It was fitting, anyway.
In the bottom of the fifth inning Saturday night, with everyone in Wrigleyville, inside and outside of the ivy-walled stadium, trying to will Mark DeRosa to be a hero, the former Ivy League quarterback could only produce an at-bat that epitomized Tribune Co.’s 26 years operating the Cubs.
With the bases loaded and one out, the Cubs trailing Arizona by two runs, De Rosa was in position to capitalize on Livan Hernandez’s wildness. The Arizona starter had walked three of four batters in the inning, throwing three times as many balls as strikes. A walk would force in a run and provide a spark but DeRosa couldn’t lay off the 3-1 pitch, a borderline offering at — or just below — the bottom of the strike zone.
Instead of drawing a walk or at least making Hernandez throw another pitch, DeRosa hit a grounder to shortstop Stephen Drew to start an inning-ending double play.
That would be the end of the Cubs’ last rally in this stunningly brief 2007 postseason, and almost certainly the end of the Tribune Co. era.
Like the three-game playoff sweep by the underestimated Arizona Diamondbacks, the Cubs under Tribune Co. were a bittersweet tease for their fans. Good intentions failed to yield the desired results year after year, with the whole enterprise winding up as a case of wasted potential (unless you’re measuring it by the financial balance sheet, in which case it was a runaway success).
For John Madigan, Stanton Cook, Dennis FitzSimons, John McDonough and others who oversaw the baseball operation the last 27 seasons, it must have been hard to leave Wrigley Field after Saturday’s 5-1 loss.
That’s because the new owner — most likely the Madison Dearborn Partners LLC group headed by John Canning, although nothing is really clear — will inherit a 99-year losing tradition, one that these men felt would end if they just had enough time.
Lou Piniella had put the Cubs into the World Series conversation but like Leo Durocher, Jim Frey, Don Zimmer, Jim Riggleman, Dusty Baker and every other manager since Charlie Grimm, he couldn’t get them any closer.
Just as Cub fans had been forced to watch the Florida Marlins celebrate their comeback against Mark Prior and Kerry Wood in 2003, those who hung around for the last out on Saturday (almost everyone in a crowd of 42,157) got to see the Diamondbacks dance on Harry Caray’s field of dreams.
There was some booing as the Arizona players swarmed around closer Jose Valverde after right fielder Jeff Salazar the final out. But after DeRosa hit into the double play — the fourth of the game, in a series in which Cubs hitters were 2-for-23 with men in scoring position — the fans seemed as beaten down as the players. Few even cared enough to throw garbage onto the re-sodded field afterward.
This wasn’t how the Tribune Co. era was supposed to go. It had begun on Aug. 28, 1981, with leadoff man Steve Henderson’s single to right field at Dodger Stadium. The television and newspaper giant was welcomed by Chicago fans, who were weary of William Wrigley’s handling of a franchise he had inherited.
“We had been through so many years of the Wrigleys,” said WSCR talk show host Mike North, a former stadium vendor. “With the Wrigleys gone, we thought they would win.”
In the club’s third year under Tribune Co., a team managed by Frey and guided by general manager Dallas Green not only went into postseason play for the first time since 1945 but jumped ahead of San Diego 2-0 in the best-of-five National League Championship Series. Instead of the victory that would have sent those ’84 Cubs into the World Series against Detroit, Chicago fans were stung by Tim Flannery’s ground ball through the legs of first baseman Leon Durham.
As in Game 6 in 2003, when shortstop Alex Gonzalez’s error (and, yes, the Bartman play) opened the door for an eight-run eighth inning, the Cubs never could seize the chances they had to end the so-called Billy Goat Curse. Alfonso Soriano’s lazy fly to Salazar left the Cubs with a 2,022-2,179 record in the Tribune era.
Those numbers aren’t as bad as you might think, are they? The Cubs finished last only one more time (six) than the numbers of years they went to the playoffs — 1984, ’89, ’98, ’03 and ’07 — but they didn’t win a third of their postseason games. That record was 9-19, including losses in the last six games, during the Tribune era.
While Tribune Co. has owned the Cubs, 29 different ownership groups, representing 24 clubs, have taken teams to the World Series. Local misery lost its company two years ago, when Jerry Reinsdorf’s White Sox rolled through October 11-1.
Like death, taxes and January snowstorms, the Cubs avoiding the Fall Classic remains a predictable event. Always an easy target for frustrated fans, what few realized was that the men like Madigan, Cook and FitzSimons really were trying to win.
The list of those who didn’t understand includes even the estimable Pat Gillick, the architect of Toronto’s powerhouse in the early ’90s, who once called losing “part of the marketing plan.” That was never it. But it is true that with Wrigley Field, Caray, sunshine and Old Style, the Cubs didn’t have to win to keep the turnstiles spinning.
That’s the legacy that will be passed along to someone like Canning, Mark Cuban, the Ricketts family or maybe even a suitor still hiding in the weeds. The sale is expected to be completed at some point this winter, although Commissioner Bud Selig recently said Tribune Co. has been dragging its feet on the sale.
Hope is never in short supply at Clark and Addison.
“This is just a start, gentlemen,” Piniella exclaimed Saturday night. “We’re going to get better. This is just a start.”
For someone, that’s true. For Madigan, Cook, FitzSimons, et al, it’s an end, and a disappointing one at that.
Since Tribune Co. bought the Cubs in 1981 …
%% Number of seasons 26
Winning seasons 9
Losing seasons 17
Total record 2,013-2,159
Win percentage .483
Highest win total 96 (1984)
Highest loss total 97 (2000)
Number of managers 17
Pennants 0
Division titles 4
Wild cards won 1
Playoff series won 1
Playoff series record 1-5 %%
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progers@tribune.com
