The Cubs' soon-to-be new owner, Tom Ricketts.
about 3 years ago
Al Yellon
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First time I've seen him.
Pictured a much older guy.
"Every player should be accorded the privilege of at least one season with the Chicago Cubs. That's baseball as it should be played - in God's own sunshine. And that's really living." ~Alvin Dark
by DamonBerryhillsMitt on Jan 23, 2009 10:33 AM CST reply actions
Ok, that's prolly why.
Kept hearing “the founders of TD Ameritrade”. Guess that’s why I was assuming a man in late 60’s/early 70’s.
"Every player should be accorded the privilege of at least one season with the Chicago Cubs. That's baseball as it should be played - in God's own sunshine. And that's really living." ~Alvin Dark
by DamonBerryhillsMitt on Jan 23, 2009 10:36 AM CST up reply actions
Tom Ricketts is 43.
"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx
Hope we're all smiling next October.
"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx
And smiling into November,
since that’s when the World Series is ending in 2009!
Hey, it's a new century!
by cowsarecool220 on Jan 23, 2009 1:39 PM CST up reply actions
+1,000,000
This is only the beginning....Lou Pinella end of '07 season and Chicago Transit Authority (the band when they were really good).
What does Tom Ricketts do?
I may have missed this is past threads, but how did Tom get his wealth?
by Cubs and Hawks fan on Jan 23, 2009 10:35 AM CST reply actions
For Ricketts' bio & other info...
… see this comment under last night’s post.
"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx
Nice to meet you Mr. Ricketts
We have high hopes for you.
Join the BCB Flickr Group: http://flickr.com/groups/bleedcubbieblue
his first transaction as Cubs owner is huge
it eliminates Zell and Tribco from the decision making
"I like coconuts, you can break them open and they smell like ladies lying in the sun" Widespread Panic
Anticipating his first transaction...
I believe Mr. Rickett’s first transaction as Cubs owner will almost assuredly be signing the order to close the prison camps at Guantanamo Bay.
by Great Odin's Raven on Jan 23, 2009 11:59 AM CST up reply actions
I hope that is just a joke...
tongue-in-cheek.
Sweet Lou for Mayor in '11.
by blackhawk24 on Jan 23, 2009 12:43 PM CST up reply actions
tongue-and-cheek?
Now definitely TWSS!!!
Erm, well if we are going to call Milton Bradley nicknames, mine is Fischer Price: yes, you heard it here first..
Somebody finally beat Santoswoodenlegs to a TWSS.
"Booze, broads, and bullshit. If you got all that, what else do you need?" Harry Caray
by CubbieintheSouth on Jan 23, 2009 8:14 PM CST up reply actions
is that better or worse than beating him to a pulp?
Lou Brown: "My kinda team, Charlie, my kinda team..."
That's for you to decide.
"Booze, broads, and bullshit. If you got all that, what else do you need?" Harry Caray
by CubbieintheSouth on Jan 23, 2009 11:48 PM CST up reply actions
unless
there is a lefty there, then Hendry might try to sign them
"I like coconuts, you can break them open and they smell like ladies lying in the sun" Widespread Panic
Well, I've heard from a guy with a client in one of those minimum
security prisons, you either beat someone up on the first day or become someone’s bitch.
do they have 'Jump to Conclusion' mats?
Okay, just so I understand it... in your wildest fantasy, you are in hell. And you are co-running a bed and breakfast with the devil.
No, but they allow conjugal visits
"That’s what I love about my skip, man. He’ll tell you that you suck...I know I suck. We know we suck...Yeah, we suck. But we’ll see who sucks at the end."
- Gary Sheffield
by DrGalazkiewicz on Jan 23, 2009 7:28 PM CST up reply actions
"...something even better than conjugal visit sex. Fugitive sex!"
Lou Brown: "My kinda team, Charlie, my kinda team..."
I'd like to remind him...
that as a trusted internet personality, I can be useful in rounding up others to toil in his underground sugar caves.
by CubsWin!Oregon on Jan 23, 2009 3:37 PM CST up reply actions
damn!
I was about to come here and make a bone disease joke!
Erm, well if we are going to call Milton Bradley nicknames, mine is Fischer Price: yes, you heard it here first..
Dear Mr. Ricketts...
… Enjoy this moment for you shall never be this popular again unless your team wins a world series.
You mean ...
… “UNTIL your team wins a world series.”
"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx
*5
"Booze, broads, and bullshit. If you got all that, what else do you need?" Harry Caray
by CubbieintheSouth on Jan 23, 2009 8:14 PM CST up reply actions
As I understand from radio report
Tom Ricketts is the front man and will be active owner in charge. But make no mistake it is the Ricketts family that is buying the team.
Tom Ricketts is a great choice, but lets keep in mind he is benefactor of the lucky sperm club. For it was Dad who built TD Ameritrade and the rest of the family’s diversified empire.
read a little deeper into his bio...
…you will find he has always made his own bones and quite impressively as well. Most of his business accomplishments have nothing to do with Ameritrade, in fact I have read he refused to work for them when he was younger becuase he wanted to make his own way.
Now it is the family money buying the team but is quite qualified based on his resume IMO
New sig currently under construction
by JB 23 on Jan 23, 2009 1:25 PM CST up reply actions 5 recs
Absolutely
The Ricketts family is great choice as new owners, and Tom Ricketts is great choice to serve as owner lead.
Sure
but it’s always easier to make a fortune when you start out with one. And he was certainly given opportunities to make money because he had his family fortune backing him.
Still, that doesn’t mean that he’s not a great businessman in his own right. Heck, Ken Griffey Jr. is a great ballplayer, in part, because he was getting major league instructions from the time he was two. Just means that it’s disingenuous for one to claim that he made all that money without an assist from the rest of the family.
by Josh Timmers on Jan 23, 2009 4:30 PM CST up reply actions
this sounds
perfectly Gladwellian ;-)
"Truth does not do as much good in the world as the semblance of truth does evil," - Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Maxims, 64.
Sounds like a good ownership group to me
But I am reminded of the old saying “be careful what you wish for”…
THANKS RICKETTS
For this great Birthday Gift. Tomorrow is my birthday, and what a better gift than new ownership.
"I like coconuts, you can break them open and they smell like ladies lying in the sun" Widespread Panic
Happy Birthday!
"Truth does not do as much good in the world as the semblance of truth does evil," - Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Maxims, 64.
Should we sing?
Hey, it's a new century!
by cowsarecool220 on Jan 23, 2009 2:30 PM CST up reply actions
sure
call me 800-CUBS-WIN
"I like coconuts, you can break them open and they smell like ladies lying in the sun" Widespread Panic
thanks
"I like coconuts, you can break them open and they smell like ladies lying in the sun" Widespread Panic
Statue
Let it be known that if (or when) the Cubs win a World Series Tom Ricketts can sit on the float going down Michigan Avenue holding the trophy! I will also happily contribute to the statue of him outside Wrigley Field.
We want a winner and if it is Tom Ricketts that helps bring it to us by investing his millions I will be the first one cheering him at the parade. I can’t wait!
From one Cub fan to another – Mr. Ricketts. Good luck and may the Cubs win a World Series…or two!!
Favorite Game - 'The Sandberg game" June 23, 1984
From my Dad
I asked my Dad to go further into his observations about Mr. Ricketts and this is what he said
“I had some business dealings with him setting up some systems for his company. He is a very honest earnest man and a pleasure to do business with. Very personable, trustworthy and as honest as can be.: I also did a smaller deal with him a not too long ago and everything went well. As a Cubs fan this is a great day. I am happy for a good man has won this bidding and happy for my baseball team.”
My Dad is not one who will mince words if someone is a not good person so this is not just someone being nice.
Barbara V. October 14, 1941 - December 19, 2008. A great lady who was a friend to all and like a second mom to her children's friends (she was my best friend's mom)
Wow, your dad provides very clear and well thought out quotes.
Mine, just asks “how’s the car runnin?”
It is remarkable how many personal connections...
…to the Cubs you seem to have.
Consistent. Championship. Tradition.
Most
Most are through charity work I’ve done over the years and through my family connections.
My Dad is one of those people that people in his industry know but people outside don’t but chances are you have used or will use in the future a product he helped create. I bet 99 percent of us have or will.
Barbara V. October 14, 1941 - December 19, 2008. A great lady who was a friend to all and like a second mom to her children's friends (she was my best friend's mom)
by puckishcubsfan on Jan 24, 2009 12:52 AM CST up reply actions
What are you talking about?
If you had to choose just one characteristic that would get you through life, choose a sense of humor.
Ron Popeil?
If you had to choose just one characteristic that would get you through life, choose a sense of humor.
sporks?
"I like coconuts, you can break them open and they smell like ladies lying in the sun" Widespread Panic
sheesh... am I the only one old enough here to remember "The Graduate"?
[cue “Mrs. Robinson” soundtrack…]
Lou Brown: "My kinda team, Charlie, my kinda team..."
No, I remember it, too.
He never did get into plastics, did he?
"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx
I remember too
just riffing on KOW’s dad’s profession.
And let’s hear it for Mrs. Robinsons!
"Truth does not do as much good in the world as the semblance of truth does evil," - Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Maxims, 64.
mine
is usually too drunk to talk about anything, including the john
"I like coconuts, you can break them open and they smell like ladies lying in the sun" Widespread Panic
Hopefully
we see him holding the World Series trophy soon.
Chicago Cubs 2009 World Series Champions
by CUBSfaninYANKEEcountry on Jan 23, 2009 4:17 PM CST reply actions
Welcome TR
I trust you read BCB. Okay so reveal your BCB handle already.
"Pounding sand since 1982...."
So
We got a potential owner with money, brains, AND he’s a Cubs fan?
Some one wake me up I think Im dreaming.
I don't buy the meeting his wife in the stands story
too good to be true if you ask me. I think it was just a cleaver PR idea.
"Pounding sand since 1982...."
or she was invited to a game
and he “met” her there after a previous engagemeny
"I like coconuts, you can break them open and they smell like ladies lying in the sun" Widespread Panic
Doubt it.
Why would he have needed the PR years ago when he met her?
"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx
That's what I'm saying
It never happened. He is telling it now to help his PR effort with fans to win them over. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but I have a hard time believing this story. I just think it’s “too good to be true.” I hope I’m wrong though, it’s a cute story if it is true.
"Pounding sand since 1982...."
I think it's true.
I don’t think he needs any “PR effort”. People seem to be welcoming him regardless.
"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx
Well when you're spending $900 million
I don’t think you take any chances. I might be reading into this way too much, but if I were him and I wanted to make sure “the fans” were on my side, I’d let them know how much of a true fan I was myself. The worse thing that could happen to him is to come in on the wrong foot and have a 1990’s Tribune company relationship with the fans.
Don’t you think the stories of him and his wife and his apartment across from Wrigley came from his camp? It’s just good PR work on his part.
And don’t take this as me coming down on Ricketts. I was a Cuban fan, but I’m 100% behind TR at this point. I have no reason to believe he won’t be a great owner.
"Pounding sand since 1982...."
why would he risk the lie?
can you imagine the flak & crap thrown his way if it came out somewhere down the road that he did NOT meet his wife at Wrigley Field? And believe me, it would come out sooner or later. There are rarely secrets any more these days.
Without getting political here, think back to last summer’s Democratic primary campaign and the whole Sen. Clinton disembarking from a plane in Bosnia while under heavy sniper fire story. Later it’s determined that there were no attacks that day, no gun shots, and she was greeted by little girls with flowers or something like that. It took her a long while to live that one down.
I think it’s safe to assume that Tom Ricketts is a pretty savvy businessman and someone smart enough to know when NOT to embellish the story.
Lou Brown: "My kinda team, Charlie, my kinda team..."
by ballhawk on Jan 23, 2009 10:19 PM CST up reply actions 2 recs
Maybe
I don’t think the backlash would be that bad though. I think people would role their eyes and move on. A little different from Senator Clinton.
It was just my gut reaction when I heard the story. Like I said before, I hope I’m wrong bc it’s a cute story. I personally just think it’s a little too good to be true. Oh well, n/t.
"Pounding sand since 1982...."
The backlash might not be bad
But the benefits of making such a story up aren’t that good.
Do you think attendance would drop in 2009 if the new owner were from, say, Houston, but kept the team intact?
Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! --Homer J. Simpson
by Shanghai Badger on Jan 26, 2009 5:29 AM CST up reply actions
ALso
Also I remember reading about him previously and hearing the met wife at Wrigley story and thinking wow that’s cool since while I didn’t meet Jon at a Cubs game we courted at Wrigley and danced to the Carly Simon version from Baseball of Take Me Out to the Ballgame for our first dance at our wedding.
Barbara V. October 14, 1941 - December 19, 2008. A great lady who was a friend to all and like a second mom to her children's friends (she was my best friend's mom)
by puckishcubsfan on Jan 24, 2009 12:54 AM CST up reply actions
I met my wife at a Bears tailgate...
and know people who have met spouses or boyfriends/girlfriends in the bleachers. Why make that up?
My brother and sister in law
My brother and sister in law met at a Northwestern/Illinois game tailgate. Thing is brother went to NU and sister in law went to Illinois. (Jon and I also are an NU/Illinois couple me NU him Illinois) we introduced them.
Barbara V. October 14, 1941 - December 19, 2008. A great lady who was a friend to all and like a second mom to her children's friends (she was my best friend's mom)
by puckishcubsfan on Jan 24, 2009 12:55 AM CST up reply actions
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