The Steve Stone Resignation

Since 1983, Steve Stone has been the TV color analyst for the Cubs (except for a two-year break he took for an unspecified illness), bridging the time between the broadcasters I knew as a kid, and the present day.

That ended yesterday when he turned in his resignation, after being offered a chance to stay for the last year of his contract, a chance that it appeared that he would take, up till yesterday.

This article contains the text of Stone's resignation letter, which raises more questions than it answers.

Look, I loved listening to Steve Stone; he was probably the premier analyst among local team announcers, and remembering back even farther, when he took over the play-by-play for half of 1987 after Harry Caray's stroke, with "guest announcers" beside him, is among the best baseball broadcasting I have ever heard, and I will always respect Stone for that, and for the rest of the 21 years.

The problems with the Cubs are well-known, and the problems didn't start when Steve Stone correctly pointed them out. I wish he had stayed to see out the correction of the problems, which begin with getting players in the clubhouse who care about winning instead of whining.

This was an object lesson that the Cubs surely could have learned simply by watching the Red Sox' run through the playoffs. Those guys won -- but they also looked like they actually enjoyed playing baseball, and having fun with each other.

The 2003 Cubs had that attitude, but the 2004 Cubs didn't. Team chemistry can be overrated, but it can also be underrated.

That's a tangent, but it's one I know Cubs management will address, even as they are addressing who to replace Stone with. A popular former player would be a good start, and among the people I wouldn't mind seeing there would be Joe Girardi and Eric Karros.

Now let's go out and get Carlos Beltran, so we can win.