At the 32nd annual Cubs Convention this weekend, Tom and Laura Ricketts spent time with fans and media to share their experiences and feelings while watching the culmination of the work that started when they purchased the team nearly a decade ago.
“My stomach is still setting,” Laura said, reflecting on the weeks of the postseason, and especially Game Seven. “All of the fans around us were Cleveland fans, and when [Rajai] Davis hit that home run, I turned to my 10 year old nephew and said, ‘Don’t cry, the Cubs never quit.’ I was half convincing myself when I said it.”
It would be easy to characterize those words so simply, but she elaborated, offering more than just simple platitudes to get her young nephew through a tough moment.
“These guys, you just can’t turn the TV off,” she said.
Tom added, “When Davis hit the home run, this guy gives me a hug like I’m an Indians fan. Three days later, I had a nightmare that we had lost Game Seven.”
Tom joked that when he told his wife about how unfair it was to have a dream like that after actually having won the game, he said she told him he had “postseason stress disorder.”
The most watched baseball game in 25 years did that to a lot of fans, but both Tom and Laura Ricketts were eager to thank the fans for their faith in the plan to rebuild the team and willingness to see it carried through some very, very low points.
“We know there were some tough seasons, and we appreciate everyone’s willingness to stay in the boat and keep cheering,” Tom said.
“All the decisions, all the work, it comes down to the players on the field.” Laura said. “But to see all of those ‘W’ flags put a lump in my throat.”
Both Tom and Laura spoke glowingly about the organic genesis of the chalk wall outside Wrigley Field that extended for days after the World Series had ended.
“I can’t look at that without choking up.” Tom said.
Tom shared a story about visiting a family at a hospital and meeting their three children: Clark, Addison, and Sheffield. He then joked, “I’m so glad we didn’t move the team to Rosemont.”
Now that the product on the field has completed the task of ending a century-long championship drought, much of the talk at the convention centered on winning it all again and on the continued work at Wrigley Field and the surrounding area.
To the latter, Tom spoke to the work being done on the stadium this winter, sharing that steel and concrete that is nearly as old as the last Cubs World Series win before 2016 is being replaced, and that amenities like washrooms and concessions are being increased by forty percent. They are also engaged in restoring the outer appearance of the park to how it appeared in 1935.
The primary difference that will catch every fan’s eye the first time they walk through the turnstiles this season is one that not everyone is happy about. The bullpens, for decades a staple piece of what gave Wrigley its charm, will be under the bleachers when the 2017 season begins.
“I liked the bullpens where they’re at, but from a health standpoint, it’s better for the outfielders,” Tom said. “My heart goes in my throat when I see them running over there.”
When asked about their advice to other teams looking to rebuild, Tom was very candid. “One of the things that we did, and maybe others in this city should too, is be honest about what you’re going to do. Tell everyone the truth. Once you start the process, have the discipline to follow through.”
After jokingly adding, “Thank God it worked,” Tom stressed the importance of not giving in to the temptation to bail on the plan before it has been fully executed.
For the Cubs, the way ahead will no longer look the way it has in years past. Perhaps as fans learn to let go of petty quibbles about in-game management during the postseason and look forward to the reality of what winning again will look like, they will hopefully also appreciate the magnitude of what the Ricketts family has done. From the “Year One” billboards around Chicagoland after they first purchased the team to assembling a brain trust in the front office to bringing in the manager who possessed the savvy and ease to guide a very young team through choppy waters, they have always been honest and have always stuck to their plan.
Thank God it worked.
Lead photo courtesy Dennis Wierzbicki—USA Today Sports