The Chicago Cubs Tickets:the Team That Have Not Won The World Series
The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago
, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago (the other being the Chicago White Sox). The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National League (the other being the Atlanta Braves).
The Cubs have not won the World Series in 102 years; a longer championship drought than that of any other major North American professional sports team. The Cubs are often referred to as "The Lovable Losers" because of this distinction. They are also known as "The North Siders" because Wrigley Field, their home park since 1916, is located in Chicago's north side Lakeview community. They are also often called "The Boys in Blue" noting the team's primary uniform color, (which itself is often referred to as "Cubbie Blue") or simply as "The Cubbies."
Chicago's manager is Mike Quade, who took over for Lou Piniella, who originally announced his retirement after the 2010 season, but instead left on August 22 due to in-family health issues while their general manager is Jim Hendry. The Cubs have rivalries with the St. Louis Cardinals, the Milwaukee Brewers, and the cross-town Chicago White Sox.
The club, which is the oldest active team in major North American sports still currently in its original city (only the Braves, who were also professionally founded in 1871 and did not lose two years due to the Great Chicago Fire, have played longer), is currently owned by a family trust of TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, with his son Tom Ricketts operating the team on a daily basis. The Cubs were previously owned by the Wrigley Company and the Chicago Tribune.
Al Spalding, who also owned Spalding sporting goods, played for the team for two seasons under club founder William Hulbert. After Hulbert's death Spalding owned the club for twenty one years, after which the Cubs were purchased by Albert Lasker and Charles Weeghman. That pair were followed by the Wrigley family, owners of Wrigley's chewing gum.
In 1981, after 6 decades under the Wrigley family, the Cubs were purchased by Tribune Company for $20,500,000. Tribune, which also owned the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, WGN Television, WGN Radio and many other media outlets, controlled the club until December 2007, when Sam Zell completed his purchase of the entire Tribune organization and announced his intention to sell the baseball team.
In 2008 Zell began what was basically a competition for a buyer. In late July, a long list was narrowed down to ten, and those ten prospective investors were then to were narrowed to three, all of whom offered over $1 billion for both the Cubs and Wrigley Field, with the presumptive fan favorites being outspoken Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and a group led by former announcer Steve Stone and Hall-of-Famer Hank Aaron.
However, the list inflated back to five by August as private equity investor and Brewers minority owner John Canning, Jr. and Tom Ricketts, the son of Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts were added to the "contest."
The Canning move was highly scrutinized, because when Zell originally trimmed the candidates down, Canning Jr. had been eliminated, but commissioner Bud Selig had apparently picked him as a favorite of the fraternity of MLB owners. During a Chicago Bulls-Dallas Mavericks telecast on October 9, 2008, Cuban, in a courtside interview with Comcast Sports Net, claimed he had made the highest bid, and although he did not know where he stood, noted that the state of the economy would likely affect the time frame of the eventual sale.
Nonetheless, on January 8, 2009, the Chicago Tribune reported that a new three finalists, Tom Ricketts, Hersch Klaff, and a partnership of private equity investors Marc Utay and Leo Hindery Jr., were expected to submit polished offers "within days," after which the winning bid would be accepted, and pending the winning bidders approval by 2/3 of the current MLB owners, "would be final," with Zell holding on to a minor share of the team. The Ricketts family won that bidding process, now a full-scale media-circus as the 2009 season came to a close.
Ultimately, the sale was unanimously approved by MLB owners and the Ricketts family took control on October 27, 2009.
The Chicago Cubs have not won a World Series championship since 1908 and have not appeared in the Fall Classic since 1945, although between their postseason appearance in 1984 and their most recent in 2008, they have made the postseason a respectable six times. It is the longest title drought in all four of the major American professional sports leagues, which includes the NFL, the NBA, and the NHL, as well as, of course, Major League Baseball.
In fact, the Cubs' last World Series title occurred before those other three leagues even existed, and even the Cubs' last World Series appearance predates the founding of the NBA. The Cubs 3/2 series victory over the Atlanta Braves in the 2003 NLDS was the franchise's first postseason series win since the 1908 championship. Despite their championship drought, the Cubs have won three fictional World Series in the films Rookie of the Year, Back to the Future Part II, and Taking Care of Business.
by: Cynthia Hoffman
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