, you guys are
probably one night I was up there and the doorbell
rings and the guys like my buddy would he's like, hey,
you gotta come downstairs, man, and I'm walked down. He's
playing pool in the sports Corner bar with John Kruk,
no way, which I knew Kruk from my fantasy teams
and anyway, but anyway, so we had our whole social
life was around Wrigley. And now that was before like
you know, my family made a lot of money. My
dad made a lot of money, but like, but you know,
it was our so life. We were there all the time.
And and in fact, my business school, that's say, when
I applied to business school. They asked, you know, what's
your dream job, and I said, don't a baseball team?
But no, we had we got to get that paper.
Yeah, we do what it wants a few years ago
and then I put it somewhere that I can't find
it again. But it's out there.
Wow, I can't find things. I asked for the W
flag one time when I managed and called you and
you were like, yeah, I gotta find that thing somewhere,
but I have no, no, you put it in my office.
Ok.
Yeah, yeah, no, you you you took care of me.
You always take care of us. But uh, yeah, you
put that I called just the one thing I want
to symbolize me as a manager and what we're all
about is just like keep it about the W and
you you framed it nicely and put in my office.
Yeah it was up on your wall.
Yeah it was up on my wall. But you, uh,
I think you had to find it for a minute.
It's like you've got you've got a lot of memorabilia
laying around here. That's that's for sure.
That you met CC here.
Yeah, I met my wife and the bleachers. Wow, true story.
We always we always sat in the front row of
center field because uh, two reasons. One, it's a great seat.
I mean, you know, people forget, people don't realize like
so many other ballparks, like the bullpens are between men.
There's outfield, then the bullpen, then the fans. Really it's
not like that at all. Right, they're right on top
of you in the outfield and that. And we never
could get motivated early enough to be on the wall
then right and left. That's I'm just too early in
the morning for us. But we would take the front
row of center field on every game and get there
in time to get the front row because not only
could you see the game very well, but you could
send somebody down to get beers and you could just
hand the beers up. And this is before the tyranny
of the two beer limit, so you could send a
guy down with sixty four bucks and get sixteen beers
passed back up to the whole crowd. Oh wow, that
was our routine, and we were there.
It was a beer choice. It was a old style back.
That was the only old style in the stadium.
It was fifty to fifty. You know, I probably did
some old style, but you know, I'm very very happy
with our bud partnership, So of course, yeah, of course,
yeah did a little bit of both. In fact, they're
a lot of Old Style. In fact, it was funny
we bought the team. Old Style sent me a big
box and I'm like, oh, it's going to be like
a lamp or a poster or something. And I pulled
this box open and it's a twelve pack of just
just two six packs. Bo that's a nine dollars value.
But anyway, I sort of put.
It in the fridge of morn stip it put it.
I put it in my office and then we pulled
it out like that Friday afternoon, passed out some Old
Styles and I literally took my first swig and I'm like, oh,
that's what old Style tastes like without peanut shells in it.
Oh my god, because all the time it was old Style. Anyway,
So yeah, we sat in the center field bleachers. My
wife and a bunch of her college friends were sitting
right next to us.
And what was the pickup line? What was the icebreaker? Ah?
Gosh, you know, I don't know if I remember what
the pickup line was. But what happened was we met there,
and of course the Bleachers is one big party, as
you guys know, and you meet a lot of people
and then we're like, hey, we'll meet you girls at
Taste of Lincoln Avenue. You know, we're going to taste
a Lincoln Avenue as this festival. It was down like
on like you know, bright Wood and Lincoln. And of
course that's like saying i'll see you out because there's
you know, it's.
Of course it's such. It was there.
There's fifty thousand people. There are twenty thousand people there.
But got lucky friend of mine had a little little
party out in his garden apartment with a bunch of
kegs sitting out looked up and they were all my
wife and all of her friends lined up to go
into like the like the porta potties or something. I'm okay,
we know you guys wow. And then I was just
chatting with her and she was a fourth year med
student out with really fun friends, you know, having a
few beers on a Sunday afternoon. I thought that was
a respectful kind of that's kind of a cool way
to start.
Yeah, it's a good first date.
And so followed up
from there well.
We got got a cool story coming back now and
being the owner of the Cubs, and right, that's how
where you met your wife and might go how that
story plays out pretty small.
One day her friends bought, you know, bought some bleacher
tickets and said, it's the anniversary of you guys, like
July twenty nine anniversary. Go sit in the front row.
Now they've rebuilt the bleachers twice since then, so so
so my seat actually is it just like it was,
but it's pretty close.
That was my first year here with all the construction
with the bleachers in fifteen, and we played with no fans.
Yeah to start right, yeah, start yeah, yeah.
I'll be pissed that one ready by opening day. One
of the many things you gotta do with Hey, we
have some very exciting announcement to share with you guys.
We've had so much fun filming The Lovable Reunion. We
have a perfect exclamation point for this series.
On Thursday, July sixteenth, at the Chicago Theater, we'll be
hosting The Lovable Reunion Live in partnership with Marque Sports.
Me and Rossi will be joined on stage by Joe
Madden Dexter Fowler to really the biggest moments from their
run and some things that didn't make into the podcast.
And the show will be moderated by the voice of
the Cubs, John boog Shambi.
Tickets go on sell June fifth. The link is in
our bio, but for our loyal viewers who are watching
this right now, you can use code or reunion for
early access.
Okay, your tickets now and we see July sixteenth at
the Iconic Chicago Theater.
Let's go get your tickets. People. I actually want to
go back to, like when you made that phone call
to your siblings and how all that went down, Like
you guys just hop on a call and say, hey,
this is a real viable option. Yeah, well so everybody
on board?
Yeah well yeah, I mean the siblings were. The funny
part was I did reach out to my dad, and
my dad, you know, he was he's a very very
successful man, made lots of lots of money and put
some of it in the kids' names. So that's kind
of what we were, you know, managing or what we
oversee and and I just called them up. So what
would you think if we took you know, this this
pocket of money and made it like the equity component
of our bid for the Cubs. And my dad, who's
not a sports fan, so that's the stupidest thing you've
ever said. And I'm like, okay, well I get some salesman, right,
so stupid and no, we're totally different answers. Yeah, I'm like, stupid,
I can work with stupid. So like, I go bad, No,
I can work with stupid. So I went back and
I'm like, then I started doing all the math, like, well, actually,
these aren't bad investments. They tend to go up the
recession proof. They're you know, like, we weren't thinking of
it in those terms exactly, but it wasn't it's not
it's not a it's not a dumb thing to do.
And at the time we didn't really understand all the
all the problems that we had with the ballpark or
any other issues. But but then, you know, so eventually,
you know, we actually Dad came out, we had a
he had a we had a party, and we were
on one of the rooftops and Dad's like, wow, really,
this is really different. I understand when you look. Of course,
this is not exactly at all what I expected. No,
I mean, it's a ballpark, but it's a unique ballpark,
and it's a it's in a neighborhood, but it's a
unique neighborhood. It's a special game to experience that that
no one else has. And that's and he's like, oh,
I get it, I get I get why you guys
want to do this. So at the siblings, of course,
we're all in there pretty much.
Do you bring them to a day game or a
night game?
It was a day game game.
Yeah, that's the best one.
I think. I think it's so cool looking back and
seeing some of your interviews and I texted you, I
got chills watching it. Everything that you said early on
as the owner came true. You came in and you said,
we're going to rebuild the infrastructure here. We're gona the
best facility for not only the fan experience but the
player experience. You rebuild MESA first, which was incredible. Then
you start doing all the renovations here in steps the Dominican,
the facilities there. I think you were a pioneer in
that right. You were one of the first facilities that.
Well we now, I think a lot of guys were
already down there, but our facilities were bad, pretty bad.
The first state of the art, and it's so cool
to walk back and say, I'm going to redo all
of this. I'm gonna build a championship team and we're
gonna win a World Series here. And literally the year
pretty much the year that everything got done, we win
the World Series. So we were talking maybe the curse
was maybe in the clubhouse or something.
That net that dropped down in front of the TV
right and I remember that, Oh my gosh, my blocker
was right there. And then we get this nice facility.
We come in twenty sixteen and things just take off.
Well, yeah, I remember that that net. Like I never
really was in the clubhouse before we closed on the deal,
Like I walked around the park, but it was quick.
It was cursory, like the you know, the cellar gave
you some materials and I'm like, I can't. We hired
a an architecture firm to help us look at it
a little bit, but you really don't. You don't get
much feel for it. We're like, hey, we'll have to
solve that problem afterward. And I'm walking through that first
time and I'm like, oh my god, this is so bad,
Like and that little tunnel across from where the where
the media room was, and it was just like dirt
and like where the quick creatives or whatever we throw
on the field. And I'm like, can't we leasse put
a curtain over this? I mean it was, it was.
It was awful and uh and the and the tea
and I thought it was a joke when they that
tea was and I'm like, that's it.
Then what do we do with well even the board
to protect the t.
So the ball doesn't break the television, like.
That's how you're supposed to get loose and you're hitting
on carpet like it was.
Yeah, it was a show. I'm so excited to see
in July. Is bon Jovi at the Garden.
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Thank you, see Geek, Thanks suit Boop, shout out suit
Book SG in the house.
But yeah, but obviously, like you know, just had a
great team. You know, Crane was already here, so he
kind of knew some of the things we'd have to do.
Brought in a lot of great people to help, and
I just started like making the list of all the
things we had to fix, and you know list, it
was a long list, and it took a long time.
And then you know, you start, you start with what
you think is going to be the a plan, and
that over time, like the city has ideas and slows
you down a little bit. And then while you're delayed,
you change it around a little bit. And you know,
we got player input and and you know, tried to
make it as best we can. But yeah, all the
facilities now, I mean, I'm you know, obviously the greatest
thing we ever did is what you guys did in
twenty sixteen. But I'm just super proud of how the
ballpark looks and how it plays and and how fans
like it. And you know, there are people that come
to the game now who take it for granted. But
the guys who were coming fifteen years ago, they know,
they know it took an inning to go to the
bathroom during a playoff game. They knew, they knew it
took a half hour to get out of the park
because we didn't have enough exits. They knew there was
almost no elevators, like all and like food, we added
fifty percent more bathrooms, things like that that people appreciate.
That well, I think that's what's amazing that you started
as a fan owner, but still your fandom is is
real and big, and how you interact with fans, yeah,
on a daily basis like that that you've got a
fan vision as the own, which I don't know that
that's normal.
ROSSI. We used to have to park right here, like
next to the stadium, next to like the dumpsters right
and to get out of the stadium, there was a
ramp up to the concourse. So it's sold out every
day here. So there'd be games where you know you
have family in time, you got to get out somewhat quick.
And I remember just sneaking through the crowd, and every
once in a while i'd bring like a broken bat
or something and just tap thee on the shoulder and
hand it to them and keep going, and they'd be
like it would take them a second to register I
very be gone, and they'd start screaming like, oh my god.
They but I remember the grief that you got for
all of it, right from the neighbors and all the stuff.
And I'm like in my head, I'm like, this is
already an amazing ballpark. And you see these renderings and
it's already been around for a hundre years, because until
I was a fourteen year celeburn in one hundred year
right of Wrigley, And I'm just in my head, I'm like,
these people are crazy. And I understand the baseball historians,
but the video getting everything up to speed of the times.
This is the Baseball Cathedral. This is stadium number one right,
it's here Family Park, Yankee Stadium, Dodger Stadium.
That's it. That's the only well the Yankee Saams knew
like they moved that.
Right exactly so it's really here family and Dodger Stadium.
But if there's one thing that you can look back
on of all the renovations, what what is like your baby?
What what are you like most proud of of the renovations.
Oh that's a great question.
Well, uh, or to help us win a championship.
Well, I mean the clubhouse that that was quite a turnaround.
But you guys when you guys came back on opening
was it before opening?
Yeah? Christmas walking?
Remember that that was that was so pathetic.
I think I've got video on my phone. Everybody had
their videos. I just like that place was amazing.
Yeah, I think I think, I mean in terms of
you know, I thinks that were desperately needed.
I think that was number one. I mean, you can't
tell everyone they're at a first class organization and then
you know, tell here's your third class facilities. So in
spring training, you know, that's the best spring training by far,
Like we crush everyone in spring training. I think the
signature move there came from my wife and she's like
more shade, and we're very proud of we most shade
of all the spring training.
I never thought of our valiches so okay, it was
her first genius call.
Yeah, and it makes a big difference to people.
When it's a packed place too. I look on now,
you know, sitting back, you look at it, it's like
it's like spring training. It is the spot to be
in spring training too. It's like it's sold out.
We're in our own categories.
Yeah, yeah, yeah by far in a different way. Speaking
of spring training, And I did forget to set the scene.
We are at the most iconic sports venue in the world,
Wrigley Field, in Tom's office. God, it kills me to
say Tom Ricketts in his suite overlooking the stadium, and
it's amazing.
But why is it? I had this one just because
it popped in. You buy the Cubs, you're you and
your family only goes you walk in the first time
as an owner. Like what like that's got to be
just like chills.
Well, you know, yeah, certainly. Well so one of the
things we were coming up to that that very first
opening day. You know, it's like the Brewers on April second,
twenty ten or whatever it was, and I'm like, what
am I gonna do? So with like a week before,
I'm like, I got it. So I told Lorraine, my assistant,
who you know, well, hey, print me a dozen baseballs
with the date on and do it for every home game.
And so every more, every every game, I get, you know,
twelve baseballs and they say April second comes versus Brewers,
and tomorrow's April third, and and so it gave me
an opportunity to get out and just talk to people.
For a couple of reasons. One is like, you know,
if you're at Wrigley Field, then you're just you're up
in a box, like you know, like you're just hiding
from the fans. You're kind of missing the point. It's
a social place. Everyone's having a good time. Everyone is
in their happy place, and you want to be part
of that. And then secondly, you know, I think there's
there's a presumption about you know, ownership that like you
you don't care. It's about the money, it's about your ego,
and you know, and I just want to get out
and talk to people. You know, the baseball is a
great way to break the ice. Give it to your kid,
talk to their parents. You get some advice on some
things you could do better around the ballpark, Like you
can't hear the radio in the women's room or something like.
Those are things that naturally I wouldn't hear about. So
you know, sometimes I get real advice, so that that's
really important. And you know, you also just don't want
to be like one of the NFL guys with the
tie up in up in up in the upper up
in the suite.
And almost like a mythical Yeah, well I just lording
over the you.
Know, it's separate. Well you are a fan again, going
back to like you know what that's like.
Not only did you do that, you do that to
this Tom does that to this day every single game. Right,
you're passing it. He's going up usually to the upper.
Decks, the upper jacks.
Right and handing out baseball. You just that's that's one
of one. No someone else does that. There's I can
guarantee it well.
And it's kind of in those first couple of games,
it was people were like didn't know what to do
or should we do, you know, do a photo or
make a comment or whatever. But like now I'm pretty
much everyone sees me at every game, so it's just
pretty natural and just go try to find it.
I think it was for me as a player, it
was so cool being on the on deck, like your
your seats are right there on our on deck circle.
And seeing you there with a beer in your hand,
enjoying the game with your family, with your kids was
just as a player seeing that, I thought it was
the coolest thing that you were so accessible. Because in
spring training every year Tom would address the team and
he talked about family and culture, and I remember you
are first spring training you talked about charity and giving
back and giving back to the fans, and that's when
I was going through opening starting my own charity. And yeah,
I remember going into your office and like terrified. I
was twenty two years old, twenty twelve, I believe the
end twenty twelve, and I asked you. I was like, hey,
mister Ricketts, like I really want to start a charity.
Can you help me? And without your blessing, like the
Cubs charity team was amazing, but you've helped me now
raised over close to thirty million dollars because you said
yes and put the stamp of approval. And it's just
how many lives you've changed outside of the game, especially
through your own own Cubs charities, has just been incredible.
Well, what you what you've done with your foundation is
in its own category as well. Pretty pretty incredible, And
I think it was also nice because, like you know,
the teams kind of go inside goles a little bit.
We try to not have that happen, but it typically
tends to happen anyway. So like the guys for like
the Good eight and nine teams were kind of like
moving on, and you know, they had some charitable efforts,
and then we went through a couple of years where
not a lot of the guys knew they'd be here
very long, honestly, so like you know, they were just
just trying to get established, and so we didn't have
a lot of players doing a lot of community things.
And then when you came through in like twenty fourteen,
twenty fifteen and started doing it, and then the other
guys had you know, we brought in some guys already
had their foundations, like Leicester and those guys, but then
you encourage other guys to do it and it became
part of the team culture in that era and just
you know, and like someone went.
To more events in twenty sixteen and fifteen and sixteen
when I was here that I've been with any teams.
I mean we had you know, Lester's event at jose
On Weed, your event, the cook Off, I mean all
the stuff that we convention a big martin. Yeah, like
it was bricks and Ogriculture are off. Days were usually
a nice party that somebody was throwing and braising a
ton of money.
And I mean, I don't know, you guys can answer
this question better than me, but it can't hurt the
culture to be able to everyone get together at height
just for a quick beer. And you guys you always
had an area where it wasn't too uncomfortable with the
fans totally, and I think it was. That was a
great ra for us in terms of community for sure.
Yeah, a lot of those, A lot of those wise
I moved on. A lot of those can be like irallly,
oh I have to go to this event, right, But
when we were doing it, even the bricks and ivy
was like, it was so much fun.
It was fun.
It was just some huge party. Usually we would win
well early on, we didn't win a lot of games,
but when we were rolling, we would always usually come
after a win or something and it just be a
fun I.
Only know winning when I got Harry kind of yeah, right,
I don't know about the dusk days speak speaking of
a guy it's got a lot of wins on his belt.
Tell me about hiring theo Epstein and you get to
interview whoever you want, pick whoever you want. That's the
guy you selled on. How did he How did he
impress you? Was his resume obviously what he already did
spoke for itself. But tell me a little bit about.
So that was so when I think one of the
better decisions that that we made coming in his ownership
was to not like change everything right away. You see
a lot of guys that come in and they want
to bring in you know, their their own people right away,
and and you know and try to change you know,
kind of like get off to a fast start or
something like that. I mean I got some advice actually,
Jerry Ryan gave me good advice, like said, I don't
worry about that stuff. Just get you get your deal done.
You've got plenty of time to think about that. And
and so when when we got in, you know, we
had a business leadership, which is Crane who's still here,
who's I think the best team who was amazing as well,
who's you know, as good as it gets. Crane been
here twenty some years, yeah, a long time, predates me
for by ten years anyway. And then so I would
give give those guys a shot and see how they do.
And obviously they you know, we brought in some new
people to help him, but performed extremely well. And then
Jim Henry was our GM who who I love still love,
was a great guy, was so so good to me,
like you know, like in terms of when I would
go to all the minor league parks every year. You know,
he'd send sends his guys with me, or he'd answer
any question anytime. He was so available and so great.
But but at some point it was like, well, I
think there's there's kind of a wave of of like
just the wave of gms that are just kind of
doing things a little more sophisticated in a more sophisticated manner,
and we probably we should try to get on that wave.
And and so, you know, you let him go. And
and what I did, I actually did a like this
super secret I made a list of twenty people I
wanted to talk to, you know, no no no candidates,
just people like a couple, a few agents, a few
former gun asks for former players. Uh, you know, Billy
Bean sat down with me for like three hours during
that's so cool. We did it a secret meeting and
some hotel like conference room, because we did I didn't
want to be seen at lunch and start the rumor mill.
But like so I just went around, I was talking
to I went around just as secretly as possible. I
did even let Lorraine know where I was. I just
don't anyone to know where I was because I didn't
want any rumors. And of course all that really was
at a great, great use of my time because the
most obvious person was THEO, because during that process, he
basically made it clear he wasn't going to be at
the Red Sox. You know, at the end after the year,
he was going to just leave and exercise is right
to leave. So you know, then you go through a
process like you you have to pay a form more question.
John Henry called me said, I know you want to
talk to THEO. I don't think he's really going to leave,
but I'll let you talk to him. And so I
called him the next morning and I said, let's meet
in New York tonight. We have an apartment in a
family as an apartment in New York. Let's just meet
in New York. I'll just because I can't go to
BC with you in Boston or Chicago, that's pretty weird.
We just want to have a discrete meeting. And so
we met at our place in New York, and really
the first thing out of his mouth was, Hey, look,
everything you're reading about, you know, my success, it's it's
not me. It's a whole bunch of people. And like,
you know, and and he really like, I think that
my my image is overinflated. It's it's not what you think.
And then we talked for three or four hours, and
by the end of that I was kind of like, Okay,
well this guy's got game. And obviously his records spoke
for itself, and that's incredible.
I just showed Rassi a video and I'll have to
throw it up of my high school swing and speaking
of THEO saying it's a team of people. Las Gutier's
was my scout from the Red Sox that Keo hired
under Jason McCleod right and Jed So it's like that
whole team and they saw something in me where I
still asked j mac all the time, I'm like, dude,
what did you see in me?
Because video I'm like, that's not ugly.
If you look at any of my high school videos,
it's terrible. I show Happer all the time and he's like,
how did you get drafted? Right? But again that team
of people that is hired underneath the baseball.
Charge and you guys know so well, like what you
know what I learned later, you know, as I got
to know THEO work with him for all those years,
I mean, yeah, he was he was he was sufficient
in the quantitative skills, but he was he was superlative
in the personal skills, understanding people, an incredible communicator, just
a person that like, you know, he can he can
just get he has credibility with you immediately and whether
you're a player or an agent or an owner or
a fan whatever, Like when he talks, you listen because
he's he's like he really understands the game, he understands
what you're concerned with, and ultimately like just has also
just a really high EQ. And so I think that so,
you know, that was something as I got to appreciate
over time, because if you just read like oh it's all,
it's all moneyball stuff or it's all Bill James, that's
only a little piece of it in that package.
When you guy, he comes in and you guys have
to pretty much tear it down right, and and and
and to the plan and lost the.
Whole stadium almost flipped over, fell over. At one point
we turned the roof.
Yeah, right, chunk of the roof and blowing off this
this this could have tipped over. But anyway, keep going, No, I.
I didn't have the you know, he talks about how
grinding it and how much more rewarding was when we won,
but like going through the hundred loss seasons and like
just some of some of that to and and as
an owners stay true to like, Okay, this is the plan.
Yeah, I mean it was tough, Like we sat down,
we had to be really honest about the fact that
we had we had some great players there were towards
the end of their careers. We didn't really have a
wave of young players that could take their place and
make us competitive. And you know, we just had to
be honest with ourselves about we were going to have
to like prioritize future wins over current wins. And then
I think one of the things that we did that.
You know, maybe other clubs do now, but a certainly
a large market club that never done is just be
honest with the fans as well, and just go out
and say, hey, look, I can't we can't deliver overnight results,
like we're gonna have to build this brick by brick.
We're gonna have to be thoughtful and consistent and just
bring in one piece at a time and when it's
when it's time, you'll know it. And and so the
trades obviously, you know, trading for for for riz, but
you know, like the draft and we drafted, well, we
got a couple of guys out of the draft, just like
you know, you know, the area to trade. I mean,
there were a whole bunch of little things that happened
over those years that just just put little pieces into
the puzzle. And then obviously, like you know, by by fourteen,
it was starting to feel like the team's got a future.
And then obviously by the middle of fifteen, oh yeah,
it was.
I'll tell him, I knew this team. I was in
Boston in fourteen when Jake almost threw that no hitter
in Boston, and I remember thinking, I was like, who
is this guy and these guys, and I went into
free agency that year and signed here in fifteen. But
that's I was like, they've already got one ace because
I played that day and I didn't have a chance,
which was most days in my career, but it was
it was definitely, you've got okay if they get Lester
and Area, there's two aces right there.
And then, well, we were building before that. And it's
not about me.
I say this in every episode he makes about him.
I was the first trade in twenty twelve. I stunk
in San Diego. So the fact that THEO went out
and traded for me was for me was like the
most incredible thing ever. Because I'm an East Coast biased
guy and I got drafted by the Red Sox and
I get traded out West and then I get to
the Cubs. I'm my own O. My gosh, Rookie of
the Year is my favorite movie growing up, right, So
I remember coming here for the first time. But in
spring training, Jeff Baker goes to me, hey, riz, uh
you better, uh, you better pan out. Andrew Kashner's throwing
a hundred in Padres camp. No pressure, kid, and like,
that's me on the ass, and I'm.
Like, oh shit, what was the first round pick? Yeah,
he was a stud high ceiling. I mean he had
he struggled with injuries, but he he had some he
had he had a high ceiling.
And he was stud great dude too.
And you had all these guys coming in. You went
through the tough times. When did you feel I guess
fourteen you're saying started to turn around, But did you
when did you feel like, man.
We're pretty darn good.
Well, you know, I felt like the loser part, lovable
loser stuff started to leave in fourteen a little bit.
You know, there's games like your game in Cincinnati where
you tried to fight the whole bench.
Like a lot of people claim that's the big moment.
That's a moment.
It is kind of It is kind of an inflection
point in like when you know, like if a team
doesn't happen, you kind of feel like if the team
is not gelling enough that they don't care if they lose,
or they don't care if their players are disrespected on
the road or whatever. Like that's when you got it,
you know, when the team started standing up for itself
a little bit. Is is it personally and both as
an organization and then going into fifteen, every one felt okay.
But obviously it was like, you know that that series
against the Giants that like were like, holy cow, like
this team's real. And then I forget what the win
forty three of the last sixty one games or something.
Wow we did that.
It was actually I don't know.
We caught we call them. Yeah, we definitely caught fire
and we swept the Giants here. Yeah, I remember that well.
Then bringing it and then obviously bringing in, you know,
bringing in Lester, like that was the first commitment to
the fans that we think we can win this year,
like the first time anyone because because you know, we
had some guys we brought in in you know, eleven, twelve,
and thirteen, but they were the fourteen and they did
you know, they were solid players, but not the kind
of guys you expect to see in the playoffs.
Tell me about it, Tell me about signing Johnny that's
that had to be your first big free agent huge.
Yeah, that was kind of fun. So uh so I'm uh,
we set up a dinner so it feels like, you know,
we're recruiting John Lester. You gotta come, come, you know,
you gotta come meet him. And I'm great, Great, So
I'm driving down and calls me on myself phone, Hey,
what's going with you? Hey, we're at the dinner. Lester's
gonna be here with his agents. You're gonna sit right
across room. Okay, great. He doesn't talk much. I'm like,
what do you mean doesn't talk? He does, so I'm
gonna have to sit in silence across from It turned
out we sat down and we talked the whole day,
but talk the whole night, Like but but I was
talking about his fishing on his ranch, you know, fishing
on his farm, you know, and like things are you know,
just guy stuff, you know, and and talking about he
had just gone and shot a buffalo or something. We
raced those. You can you can have all you want shooting.
But anyway, so anyway, so we got a lot really
well and that that dinner was great. And then at
the end of that dinner was towards the end, he
was like, oh, hey, Tom, there's one thing that really
can serns me. You know what's that? John? You know,
I just don't want to be the old, only old
guy on the team. And I'm like, wait, you're thirty one,
that's not that old. Like how like, well, I don't know.
I just'd be nice to have another veteran presence in
there in there and I'll talk to the about it.
No, I didn't know that boy, I like that.
So what was that all about. He's like, yeah, he
wants to sign David Ross.
Idiot?
I what? Well? ROSSI and I had met that that
off season and we first time we really sat down
and talked, and I told our agent we had the
same agent. I was like, David Ross is exactly what
we need. We need that that veteran leadership like that,
and then we get Joe Madden. Then we signed John
Lester and then you come in. And I remember in
the twenty fifteen Cubs convention, I was in a gym
doing one of the Cub's caravans and I said to
the media, We're going to win the division this year,
like out of the blue, and everyone was, what are
you doing. I'm like, we're going to be good because
in fourteen we made the trades after we traded for
Addison Russell, we traded away Samarja for Addison Russell. I
remember that shifting. We were in Oakland and we were set.
THEO was like that that's it, that's the last time
we're selling, and you felt it. And then the off
season the momentum kept going and then you bring in
the pieces and we just went on that run in
fifteen and then obviously we were heartbroken, but going to
the sixteen we had we were yeah.
Well and and so that night guys gonna believe And
I'm like, what was it all about? Oh yeah, hate
David Ross and like the time we had well into
Castillo or something. Well, and he was a great guy,
and I was he was starting to you know, he
had potential, Like is he like is he right handed
or left handed?
Right handed?
Like it's a bad match.
He was like, uh, you know, he's more of a
defensive catcher.
Fact, I don't even know how I'm even on this podcast,
but it's like it cracks me up. They're looking back
at my career and being on some of these teams
and like the nice things that these guys have about me,
and obviously like you get to go through all that,
but like John was a big, like big piece of
my career obviously and taking me along for some you know,
two rings and being a part of that. But yeah,
it's like funny to hear everybody's story. Everybody said, I'm
this nice, lovable guy, but all the stories or me
beeing an asshole somehow on the field or in the dugout. So,
but we brought up Joe Madden for a second look
him back. What kind of impact do you feel like
as a manager, because you've had a bunch of different managers,
what impact do you feel like was special that he
was able to do for a lot of winning here?
Well, I mean, I mean, I think what Joe brought,
you know, in addition to all of his baseball knowledge
and all the fun stuff he did on the field
and moving people around and keeping guys loose, like he
never bought into the like the curse stuff like he
kept everybody loose, like you know, and you can you
can talk to dem the guys that played in O eight.
That was one hundredth anniversary, right, and and it was
like such the everybody talked about it and even like
it just even people in the work oranization talked about
it like, so, I think, you know, the last thing
in the world you need is your manager to to
like make that any worse than it has to be,
and I thought Joe di of the opposite. He kept
you guys loose and you did fun stuff, you know,
and like he he had enough of a personality that
when you know, like when there was a bad game,
he could just go out and talk about something to
the media and it all kind of went away from
us and it was a good game. He'd give you
guys credit. So no, I think I think he was.
I say that all the time people talk about the
curse and all these things, we ever canvas like, I
never felt that in the clubhouse because we felt like
we were our own little well.
The culture shifted because of you and your leadership team.
We had roundtable meetings at the end of every single
year where THEO and Tom would come down and they
would ask for the players advice of what do we
need to be better? How do we however we become
the best and a lot of them were for the
early years. Was me just blabbing because I was the
only constant here. And then as years later it became
the cathedral that it is. But all of that when
into the culture shifting of when I first got here,
it was, oh, well, that's the way we've always done it,
and I remember looking at Otis rest in peace, Tom Hellman,
our old clubhouse manager, and I go, Otis, I go,
don't you think we should fucking switch it up? We
hadn't won in one hundred years? What do you mean
this is the way we've always done it? And he's like, oh,
I never thought about that. I would do that.
Fans had come up to me and be like, hey, Rickets,
you're screwing this all up, and I'd be like, who whoa,
whoa whoa. Okay, you might be right, but answer me this,
which is your favorite championship nineteen oh seven or nineteen
oh eight?
I'm like what.
I'm like, what are you holding on to?
Right? What are you clinging to? Here?
Yeah?
I'm like, we gotta do some stuff that's different.
That's funny, yeap, Because well, when we started winning and
the culture really started shifting, the expectations weren't well, just
wait till next year, right, That's always the phrase fifteen
going to the sixteen, it was no, we're winning. It wasn't.
You didn't hear you know, I didn't hear Danny Mueller,
our clubhouse attenant now saying oh, we're gonna wait till
next year. It was no, we're going to win the
World Series this year, and that was real expect.
The two championship teams I've been on, they talk about
winning in like they're not talking about how long it's
been since we haven't won it, talking about why we
were winning. And we had that here with this culture.
I think to your point, Joe had such a great
way of handling the media that we never had really
any outside distractions. We were kind of our own little unit.
And then did you feel that you came down to
the locker room some like you're around that. I mean,
you've won a different vibe with the sixteen team.
Well, you know, I think that. I think everyone it
was kind of a wire to wire kind of season.
I mean, you got outa got off to a good start.
Obviously a few near misses towards the very end there,
but like, I mean, it was it was expected. It
really was.
You needed, you know, go out and sign j Massive,
signing Lackey, Zobrist right, three more pieces re signed Decks
late or early in spring training, which was the one
we were kind of missing that leadoffs Bot going in and.
Then fifteen died hard. Fifteen was tough, but if everybody, everybody,
I think everybody's ready for sixteen and hit the ground run.
Feel like the team was a success though when you
step back obviously, like oh god, yeah, yeah, we're loving
that right, like from where we were at.
Well, I mean the fifteen playoffs, like you know we
went uh, you know we obviously that game in Pittsburgh
was insane, insane.
I think that's the single biggest And this is like
obviously I'm not a Cups historian like you are and
know all the back that the history, but that game
Jake Area had a pitch in that environment and we
was winning that game, to me is one of the
biggest wins for this organization maybe ever.
Just like fun undoubtedly and leading up to that, you know,
all the media meeting, what.
Do you what do you think when you see that? Like,
what do you think when you're seeing players do bone
head things? And you're you're the owner, right so you're
almost from a distance, what are your what's your opinion
on all of that? I don't know.
I mean, I mean, I want guys to be themselves
and I don't honestly, like of all the all there
through all the years, there's been very very few things
that the players have done that I think are truly
bone headed. I think most of the guys have always
been smart and respectful and thoughtful about what they say
and do and and I think that's you know, impart
in baseball because a lot of times before you're actually
someone in the media wants to talk to. In baseball,
you're a little older, you've been around a while, you're
twenty five or twenty six. You're not, you know, in
some of the other sports, your stars when you're nineteen
or twenty and so your point little people, I think
people little more grown up and have a little more perspective.
And then the other thing about you know, my observation
on baseball is like guys do not try to pull
themselves too far out of the team that everybody wants to.
They don't want the individual attention like they might look
for in other sports. So but but yeah, so I
remember Chake, just think it doesn't matter what they think or.
Yeah, do you have any pet peeves watching as a fan,
like if something goes astray in the game, is there
something that irks you more than others?
What's your what's your fandom like, is it like you know,
uh errors, like what's your fandom when you're like, what
are we doing?
Yeah? I think it's like the mental mistakes, like you know,
when when someone throws the wrong base or something, you're
just kind of.
Like or base running. I used to come in and
tell me it's like Tom's dis about the base running,
Like I'm on it, I'm on it.
I'm like it's there, you know, Like I I keep
it all in perspective, I think in general, but sometimes
you're just kind of like, okay, you even playing this game
that you were five, you know, like yeah, yeah, totally,
and like but you know, in the moment, it's in
the moment, but.
You're a fan. But that's what I think. What's great
about kind of being a fan is like having still
seving some of that. That's what's nice to sit down
and talk to you is because it's so like everybody
has players perspective or managers or coaches, but like owners
perspective a little different, especially here with you and and
and you being coming from your background of being a
fan and invested in the team and in the seats and.
Being seen coming get to my wedding, dancing at my wedding.
I have pictures like I pictures the whole crowd and
like you're dancing right in the middle like the owner
of Chicago Cubs. My boss is at our wedding right
And coming to the charity events and being available I
thought was so special, Like I said, and in the
seats with your kids sitting there. I remember giving Cole
or Quinn, I gave him ship. They one year they
came in a Smoky's Tennessee Smokey jers. I'm like, what
the hell is that and missed Thompson right there, and
then the next day as a Rizzo jersey on it.
For years he's wearing a Rizzo jersey, and then all
of a sudden he wore Hobby jersey one day and
I saw it because I always looked on the on
deck circle and I was like, really happens that quick?
And the hobby became his fairit. But just you being available,
I thought was so important for our young team to
not feel that pressure. There were so many pieces. Joe
nothing the pressure. You never put pressure on us from
the outside of like we need to win this year.
It was a process and we stuck to that process.
You got any superstitions when you watch games superstitions. No,
not not really, there are I do believe that you
don't talk about like with all the World Series stuff
was going down, Like I don't talk about that, man,
don't chink it.
Don't chink it.
Like I'm like, we're not gonna know,
I'm not going to talk about the parade, Like we're
not going to pre plan that stuff, like like some
people in the down in the org. Yeah, actually because
it takes more than a day to do that. But
like I'm like, no, leave me out of those meetings.
I'm not talking about I'm not talking about celebrations or
championships or anything like that. You know, just leave me out.
Well, when we get to the playoffs in twenty sixteen,
we go through. The whole year really started at the
All Star break. You charted us two planes, which owners
at the time did not do. I think you were
one of the first to charter all the All Star
Games two planes. I think they're both G five's six
is so thank you, right, eight or nine players with
seven seven sorry, and we had all our families on
there and it was so awesome. And then we get
to the playoffs and we have a round table meeting
about the playoffs, and Tom is so generous flies all
of our families on separate planes to and from all
the series and let us still be you know, the
boys on the plane. And that was such a big
help too. And then we get to the playoffs, go
to the NLDS, which was a wild series out in
San Francisco. We come back here and clinch. How much
did that mean? Clinching here to go to the World Series?
Was that? I mean, that's a dream come true in
its own?
Yeah, that was that was a crazy day. The Yeah,
that was amazing to get back to the World Series.
In that game that Kyle pitched such a great game
against the Dodgers all night, and because we had a
couple of those games early on that we just didn't hit.
Yeah, we were down to one and that, yeah, that
it got.
A little nervous, nervous in La. But the funny one
of the funny stories for that night was Crane is like, hey,
you know, if we win tonight, we get a trophy
on the field, there's a there's a celebration and I'm like,
I didn't know that. He's like, you want to hear
anything about now, don't tell me anything about it at all.
Like yeah, I'm like, if it happens, it happens, I'll
figure it out, grab it out. So then so the
game's over and like I think it's Fox or whoever
that the broadcasters set up like a little little platform
on the field and walk out, and you know, they
hand me this this like trophy and it's it's like
this trophy. It's like it and it weighs like forty
pounds or something. And the next day my brother calls
me and says, hey, Tom, you can't say fuck on
national television. And I'm like, well, that's fine because I
did not say fuck on national television. And he goes
go back and read your lips because and you hear
me going this things fucking. And then I'm trying to
give it to THEO or Crane, but they're playing the
NHL superstition where you don't touch that trophy because you're
still going on. So then I'm just sit there holding
it and someone from Fox is like, here's here's another
thing for your trophy case. And I'm like, hey man,
we're the Cubs. We don't have it trophy case.
Like this is this is our first one in a
long time.
Yeah, And that one was like that one's like a
traveling trophy, like like your kids had with their you know,
like the kids do that, and like it has like
you know, the different teams written out over the years.
And I think I think we still have that one
because they canceled. They went on to like a trophy
you can keep when you win the pennant.
Now, oh, you don't get to keep that trophy.
I think we got. I think we may still have
that one somewhere. But they went they moved on to Yeah,
they moved on to letting.
Letting somebody. How about the party after that outside of
Wrigley I mean, obviously it got better and we'll get
to that, but to go to the World Series clinching
at Wrigley Field first the Dodgers.
And all that stuff, it's just just amazing.
Well, we messing up that brand new clubhouse, absolutely destroying.
That What was what were your I want to know
what your pregameer so games like?
But we did and we we didn't leave the ball
short of the cup on the pre gaming like we
we got all all our friends, like we took over
one of the rooftop buildings with one of the one
with the beautiful apartment you.
Guys, Oh yeah, the one you let me stay in
during COVID.
Yeah, that was so we take that over, invited a
couple hundred people and uh, and it actually it helped
me during the playoff runs that that I had so much.
There was a lot of planning, Like getting everybody's tickets
was something you had to spend some time on, and
then just planning the parties and getting everybody together, telling
everyone where to meet, making sure that all the nieces
and nephews were taking care of that kind of stuff.
It like consumed a lot of my day just making
sure all that stuff was the logistics were done. And
but we we had our parties across the street and
and and we went back there after and that that Uh,
I think that game I think was pretty much an
all nighter for us.
That was like that was for us definitely for us, definitely.
Right going back and you know that one, and then
the Game five of the World Series was another one
that was just went on all night.
That was that was that we were going to talk
about that with you're.
Down three to one, We're down three to one. Right,
we're going to the World Series. We're down three to one.
Where what's the owner's mindset? Down three to one? Game
five here, my favorite game? What amazing?
We had two games here ready, and we had we
haven't had games here? How many years? Fifty plus, I
think it was. I haven't won a game here. We
get to game five, we win. That's the only game
we won, had home the only World Series game probably
ever won in Wrigley, I think.
Well, no, in nineteen forty five, that's right.
It was forty five. That's got forty five and.
There was a few, yeah, few teams for that, but
still yeah. I remember coming in for game five and
our party a little you know, our cocktail parties across
the street, and sitting across the street from our our
rooftop is the MVP car. Oh no, we news tonight
and that goes home with Jason Kloer ithing I don't.
Know, and I'm like, that's not if you don't need this.
That was the first bad omen for the Indians.
I don't need to see that car. And but you
know what's funny like that night, I know if you
guess Charlie Jones from the music movie producer, music producer,
colle producer, good buddy, you know, and he was there
with Houston Street of all people, the player and he said,
we're at my party, and he's like, hey, Tom, don't
worry about it. You know, guys think they can always
win three in a row. Four in a row sounds
pretty hard, but everybody's everybody thinks they can win three
in a row. You guys are fine. And I'm like,
all right, I'm gonna believe you, man. And but I
did also think, like, god, if we get through tonight,
you know, we have Jake going in Game six and
then it's anybody's.
Yeah, totally. That game was insane. And then Chapman throwing
I think two and a third or three and a
third to get us there.
That was.
That was. That game was my favorite game other than
Game seven, because winning here the first game here, I
don't know if you felt it, but I felt the
energy was just and now granted we didn't give fans
much to cheer about, but I felt like the first
game was just so mild.
Yeah, playoff playoff fives are a little bit different, and
I agree with that game in particular, but in the
games in eight which you guys weren't at but like
it was a little tense, Like everybody is a little
tense until you kind of break the radio, break the
damn and start you score a couple of runs. Then
suddenly everybody's cheering and going nuts.
And but yeah, I think we did give them not
cheer about so we did in game five, Game five
that way.
So Game five I remember leaving here and like we're
gonna roll. Game six, We're gonna do it. And then
game seven is a crap show and we go to
game six, win it and.
Taken everybody you took you know, Oh that's right, let's
not forget.
Not only are the families you flew, correct me if
I'm wrong, every pretty much every Cubs employee. Two Yeah, Cleveland.
Pretty much took the whole front office. Yeah, serious games.
I give give give Crane and the business guy's credit
for that idea. They came in, Hey, we can't leave
anyone behind that. I'm like, of course not, Let's just
let's just do it.
That's so awesome. So before game seven, what's what's your.
Yeah, where are you? What are you doing? Where'd you want?
Like? What what's the party? Is it? The same businesses.
Usually we got to keep the party going.
Well, you know what we did. It was actually kind
of worked out. Cleveland was the perfect spot for us too,
because it was kind of funny that I'm looking for
a place for a pre game in Cleveland and you know,
my since calling around and of course no one's gonna
let a bar we have a Cubs party at your
bar before the four World Series game in Cleveland. And
then I called my neighbor and I'm like, dude, you're
from Cleveland, you got to help me out. And he's like,
I'll make some calls. So he actually had a few
of his friends who live in Cleveland start calling around places.
And it turns out there was a hotel like two
or three blocks from from the ballpark that had just
pretty much opened and they had a rooftop deck and
no one had booked it. So we booked that for
all the games. And the first couple of games the
weather was kind of crappy.
If it wasn't, it was a very.
Those but those last couple of games in Cleveland, the
pregame was was great. So now I had a great
time with those games. We it was it was hard though,
like uh, like, well, we the way they set us up,
we have the whole family. So I got myself and
my three siblings and maybe like you know, twelve or
so nieces and nephews, and we all we can't all
sit together because they don't have tickets all right in
the same spot. So what we were doing during Game
seven was I sat on like the the in the front,
you know, in the front seats right above the right
above our dugout for a few winnings, and I'd rotate
over some other seats and let some of the kids
move around, and I went up to the suite to
check on my laws and kind of.
Moved series history our owners bouncing around carrying other people
more than so.
It's kind of funny, but like so, actually, you know
what I did last night, I watched the game for
the first time since the since I came back. So
that night we won, and I can tell that story too.
But I watched the game the next day at my
house because I was, like I said to my wife,
I just don't remember anything, like I just don't remember
what happened, like it was it was too I was
too stressed, and I just it just I'm sure you
guys have the similar times where you don't remember what
happened or it was just your two in the moment
and whatever. But so we rotated people around at the ballpark,
and so I was going to head back down to
like the front seats towards the end, but we had
the kids down there, and it's cute. And there's a
photo I just saw it on TV on TV last
night of Cole and a couple of my nieces and
nephews sitting in the front row in the ninth inning.
Wow.
And and I was up with Todd and Pete. We
wrote we were up in like row twenty three, and
it was in the eighth inning. We were up in
row twenty three and something like that, just kind of
in regular seats in the middle of an aisle, just
because we were moving around. And then Davis hits that
home run and everyone's jumping up and down, and the
guy next to me grabs me and starts jumping way
why that was when they got that on camera.
That's a legendary fan right there.
No, sorry, dude, I'm not I'm the last person, not
the moment, the moment, man. But and then and then
wanted to come down and I was, you know, trying
to get back down for then then it rained, right,
it was starting to rain the ninth inning or whatever,
so then the rain delay went up to the suite,
but it was so quick, couldn't get back down to
the regular seats for the for the last out.
But wow, imagine imagine that fan. I wonder if that
fan even was it a fan.
Yeah, I was a fan, just a regular guy. It
just started grabbing.
I think made that sixteen World Series so special is
both fan bases were happy for one another, really because
the Indians hadn't been at the time they were called
the Indians had n't been in I think they haven't won.
And it was sixty something years, right, sixty and we
were going on one Hungred and eighty.
Well, you like, so the you know, before the first
game of the World Series, the home team throws a
party and the Indians through their party at the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, and I'm walking
in to run into Paul Dolan, who's the principal owner
of the Guardians and anyway Indians. Then he was like, oh, reck,
it's Jesus if if we're playing any other team in
the world. Everyone's cheering for us.
Yeah, that's right, that's right.
Come on, Paul Man, you won in nineteen forty eight.
I mean, sixty years a curse. That's not even a
slump for us, Like and know I've that's not a curse.
But we had a great experience. There were some people
did have some negative fan experiences in Cleveland. Mine we're
all positive.
Yes, yes, none of my family or anything. What you're
in the box during the rain delay? Yeah, what are
you thinking? The home run just hit? We get back out.
Of seventeen games, seventeen to get we'll go call it
tears of I don't know if.
Yeah, it just happen fast, right, we've got rolls, goes
back out, gets us out of the ninth and then
the rain comes. Right, What are you up there to that?
You just pacing in the box?
How pissed are you? Go back to the rajer? How heartbroken?
I know a fan was jumping on you, but what
where is your My head.
Was that's very clear. I'm like, I just think it's
just so hard to get here, Like it's so I mean,
I'm just you're just going through the amount of blood, sweat, tears, time, money,
like all the things it takes and all the like
the good decisions and the luck have to combine in
a way to get you to this moment in time
and when you're here to like if it gets away
from us now, like you know what happens next. And
I also, I mean and that that's.
That's real, that's real for us, Like I was thinking
of it as a curse.
You know, a lot of things got to go right,
and it's really hard to get their health the whole thing.
Yeah, and you know, and and uh, you know the
last thing I wanted to second guessing in game decisions
to that that's another one, Like oh my god, some
of these didn't go as well as you would hope,
and like, wow, this this is gonna this is going
to be a really rough one. So yeah, it was.
It was pretty pretty intensely stressful. I was, I was,
I was. I was getting through. But thankfully I didn't
kick anything like emotional John Mors at home when I'm
watching on TV and in the ballpark, I play under control.
Joe Madden had well. Joe told us he had the
plan right. His plan was one thing, and he deviated
from it with Lester not coming in on a clean inning.
He wanted cleaning with no one runners on, and he
deviated took Hendricks out. I can't wait to talk to
Hendricks about that, because Hendricks, for the first time ever
was a mo I never heard him yell and I
remember exactly what he said, put his hand in his
glove and I was like, whoa.
Yeah, yeah, we all remember that, yeah, and we all have.
We still we talked about we see Raj now and
you just like broke it away from me. I can't
even write.
And we won.
It's just so still still much.
Like for me that night and then we did uh
obviously we did all that stuff and you know, the
all the the the trophy presentation in the clubhouse and
and that was crazy too, just see all the people
and it just and for me, like that night, I
you know, I hung out there for a while, eventually
kind of wandered back to the hotel, walked back into
the hotel that we were all staying in, and there's
hundreds of people just standing in the lobby, the bards
of lung since like they kicked us out, you know,
like everyone just standing around is talking and and and
then I I was it was time to go upstairs
like three three three in the morning or something. But
but I committed to coming back to be on CBS
the CBS Morning Show. Uh, like they're like they're you know,
the CBS Good Morning America or whatever, and and so
I had to be back at the ballpark in the morning.
Oh so you didn't fly back with us.
No, I didn't go back. I stayed. And I'm kind
of you know, I mean, in some ways, I'm kind
of glad I did, because like I literally I didn't
go to sleep because I figured if I went to sleep,
I was sleep for twelve hours. So it just then
it was kind of wired anyway. So then went back
to the ballpark and walked back in and it was
still wow, like we left it because it rained all
night and so there was still like peanuts shells and
beer cups everywhere and they were just starting to clean up,
like the clean up the you know, the ballpark from
from Game seven. And I got to I got to
walk in there, and it's just I'm basically with a
few seeing a few like people working, but kind of
by myself.
Just like, wow, this is why you got to take
that in pretty crazy.
And then did the did the show flew back as
soon as we landed. Phone was blown up because we
had to get all the parade stuff done and had
to call the city on a few things.
That's one of my questions, what how the heck do
you plan a parade? And how many days take?
The black Hawks?
Five days?
Is that what it? I mean?
Did you start calling other teams had done?
Yeah, well they had, I mean our our marketing group.
They had to. They had to like get the rappers,
like at the stuff they're gonna put on the buses
and it all had to be kind of planned out. Yeah,
just but the one thing was the city was saying, hey,
can't you wait till Monday? Like Monday, Well, I mean
we like there's the GM meeting stuff, the perfect And
then it turned out to be sixty five or seven.
It was seventy five. It was a beautiful day.
The parade was just what's your most memorable part of
the parade that route?
Well, there was there's one like so we obviously we
all left here together and kind of going down on
Addison and there was a little kid on his dad's
shoulders and grandpa we did it holding up aside.
All right, I'm a I'm a I'm a new dad,
so you're gonna get me about I.
Took up when I talked about this a while. And
then of course, as you guys remember like being it,
you know when you find you get first of all,
people everywhere all the way down that was. That was nuts.
And then Grant Park is, Oh my gosh, it's it's
people as far as you can literally see all the
way back to the trees. And yeah, it was. It
was pretty amazing.
I remember we rolled in that they had the confetti
and it's just like I felt like a thousand people deep,
people on the fountains, on the light pole I got.
My memory is like I just saw heads and then
all of a sudden the tree tops like it just
like you said, yeah, the way to the trees, and
then and people in those trees. You know, it was
it was. That was a special epic, uh epic parade.
That thing was a maze one.
I have probably one of my favorite stories, I would say, is, well,
the thing I get asked most still to this day
is Anthony, you caught the last out. How did you
think they put in your back pocket? And then their
follow up questions what did you do with that ball?
And we happened? Tom. I don't know if you know this.
We we now that I'm an ambassador. I have keys
everywhere here. This is the ball. This is the last
out ball of Game seven of the World Series. And
Rossie and I always had the plan, Hey, if we
just get all the balls, it'll be worth so much money, right, So.
Like every playoffs seat, every last.
Out on the parade route. I remember giving this to
Alex Werez when we clinched and I go, you need
to get this authenticated. I trust you for my life.
His his wife, Abby runs my foundation. So I'm like,
I trust you, right, And I have it in my pocket.
On the parade I give it to my brother because
the plan was to give it to you. THEO called
me up and said, hey, I'm like, yeah, of course
I'm giving them this is where it belongs history, and yeah, yeah, right,
I remember that. So I get a call on the
parade route from my agent and he goes, hey, are
you sure you want to sell that ball. I'm like,
I'm not not sorry, sell it, give it away. I'm
like yes, of course. He goes, all right, I'm just
going to tell you what the first offer is my
brother has the ball because we're here, and I'm like, Johnny,
you're the biggest guy, you're the security guard. He was
the first offers two million, and I'm like, I just
hung up. I was like stop and giving you the ball?
Was I think this is right where it belongs because everything,
the symbolism of this and what you invested in your family,
it just belongs. It's I look at it when when
Pat Rondon and Jim brought and I've got literally goosebumps.
Well yeah, and you had it to me at the
at the at Grant Park. Yeah, and then I had this,
Oh I should have had a fake ball in my pocket?
Which one it just chucked it. Imagine that I don't
need it. Okay. So ten years later you look back
on this, we're going to celebrate this this year. We're
going to have our reunion in July, like super cool,
We've already had one party. Is really amazing. Like that
experience going through all that as an owner, what do
you look back on and try to pull from that
year that just says I remember one of my first
world series as a player and going, oh, that's what
it looks like when once you finally get across the
finish line. What's that like as an owner?
Well, I mean, any like obviously, you know, I'm at
first a fan. I'm just kind of like, you know,
I feel like the responsible fan, like the one you know,
and I want, you know, to you know, get us
back to the point that we can have the kind
of memories that we had that year. And I think
we're head in the right direction and we got good
people and we got a great, great team. But you know,
you're happy it happened because you know how hard it
is to get there, and there are days you're like, wow,
if you know, you know something something goes the other way,
or Kipness straightens out that ball in the ninth or whatever,
like you know, like there's there's a few things that
are just kind of too scary to think about about
that not happening. But ultimately, like, uh, you know, I
think it's just a great thing that we were all
over there to do something for the fans. Like, you know,
people still come up to be almost not not quite
every day, but if every time I'm at the airport
or at a restaurant and uh, you know, and you know,
people they choke up when they come up and talk
to you about it and and just to be you know,
even a small part of something that means so much
to so many people is a gift and something that
I just can't believe. I'm so lucky to be a
part of.
And your a big part, say a little bigger part.
We talk all the time because we now were traveling
a little bit together. And that's my favorite thing is
people that come up and tell me their their game
seven stories and how generational it was for them and
where it came from and how their fandom started. Like
that is by far my favorite thing that has come
from this world.
City.
They tell you who they tell you where they were,
but almost immediately tell you who they were with. Yeah,
and that's that's what baseball is. Baseball is it's a
social sport. The team is a member of your family,
like and like you just you can go with your
grandkids or your grandparents or whatever. Like it's just it's
just different, and you know, and and people care so much.
And every time I think I met the greatest Cup
fan in the world, a few days later I meet
someone could also be the greatest Cup fan in the world.
So you know, and there's nothing that prepares you or could
have prepared you, guys for the amount of just passion
and uh oh yeah, and love that the team receives
from this incredible family.
I remember I told the story at the lady at
the Cubs convention the next year was like an older lady,
We're going to win another one, right, And.
I got so mad.
I was like, ma'am, with all due respect, and you
can say whatever we want have to say with a
due respect. We just won one before you died, Like
this is all you ever asked for, right, And but
that's what that's real. We shifted, all of us, shifted
a culture here to lovable losers to now expected yeah, well,
winners every single year.
The question like, you know, like do you get tired
of the pressure or people getting mad when the team
doesn't win? And I'm like, well, yeah in some respects,
But on the other hand, do you want to be
levelable losers? And if you're not lovable losers, then you
you're expected to win. And that's got to be the
standard we we no doubt hold ourselves.
That's the standard that you've built. Honestly, since you've been here.
You you had a vision you said it in your
early press conferences, in your interviews, this is what we're
going to do, and you did it, and it's it's
been fun. You guys want to be fun. To be
a small part. I was a small part of that.
We were small parts of Yeah.
I was a really small part. Yeah.
I love looking back at in the over the ten
years and all the stories of the people going to
the graves, how flags, the chalk on the wall. I
think it is so cool that we had it. You
have you read this redo the redo the wall ten
years later, of all the bricks and the chalk. I
think that's that was the coolest thing. But all the
stories Grandpa, we did it, All of that is just
so real. And Tom, I in fifteen when we beat
the Cardinals, you had a quote and it said nobody
during when you're in a those views, it said, nobody
here today will forget that they were here today when
we beat the Cardinals. And that resonates with me because
you come to Wrigley Field now today and nobody forgets
their experience at Wrigley Field. And that's because of what
you and your family built. This organization is built. And
ten years later, Rossie and I couldn't thank you enough
to be on here.
So yeah, and I just want to say, like we
don't take for granted that nobody gets to sit down
with the owner, right, like this isn't normal and a
lot of people get sit down with managers and players
and stuff. And so very thankful for that. This you
you've made us, You've always made us feel like family.
But and we are. And I think that's like a
special thing that you've given us your time to be here.
So thank you, no, thank you, guys, and this is
this is fun and we got thanks. I love hearing
thank you, thanxious to hear all the stories.
I cannot leave an Indians fan up and down average
saying true, well, thank you, thanks so much. Somebody that's
a rat, it's stuff. I thank you, buddy.
This is actually sad thinking.
But that was said. He well, I see the mark.
I'm like, whoa