I despise Bud Selig a little more each day and most of it is based on his loyalty to the disgusting ownership group of the New York Mets.

I am at Dodd Stadium today for another great day of work with the Detroit Tigers’ A-ball team, the Connecticut Tigers and I took a few minutes out to watch Mayor Bloomberg, Selig, Mr. Met and Ponzi scum and Ponzi scum Jr. announce that New York City – specifically, the New York Mets – have been awarded the opportunity to host the 2013 All-Star Game at Citi Field.

Are you kidding me, Bud?

The Wilpons are disgusting, dishonest, crooked thieves of human beings/baseball owners who should have been kicked out of the game long ago for the way they have handled their business, what it does to the game and their ties to Bernie Madoff. For some reason, you continue to get their back. You gave them a loan to stay afloat while lawsuits were flung their way, attendance dropped and fans lost faith in their ability to keep their organization competitive. The fact that they currently sit 2.5 games out of first place in the bizarro 2012 season of the NL East is not lost on this writer. It is simply a by-product of a small fluke of a sample size for this season and while I respect what the players and manager have been able to accomplish so far this year (I would love to be able to say the Cubs are just 2.5 games out of first place at this point in the season) it is simply one more gift these criminals seem to step in with every smug, criminal, unethical step they take in handling their MLB and outside MLB business affairs.

Not that being 2.5 games out has done a whole lot for attendance or fan turnout. In New York, the talk continues to be one of two things depending on which type of fan is speaking. Either complete boycott is called for to show disdain for their actions and the way they feel about/treat this team from the way they speak of their star players to working with criminals such as Madoff to building a shrine to a team that never set foot in Flushing/Queens and selling jerseys of players that have no historical ties to the franchise (go to the Mets gift shop sometime if you catch a Cubs game there. What’s that? A Koufax jersey? When was he a Met? Exactly.) Or on the other hand, you get the ‘hey, I root for the team of players on the field, not the schlubs in the rich guy-owner box seats’.

It is this second type of fan I have a problem with.

I believe we are lucky as Cubs fans to have an ownership group that genuinely cares about the franchise. They don’t take us for fools and while their public statements regarding the team are likely tempered by public relations watchdogs, as fans of the ballclub, they are coming from the same place we are. They have suffered through the disasterous moments Cubs fans have suffered just like the fan base. They are able to relate to the plight of a Cub fan because they are Cubs fans. The are baseball fans. They love the team they own and it shows. They have put smart people in the role where we need them. They have not restricted these new hires but instead, allowed them to take the plan the Ricketts believed in when they hired them and allowed them to stay that course and watch the results unfold.

Is a rebuiling effort around young talent, a strong farm system, avoiding bad contracts and dealing veterans in return for hot prospects with giant upsides as much of a get rich quick scheme as partnering up with a ponzi artist and stealing millions and millions of dollars for unknowing victims and using that cash to benefit your ballclub for years? Do the results come by as quickly?

No. But whatever the results will be, they will come honestly. They will come without an asterisk, without a shadow or stain of all that is accomplished.

The Wilpons were able to run the Mets for years on money they didn’t deserve to be raking in due to the nature in which they were receiving it. The Wilponzis played dumb for long enough to get through without a trial and pay a giant settlement so that they not only are no longer legally even suspects of knowingly participating in the Madoff scheme, but they may even profit. So in business, they had a wise criminal in their pocket getting his hands dirty so they didn’t have to, in law they have escaped by paying a fine as opposed to actually taking on punishment that is deserved and would likely have sent them out of the game altogether and it would have been rightfully so and in baseball, they have the man with all of the power in their corner protecting them with all of his might. Bud Selig has done a lot of things that fans disagreed with in his time running The Show, however giving the All-Star Game to the New York Mets – to the Wilpons – is quite possibly the worst one yet.

The Wilpons are criminals. I know it. You know it. They know it. Bud knows it. Technically perhaps settling out of court has allowed them to prevent that tag officially however, despite the Mets fans that decide to turn a blind eye to the way the organization treats them and their franchise, the rest of baseball fans know how quite likely it is that they knew and in fact are just that – criminals. The fact that Mets fans still show up at all surprises me. Wilpon does not deserve their allegiance. He does not deserve their money and he does not deserve to be in baseball. So what does Selig do? He gives him the All-Star Game in 2013 where his rebound plan will now include not only potentially STILL profiting from the Madoff scheme, but profiting from the tens of thousands of fans who will show up and pay the gates at Citi Field (through on-line ticketing, etc but you know what I mean) to see the greatest in the game play an exhibition game on July 16th next year as well as participate in four other days filled with events that will honor the game’s best.

The Wilpons are among the game’s worst owners if not the worst. They should be last on the list of people awarded anything, let alone a game that honors the sport when they have no honor and have already profited by stealing from the masses. Bud Selig had 29 other teams to choose from, Ok, 28 if you discount last year’s host a few others if you then eliminate further the other hosts of recent years. It has been nearly 50 years since the Mets had an All-Star Game and the way the Wilpons carry themselves throughout the game, they should have to wait at least another 50 years to get one more.

Meanwhile, owners like the Ricketts – a family with resources, good will and good intentions who actually care and own one of the games most valuable and large market franchises – do not get an All-Star Game. Instead, today, we hear that Wrigley Field will get a soccer game. A SOCCER game? What? The simple fact that we are hearing about soccer coming to Wrigley is not enough for outrage. The stadium is a great place to host a sporting event and if it happens to be soccer, so be it. The outrage should be raised however that it was the New York Mets’ criminal ownership that was awarded next year’s opportunity to stage the game’s greatest before the Cubs or any other worthy organization.

The fact that Minneapolis is being discussed for 2014 is also outrageous considering Wrigley field will be 100 years old (as Wrigley Field) in 2014. How could you not give Wrigley the All-Star Game in 2014? Minneapolis? I’ve never been…but how do you not give the Ricketts, the Cubs, Cubs fans and Wrigley the All-Star Game in 2014. Nothing is official yet and the way Selig botched 2013′s game by giving it to the one group that should have been eliminated from contention makes me not surprised in the least that it is likely to not happen on Selig’s watch next year.

Selig, for the good of the game, stop taking care of your friends. Put the game first, not your criminal buddies. The players, coaches and managers that are at next year’s All-Star game will have worked hard to play in the game and represent MLB in front of the world. The team that hosts it should at least be in contention to do so because they have not dishonored the game with such disgraceful, illegal activity as the Wilpons have.

This outrage is not even truly about the Cubs or Cubs fans or soccer, etc. It’s about doing the right thing. It’s about taking the opportunity to do the right thing in honoring the game on it’s greatest stage and by giving next year’s cash cow of a game to his best friends who could definitely use it to avoid a fire sale on their disgusting bullet-dodging path that they’ve been on for the past couple years with the Madoff mess, Selig dropped the ball.

Citi Field – host field of the 2013 All-Star Game.

Seriously, Bud?

Ridiculous.

Go Cubs Go.

As of this coming Monday, I will be starting my first job in professional baseball as the official team writer of the Detroit Tigers’ Class-A affiliate, the…

Since starting this blog in December of 2007, I have had the opportunity to meet a number of great people in baseball. Members of the Chicago Cubs front office, sports reporters, bloggers, players, etc and I have been plugging along using Prose and Ivy as a way to connect with Cubs/baseball fans, a creative outlet and a way to hopefully get my foot in the door of professional baseball. Each and every new person I have met and every article I have written on this site or other sites such as MLB.com, Baseball Digest and Vine Line Magazine among others, have served as motivation to keep pushing, keep writing and keep looking for an opportunity to land an opportunity to mix my professional experience in television production, sports writing, public relations, sales and marketing and passion for the sport and parlay it into an opportunity with a Major or Minor League ballclub.

I’m excited to say that the opportunity with the Tigers will allow me to not only write for the team on a regular basis, but also provide a chance to learn the business side of the game and the ins and outs of baseball operations.

This season, when Connecticut Tigers fans come out to the ballpark, they will have a chance to read content I write about the home team, the Detroit Tigers and the New York-Penn League. Throughout the year, fans will have an opportunity to read articles I write about a variety of different topics within those three categories on the team’s official website CTTigers.com. I have had meetings with independent league teams over the past few months and nearly landed an opportunity with one of them back in January – something that if it had come to fruition, I would have been extremely grateful for. Of course, I am not sure where this opportunity with the Tigers could lead in the future, however the chance to work within a front office that is rich with baseball professionals and part of an infrastructure tied to a storied franchise such as the Detroit Tigers is an opportunity I am very much looking forward to and can’t wait to get started on.

The fact that our games will feature ballplayers that could be wearing a Detroit uniform in just a few years from now is something I am very excited about and looking forward to being a part of. This is an exciting time to be a Tigers fan (certainly a more hopeful experience than that of a Cubs fan) and while their MLB roster hardly needs a hand in dominating so far this season, to watch the players they believe to be the future of the franchise and have a hands-on experience working within one of my favorite parts of the game- the Minor Leagues- is going to be unbelievable.

In addition to writing for the Tigers, I’ll be learning a ton about the business side of Minor League baseball in serving as the team’s Box Office Manager for the 2012 season. Need a ticket to the game? I’m your guy. Need tickets to take an entire group to the game? I’m your guy. Want to rent a suite for one of our upcoming games against the young talent coming up through the Red Sox, Astros, Nationals, Indians, Phillies, Pirates, Cardinals, Marlins, Blue Jays, Yankees, Mets, Rays or Orioles respective systems? I’m your guy. Need season tickets to enjoy a few months of quality baseball talent at affordable, family friendly prices complete with fun promotions and in-game family friendly entertainment? I am your guy!

The more the merrier clearly, so if you happen to be a Tigers fan who stumbles upon this article or simply a baseball fan that lives in the area, come check out the team this season at beautiful Dodd Stadium. I’ll have an opportunity to post pictures of the extremely impressive stadium throughout the summer months (the season runs from June 18-Sept 5), but for now, here’s a shot of the field from the team’s website:

While you’re at it, check out the logo behind home plate.

The team decided to keep the Tigers name when they moved the team from Oneonta, NY to Norwich, CT in 2010 and the logo reflects the tie-in to the big league club as well. As you all very well know, the Detroit Old English Style ‘D’ is one of the most recognizable logos in all of sports. I love the idea of turning it around practically and keeping the same font for the A-ball club in designing the logo around the Connecticut ‘C’. Here is a larger look at the team logo in royal blue:

Now that I’ve posted it, I believe the more appropriate term would have been ‘much larger’ look at the team logo. What can I say, I’m psyched.

This site will of course continue to cover Chicago Cubs baseball for the 2012 season.

Will it feature a link or 100 here and there to material I write for the Connecticut Tigers, too? The short answer? Quite possibly, yes. You’ll still find all the Cubs news and opinion you could hope for here like always, however, I’ll also be sharing my experience with the Connecticut Tigers here over the course of the season.

Prose and Ivy and MLBlogs allowed me to kick-start any and all opportunities I’ve had so far in sports writing in general, which means any of you reading this whether it is your first time here, or you’re Abracadabra (the person that has left more comments than any other visitor to the site since 2007), you have helped keep me motivated in my pursuit of a career in sports journalism/professional baseball and I appreciate it, so thanks!

Looking forward to sharing my experience of working with the Detroit Tigers’ Class-A affiliate, the Connecticut Tigers this season (and of course second guessing Sveum’s line-ups, debating when to change up the rotation, complaining about the bullpen, enjoying the opportunity to watch Theo work his magic on this franchise, etc, etc, etc)!

It all starts on Monday at Dodd Stadium!

Keep you posted! (And of course…..GO CUBS GO!)

@proseandivy congrats!—
Carl Gierhan (@cgierhan) April 19, 2012

WOOHOO! Congrats, Ryan! RT @proseandivy: I've been called up to the Minors! #Tigers #Cubs #MLB tinyurl.com/bmepldg—
 Sarah  (@luckiexstar) April 20, 2012

Congrats! RT @proseandivy: I've been called up to the Minors! #Tigers #Cubs #MLB tinyurl.com/bmepldg—
Blake Fisher (@dblakefisher) April 20, 2012

@proseandivy Best of luck!—
Aaron Somers (@AaronJSomers) April 23, 2012

Included below is an embedded version of the podcast which you can play here. Highlights include the impact of Theo Epstein, the debate as to whether Pujols and Fielder’s absence will make the division grow tighter in 2012, my thoughts on Dempster as the Opening Day starter, expectations regarding the final standings of the Central and overall storylines to look forward to this coming season.

I see the bullpen as a weakness, I’m behind the ‘year of the Cubs’ numbers coming down despite the fact that it directly correlates to my URL, I believe Theo is going to make a huge difference (who doesn’t?) and I believe aside from the Astros, the rest of the division will be decided in a tight race with only 89 wins needed to claim the division title. Also, given the extra wild-card in each league, while I feel the Cubs have a lot of work left to do, I could see them coming away with that extra wild card spot.

Watch out for the Pirates in 2012 to be the surprise team of the division and potentially not in the way you would expect. We discuss how the Cubs are slowly getting younger and what to expect with Soriano and Ian Stewart this season among other subjects. The guys involved are fun to listen to and it was a blast to talk about the upcoming season with them.

Here is the podcast. Press play and check it out! (You don’t have to wait long to hear my thoughts on the 2012 Cubs as I am the first writer out of the gate.)

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ivieleagueproductions/2012/03/25/ucb-radio-hour-special-previewing-the-central

Go Cubs Go! Opening Day is only 10 days away!

Bucket list item: Build a lego city on top of a Van Halen record while listening to Starship.—
Ryan Maloney (@proseandivy) March 02, 2012

Go Cubs Go!

A season taken away from us in the first weeks of the season in losing our number four and five starters in the rotation.

A season that displayed exactly how important depth is on a major league baseball team and how even more important arguably it is to have in your farm system.

A year of historic significance in returning to Fenway Park, Castro’s 200 hit season, Santo’s vote tabulation for the Hall and the introduction of boy wonder, Theo Epstein along with the departure of Hendry and Quade.

I’ll remember the struggles the club had in finding suitable replacements for Wells and Cashner, the amazing season Castro put together, the once again uber-reliable innings eating calendar Dempster put together and that horrifying shot to the eye Marlon Byrd took at Fenway Park.

I’ll remember my trips to Wrigley, meeting with members of the front office staff and what they did for my son last off-season.

I’ll remember my trip to Cooperstown, my first with my wife and 10 month old son. It was amazing to revisit the Hall, look at all of the exhibits and plaques after years and years making it all new again. It was fun to introduce my son to the game by showing him the greatest to ever play the game and talk to other fans in the game in fun conversations giving them the opportunity to convince my son that he should not become a Cubs fan (good luck with that). You can see the video here:

I’ll remember singing the stretch in a couple of rain-threatened series at Wrigley, one game of which in fact was rained out, yet I made the trip back to Chicago to catch the make up game (any excuse to get to Wrigley is a good one). I’ll remember meeting with Vine Line and beginning my time writing for them along with the contributions I made to MLB.com, Baseball Digest and the other sports writing I put out there in 2011 and look forward to doing so in 2012.

Looking ahead to the new year, I can’t wait to see what Theo Epstein and his merry men can manage to pull off with our boys on the North Side. Will he end up writing a similar thank you note to Cubs fans referring back to multiple championships in his time with the club, starting with the rumors that flew around after being spotted at a Starbucks? I hope so.

I hope Garza is still a Cub and that Epstein and Company find a way to better the team without having to deal him. Our rotation needs some stability and Garza, had he received a few breaks, could have come out of 2011 with one of the most impressive records in the National League. I understand why other teams would want him and how he is a valuable piece of bait that could potentially bring back significant pieces of the future – I just hope he is still around and that the front office finds another way.

I look forward to seeing Castro put up another season of impressive numbers and make an argument for a starting spot at the All-Star Game. I remain curious regarding how we’ll manage on the corners and how DeJesus will fit in with the club come Opening Day and I remain hopeful that a few more moves this winter will be the ones that bring in a no-name player that surprises us all and perhaps one headliner that can be a cornerstone for years to come.

Regarding the future, yet in more of a short-term fashion, I hope to have an exciting announcement to bring you in the next few days – so please keep visiting Prose and Ivy this week for what will hopefully be a very big announcement I will be VERY excited to share with you!

Happy New Year to every single one of you and thank you for making 2011 a sweet fourth year for me here at Prose and Ivy. Happy New Year, have a great 2012! Go Cubs Go!

@proseandivy I wish Aramis Ramirez would have been mentioned, but other than that, GREAT JOB. I'll continue reading your blog in 2012!—
Alejandra (@MsAle16) January 01, 2012

The Golden Era Committee voted Santo into the Hall this past weekend, yet Santo is no longer here to enjoy it. He felt his numbers held up and even though the BBWAA voters didn’t agree, his peers and those who know the game best – from the inside – knew that Santo was worthy of their vote as no one knows what makes someone worthy of the Hall as former player. Those who look from the outside – from the stands, from the press box, from the owner’s office, from the office desk and from the newspaper stands – can only gauge so much as to what a lifetime in baseball and a career spanning 15 years worth of stats actually say about a player’s worth in making the club only the best in the game get to be a part of.

Walk the halls at Cooperstown and you will only find ten third basemen representing the greatest at the position. Wade Boggs, George Brett, Mike Schmidt, George Kell, Eddie Mathews, Brooks Robinson, Freddie Lindstrom, Home Run Baker, Pie Traynor and Jimmy Collins signify what it is to be a Hall of Famer at the hot corner. Come July, Santo’s name and plaque will be added to the list and his journey home will be complete. Home is where you are accepted and feel you belong and the Hall was that for Santo. In his personal life, of course he had the love and support of his family through thick and thin, battling sickness and enjoying bright times when he was at his health’s peak. However, when it came to baseball, the Cubs and the Hall made up the home that Santo felt he belonged to. The Cubs have retired his number and added a statue of Santo outside of Wrigley Field. He is a Cub and always will be thought of as a Cub through and through. From the hot corner to the airwaves, Santo woke up a Cub, went to work a Cub and went to sleep a Cub. The Cubs embraced Santo just as fans did and the organization treated Santo with the same welcome arms that he deserved wanted and gave back to the organization.

The Hall was another story.

Santo never got closer than 43% of the BBWAA vote in his 15 years on the ballot. 75% is needed to be elected in by the writers.

Santo’s career highlights over the years:

14 of 15 major league seasons as a player were with the Cubs.

.277 BA, 342 HR, 1,331 RBI

9-time All-Star

5-time Gold Glove winner

Led the National League in assists from 1962-1968

Top 5 finisher in MVP voting in 1967 and 1969

Cubs radio broadcaster for 21 years

Raised an estimated $40million for juvenile diabetes research in his lifetime

While it is sad that Santo won’t get to address the world at the podium on the lawn in Cooperstown while receiving the much deserved applause his career and the way he handled himself during that time frame while battling disease and working with medication that worked nowhere near as well as it does nowadays and often without people even understanding that he was battling it at the time, earned him – for me, I can appreciate the fact that it is the Golden Era committe that has accepted him in and welcomed him home.

I respect baseball writers for their knowledge of the game and their right to voice their opinion on such things as who is Hall-worthy. However, even the greatest group of baseball writers who are surrounded by the game day in and day out can get it wrong at times. Santo was one of the ones the BBWAA got wrong. To be around the game and surrounded by the game every day is one thing. To be a part of that game is another story.

The Golden Era committee is made up of some of the greatest to make the game what it is today. They know what makes an average player, a good player, a great player and a Hall of Fame worthy player.

It may have come a year too late, but finally a group with a say got it right. The Golden Era committee knows best and are appropriately the ones to do the right thing and welcome Santo at home. Congratulations, Ron. Looking forward to being there for your day in July. Go Cubs Go!

http://static.pbsrc.com/flash/rss_slideshow.swf

Go Cubs Go!

Click play and the Star Wars style text starts to roll. This may very well be my all time favorite baseball video.

From the Star Wars intro to the wide world of sports ABC style ‘this is where Cuba is’ graphic right on through to the unexpected tune of “Sailing” which of course eventually leads us to Jay-Z’s ‘On to the Next One’ – it’s a recruiting video with a little something for everyone. Like a baseball highlight reel set on shuffle.

Talk about hype. Or perhaps overhype. I don’t even care if the kid can deliver. The video is so odd at this point, in my opinion he comes off as interesting and not at all afraid to do what he thinks is cool. Between the Star Wars reference and the Christopher Cross hit ‘Sailing’ as the lead in tune to his baseball highlights, you have to wonder if this kid’s a genius, a total nerd and proud of it, trying to be ironic or simply needs a new iTunes gift card to replenish his music collection.

With all of that, you have to hope that if Yoenis ends up on your team that his production on the field can match the production value of the video – and then some. The thing that makes this feel slightly obnxious though? 20 minutes? Really? Slo-mo replays? Over and over again? Tons of music and none of it related to baseball? With all the borrowed tunes in this thing, you couldn’t lay down an MP3 of something from The Natural? Little Big League? Nothing? There must have been some Air Bud tune you could find to lay down. The ‘Sailing’ song made me laugh, but shouldn’t I be more in awe of this kid’s highlights and not distracted by the scene stealing slow jam playing behind it?

Finally at the sixteen minute mark you get a ‘Now Let’s Play Ball’ graphic. Sixteen minutes of graphics, odd music selections, cheesy flight lines over a spinning globe ending in a US? style graphic. FINALLY, we get to what matters. We get that he’s strong. We get that he’s cool. We get that he is a player of today with the hip-hop intro and music video featuring a shirtless running segment that would make even Terrell Owens jealous. What do fans really care about though?

Sure, he can hit the long ball and catch a fly ball behind his back. BUT, can he play? If all he’s good for is a little flash a couple dozen home runs, we have already had that in Soriano. Two shutout trips to the playoffs later and we are looking for a little more out of our young talent. You want to rebuild with youngsters, fine but they better fit the mold you are shaping in Castro - a young kid that appears to be a high-potential work in progress who knows how to get on base and play to his strengths however not afraid to admit and work on his weaknesses. I don’t recall seeing any recruitment videos like this for Starlin. There is something to be said about being humble. A video of this proportions is great to get a team’s attention and get fans like me talking about you sure. Does it at least feature some baseball highlights as opposed to a ego rap video project that is for nothing but fun (see Jose Reyes)? Sure. Of course, Reyes has years and years in with the league and some earned leeway to have some fun. The Cespedes video effort needs to attract teams and build interest in his talent. He SHOULD be trying to get the people’s attention. If you want to go sailing away from Cuba and end up playing for the Chicago Cubs or some other storied franchise you better do something that stands out – I get that. However, he also better be able to back up the hype he is creating for himself.

It’s one thing for people to create a hype that builds up an expectation that you can’t live up to but never asked for. It’s another to promote yourself with a video like this (and honestly, what videos nowadays don’t end up in the public eye with YouTube, etc) and then sign a big deal without the ability to show that you are one.

At the 18:00 mark we finally come around to the credits. Finally, the baseball movie reference comes along and appropriately enough it’s one that shows Cespedes is practically Yoenis Rowengartner. He credits his agent and business folks, the production team and then they spot a tribute to his mother, a Cuban National Softball Ace Pitcher from 1988-2003. With that one tribute, you start to appreciate a little bit more when Yoenis coming from. Sure, it’s fun to think that the name ‘Mary’ is written on the inside of Yoenis’ glove like Henry’s, however if in fact the real life player’s glove has anything to do with the fictional player’s, the name would be ‘Estela’, not Mary. It’s a fun tribute to his mother who accomplished a great deal in the game. It makes me feel like this isn’t as obnoxious as I thought it was 20 minutes ago.

Ok, I could do without the shirtless chubby man dancing at the end – however, thing is, after watching all of this (including the topless family member dancing in the end credits), I now wish we had videos like this for all of the young talent the Cubs are considering. Stats can only tell you so much about a player. With a video as personal as this, you learn a lot about Yoenis and who he is as a person. As we’ve learned as of late with some of the people the Cubs have brought in over the last decade, stats tell only one part of the story. Unfortunately when you bring in new talent, you aren’t just bringing the ability, but also the personality.

Anyway, somewhere during the final seven minutes of the video, I came around. I wasn’t sure that I liked him very much at first although I did find him entertaining and maybe because I have produced many television projects, the cheese factor was annoying me a little. All of that aside, taking into consideration simply what he is trying to accomplish, what it must have taken to get something like this made, the creativity that went into it and the fact that this kid isn’t afraid to put himself out there, there’s a lot to like about it. Yoenis comes off as a cool, talented kid who would likely be fun to root for. I don’t know what it will take for the Cubs to sign him and I know he’s only down on their radar as a tryout. However, if the team decides that there may be  a place in the outfield for Yoenis one day, after viewing his promo video I’d have to say I’m intrigued and would be willing to see how this kid would do in a uniform that reads Cubs, instead of Cuba.

What did you think of the Yoenis Cespedes video? Go Cubs Go!

If the Cubs’ front office were on a reality makeover show, the appointment of Theo Epstein as President of Baseball Operations would nail every single desired goal. The face of the franchise will appear younger, more successful and more appealing.

Why debate what to do with Wrigley Field when you can simply hire someone of Epstein’s class and achievement, giving the home team a much needed facelift that way instead? It makes so much sense it is almost scary the Cubs thought to do it.

After resurrecting Boston from the 86 year deep grave the Red Sox had dug themselves with a world championship in 2004 and then again popping the champagne bottles for good measure in 2007, Epstein leaves his hometown team a hero. In this day and age when it comes to the Cubs and the Red Sox, it is always about heroes and goats – sometimes of one type, sometimes another. Chicago has had its share of literal and metaphorical goats. It is time the Cubs have their share of the G.O.A.T. If Epstein can manage to bring a title in the Cubs after defeating baseball’s other most well-known curse, he would arguably be considered just that – the greatest of all-time on a long list of baseball executives with impressive career resumes.

Since 1975, the year of my birth, the Cubs have made the playoffs in 1984, 1989, 1998, 2003, 2007 and 2008. Of the past thirty six years, the team has played in the postseason six times. On average, we are looking at once every six years and at an even greater clip than that as of late. Many fans would kill to have that type of experience. Despite the heartbreak that comes with it – and Cubs heartbreak takes is to another level- the playoffs are the goal. Get in and anything can happen. Hope springs eternal once a division is claimed or a wild card berth is born. Hendry gave fans a taste in his time as the Cubs’ GM on three separate occasions. An impressive accomplishment considering the black cats and goats and interfering fans that linger around Wrigley to be sure. The bar that Hendry has set is hardly the bar Cubs fans will be looking at though when it comes to Epstein. With Epstein, it will be the bar he set for himself while in Boston that everyone will be keeping an eye on.

Hendry made the baseball moves that will effect the franchise for another few years to come. It is a role that comes with an incredible amount of responsibility and opportunity. Epstein’s position with the team is all that and more. Not only will he be making baseball moves, he will be making them from a perch above that of GM. He will be making deals as well as naming the GM, not just being one like he was in Boston. He will be under greater scrutiny than Hendry because of his own accomplishments, his own strategic choices and the people he chooses to surround himself with.

Epstein thinks these guys are the guys we should have around? Jed Hoyer? Jason McLeod? Ok, fine. The fans will go along with Theo’s judgment calls and he will have some time to let those calls play out. However, Hoyer and McLeod and possibly a new manager will be lumped into one collective group taking responsibility for wins and losses, success or failure. No one will have greater responsibility than Epstein of course, however his group in the front office will eventually be broken down and analyzed like any Soriano contract or Zambrano meltdown.

Before Epstein gets to do any re-signing he had to do his own resigning. Leaving the Red Sox was hard for him to do once as he tried before in the last decade, simply to return months later. This time, there is basically no going back. Epstein has committed himself to bringing the type of baseball euphoria he brought to Red Sox fans, to the long suffering, desperately hungry fans in Chicago. If successful, one day there may very well be a statue of Epstein outside of Wrigley. I wouldn’t be surprised. If he fails, he will likely be remembered as a guy with great baseball smarts, able to strike lightning in a bottle two times, however simply not a third.

Three strikes are generally bad in baseball, at least if you are the hitter. With Epstein being the voice of reason in trade and free-agent signing pitch meetings, a third strike would be a hit with Cubs fans everywhere. Today at 11am CT, Theo Epstein will be introduced as the Cubs’ new president of baseball operations. Strange enough, his first deal in the coming days will be for himself. Epstein will have to decide how much he is worth while balancing with the thoughts of what he would like to be left with.

If successful in Chicago, he’ll be left with an arguably unmatchable legacy as a baseball executive. That is what Cubs fans everywhere are hoping for as the Epstein Era begins. Considering the luck the team has had in the past century, there hasn’t been a whole lot for fans to be thankful for. As a result, they have infinite ‘no…thank YOU’s held in reserve. Just give them a reason to use them, Theo. There is no thank you note a Cubs fan could receive that would be more of a welcome sight than the type you wrote to Sox fans.

Come Opening Day 2012, it will be time to take ourselves out to ‘…The-ooo ball-game’. Let’s get some rings. Go Cubs Go!