Joe Didn't Help Anything, But Tom Ricketts Has Screwed Himself

In Commentary And Analysis by aisle424178 Comments

Joe Ricketts has had next to nothing to do with the Cubs since the Ricketts won the right to become the sole bidders on the team way back in 2009.  He's the money guy.  That's it.  He has said as much publicly.  He doesn't give a damn about the Cubs or baseball.  He funded the purchase of the team because his son, Tom, sold him on the fact that the Cubs were a money-machine that sold every ticket "win or lose." 

Since the sale was completed, Joe has sat in Nebraska (or wherever) and not done a damn thing with the Cubs. He leaves it all to Tom, Laura, and Todd (mostly Tom).

It is Tom that has been trying to figure out how to wrestle away a couple hundred million dollars from the city and/or state to fund his Wrigley renovations project. All the while, Joe has lurked back in the shadows doing what he does, which is, apparently, supporting Tea Party candidates and policies. He started his Taxpayers Against Earmarks PAC in 2010.  It became the Ending Spending Super PAC in 2011.  None of this was secret, but nobody cared other than a few people who linked or tweeted to links showing the hilarious irony  that Joe Ricketts despised government earmarks while his son would seemingly cut off his own arm to get one.  We laughed. It was funny. And nobody gave two shits.

So none of this is news. What IS news, and what has Rahm Emanuel so pissed off that he reportedly was not taking the Rickett's telephone calls is that part of the Super PAC's actions involved the proposal for an advertisement that makes the negative campaigning in the Republican Primaries look like Romper Room. It has everything. It basically wants to highlight every racially bigoted thing that they feel they can exploit to make people fear that Jeremiah Wright has programmed Obama to somehow declare war on all white people and we'll all be huddled around in caves feeding on each other's flesh by 2014, or something.

In the words of the plan itself:

Show the world how Barack Obama's opinions of America and the world were formed. And, why the influence of that misguided mentor and our president's formative years among left wing intellectuals has brought our country to its knees.

High-minded political debate it is not.

Now everybody is in damage control mode.  Joe said he doesn't approve of the plan, he didn't write the plan, the plan is only one of many, many, many plans and how the hell is he supposed to keep track of every one of a billion plans to defeat the President that get slipped under his back door without his knowing about it in the middle of the night? Huh? How? Is that the Pope over there behind you? *runs away*

Tom went into Forrest Gump mode as he basically repeated his father's statement about not approving of divisive politics and then, essentially, "That's all I have to say about that."  But then he did have more to say about that to the Sun-Times:

“I’m not really involved in what my father does on the political side, and he’s not involved in anything we do as a team. We talked. I didn’t yell. He was already in the process of putting out a statement that made it clear he rejected the proposal,” he said.

“He knows it’s very important for us to maintain the image of the Cubs at the highest level. He understands that would complicate some of our efforts on the funding side. But we didn’t spend time talking about it. It was more like, `These are the cards we’ve been dealt. Let’s address the issue.’”

Laura, a noted Obama supporter, mentioned how her whole family loves America and they love each other even though they all have different political beliefs. Then they shoved her out in front of the cameras during the Kerry Wood Extravaganza over the weekend, which I'm sure was not a coincidence.

But the story isn't going away anytime soon and it seems most people who look at the story can't seem to separate Tom from Joe.  

This is the Cubs' biggest problem at the moment. The sweeping at the hands of the White Sox and Koyie Hill suddenly becoming the starting catcher again are infinitesimally small glitches when compared to the PR hits the Cubs are taking thanks to Joe Ricketts' Super PAC.  And maybe they shouldn't be completely separated.  After all, it is Joe's money.  He will profit from the Cubs getting the renovation done through the use of tax breaks, there is no getting around it.  But he is not the one making the plans and scheming to get the tax money.  That is Tom, and it has been difficult to know where Tom is on the political spectrum since he doesn't talk much about politics. So what can we learn from his history of political donations?

As of January 2012, Tom has donated just under $80,000 and all of it has gone to the Republicans or Republicanish organizations.  $50,000 of it went to John McCain in the last Presidential election.  Here's where the rest went:

  • James Dold (R) – U.S. Congressman – Moderate, pro-choice, anti-gay marriage (but pro-gay civil unions) – $2,400 in 2010
  • Joel Barry Pollak (R) – 2010 Republican nominee for U.S. House of Representatives – Endorsed by Tea Party – $500 in 2010
  • Michael O. Johanns (R) – U.S. Senator – Promotes "fiscally responsible policies," wants to reform earmark process, against legislation based on "personal sexual preference" – $5,000 in 2007
  • Norm Coleman (R) – Former U.S. Senator – Fiscal centrist, pro-life, opposes gay marriage – $2,100 in 2006
  • Mark Kennedy (R) – Former U.S. Congressman – Pro-life, regularly co-sponsored bills with Democrats – $4,200 in 2005
  • Teresa Hall Bartels (R) – Dropped out of 2006 Republican Primary for U.S. Congress 8th District – Moderate – $1,000 in 2005
  • Pete Ricketts (R) – His brother and U.S. Senate candidate – fiscally conservative, anti-gay marriage, pro-life – $4,200 in 2005
  • Jack Ryan (R) – 2004 Republican nominee for Senate – pro tax cuts, tort reform, and sex clubs (apparently) – $250 in 2004
  • John Kasich (R) – Former U.S. Congressman  and current Ohio Governor – Unsuccessful campaign for President in 2000, fiscal conservative – $250 in 1999

So, Tom is apparently a Republican. Their views range from centrist to the far right. Also, it would seem a common theme amongst the candidates he has supported over the years included support of fiscal responsibility, which one would think would include opposition to tax breaks for billionaire families who own baseball teams. It also shows someone who can't be THAT involved in politics.  The amount of money he has donated in the thirteen years since being one of John Kasich's only donors is pitifully small for a man of his wealth. Hell, one could argue that the only reason he gave to any of these people is because they pinned him against a wall at a party or something and he got out his checkbook to make them go away, much as we do when we flip a quarter or two into a homeless person's cup when they stop us on the street. "Here you go Jack, try not to spend that whole $250 in one sex club, OK?"

So is Tom a hypocrite because he's donated money to people who mostly oppose the very thing he is looking for? Is he a hypocrite for being related to the man that is spending millions to stop wasteful spending? Is that inherently hypocritical? Is he a hypocrite for spending money on candidates that oppose his sister's lifestyle? I really don't know. Politics is weird and complicated and if we only supported those who agreed with us on every single issue, politicians wouldn't be nearly as rich as they are. We don't know what Tom's hot button issues are, so it's impossible to say for sure that he's a hypocrite. Not that it will stop the media looking for the biggest bang for the buck on this story. I'm looking at you, Steve Rosenbloom.

Tom's biggest mistake seems to be that he doesn't spread the wealth amongst  the folks in the Democratic party that can help him in his quest.  Check out Jerry Reinsdorf's contributions over the years. He's donated to both President Bushes, President Obama, John McCain, Joe Biden, Rick Santorum, and Joe Liebermann, among others on the national level. That's quite a spectrum.  Locally, he's donated to Bobby Rush, Carol Mosely Braun, and Jesse Jackson Jr. on one side and Mark Kirk, Peter Fitzgerald, and Dennis Hastert on the other. It is clear that Jerry Reinsdorf has one core belief: know where to grease the wheels if you want to get anything done.  Does that make Jerry Reinsdorf a hypocrite? It would if he cared about anything other than making his own life as a baseball owner easier.  That is probably all Tom should care about if he wants to get anything done.

I've half-jokingly stated from the start that the Cubs need to start greasing the palms of local politicians, but I had assumed that they probably already were to some degree.  Where's the donations to Rahm Emanuel?  Where are the donations to Tom Tunney?  What about Pat Quinn? Michael Madigan? Why should these people help the Cubs and Tom Ricketts if he's not going to help them?  You know how this Joe Ricketts thing could have gone away almost instantly? If Tom could have pointed to a few donations to Democrats that shows he is, indeed, separate from his father.  Who is giving Tom advice over there, anyway?  Julian Green is either terrible at his new job, or they don't listen to him.

I think it was MB who said in the comments that a few donations to Rahm will clear all of this up and upon looking at it, I have to say I agree.  I don't know what amount will do it, but the gesture will help and soon Rahm will forget all about how angry he is and start working to keep the Cubs in Chicago and making a boatload of cash for the city (and the Ricketts).  As long as Tom is spreading the wealth around, nobody who matters will care what Joe does with his money. So if you do have a political agenda, Tom, put it on hold until you get what you want.  Otherwise, you're going to have to move the team to Nebraska or somewhere where your dad has bought all the local politicians already.

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  3. Mercurial Outfielder

    Red goes to black by way of green.

    Shit works one way in Chicago. Been saying it since Ricketts bought the team.

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  7. ACT

    The Rangers have scored the most runs and allowed the fewest in the league. Their run differential is 2.0 per game. They are better than the Twins are bad.

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  9. josh

    @Mercurial Outfielder:

    Then Sveum is more of a stooge than even I think he is, because every Cub fan with the power of sight knows that when Soriano’s legs go, his bat goes with it.

    I meant Rizzo, not Sori.

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  20. mb21

    Nice stuff, 424. I’ll only add that I don’t think you can separate Joe Ricketts from the Chicago Cubs. It’s his money that bought the team. It’s his money that is currently invested in the team. It’s him that will be making the most money from it. He owns the Chicago Cubs. You can’t separate the two, but I’d add that his political beliefs shouldn’t matter when it comes to the Cubs. He and Tom just need to spread the money around to get shit done. I don’t care what either of them believe. They can support legislation to demand we all celebrate the Easter Bunny for all I care. If they get shit done and build a good team it just doesn’t matter to me. (dying laughing)

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  21. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ mb21:
    They shouldn’t matter to us, per se. But they do matter to the people from whom the Rickettses want several hundred million dollars. I could give a shit what their political beliefs are, but when they interfere with the way the Cubs are run–as they now seem to be–then that’s a problem. If Tom’s political leanings are keeping him from getting the money he needs to renovate Wrigley, then his political leanings are a problem, not per se, but in practice. Things in Chicago work one way: you get a guy on the inside, you find out who the tallest pig at the trough is, and you make sure you get him some money, or something he values as much as money. Hiring Julian Green was a good first step, but if Tom doesn’t start diversifying his political contributions, Rahm will shut him down at the city level and Madigan will do the same at the state level.. Ricketts has no leverage here. He can’t move the team, and in reality is way too much of a fanboy to even countenance doing so, even as a threat. Chicago politics are the most corrupted, parochial shit you can imagine. It’s 19th century ward boss politics. Tommy Boy is getting a crash course, and is failing miserably.

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  22. Mercurial Outfielder

    Almost any schmuck off the street could have told Ricketts this is the way shit works. He’s been here 3 years, with enough money to buy the best advice and the most influence. Why is it taking him so long to learn this?

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  23. mb21

    Mercurial Outfielder wrote:

    Hiring Julian Green was a good first step, but if Tom doesn’t start diversifying his political contributions, Rahm will shut him down at the city level and Madigan will do the same at the state level.

    That would suck, but I’m not going to criticize a guy who doesn’t bribe politicians. That’s what that money is. Sure, I think he should just because I want the Cubs to win and don’t give a shit about anything else. If he refuses to do it though, I’ll consider that a point in his favor. I’d be damn impressed if he didn’t behave like all the other wealthy people. Actually, if he refuses to bribe them I’ll sit back and laugh at the politicians who are upset that are upset they were unable to get their bribe.

    I don’t think the renovation of Wrigley is going to do a lot for the Cubs with regards to generating revenue anyway so I couldn’t care less if that happens or not. I might actually prefer it doesn’t because it’s then inevitable the Cubs build a new ballpark. That’s what I want. A renovated Wrigley is better than the shithole they play in right now, but it’s not much of an improvement, if it’s even one at all, when it comes to money.

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  24. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ mb21:

    Yeah, I’m not advocating bribery. What I’m saying is that if Ricketts wants that money, there’s only one way to get it. This is a sad truth of trying to get things done in Chicago. Which is why not a lot of shit gets done in Chicago. Because these aldermen and city officials are fucking leeches.

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  28. Pezcore

    Would ANY owner willingly move the Cubs? Chicago is a great market. The Cubs have been the face of the market for years despite having many bad years.

    I don’t see how you can’t make a profit on the Cubs because the fan-base is so loyal and the team is heavily covered. That would be like moving the Red Sox from Boston because Fenway is getting old.

    I think that the market and the stature of the Cubs will make negotiations harder. It means that Ricketts cannot use ‘relocating’ as a threat. Do the Cubs really need that much public money for renovations? Aren’t they banking enough themselves?

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  29. mb21

    @ Pezcore:
    I don’t think relocating is realistic. There’s no reason to relocate, but build a new ballpark somewhere in the Chicago area? I don’t see how that’s not feasible.

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  30. Berselius

    Wow, it’s a better comp than I thought. I wonder if these guys read fg. The pregame show was all about how the Cubs are shitty at pitches/pa, and they were pointing out how Castro has only 4 walks this year

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  31. Rice Cube

    @ mb21:
    There are some random plots of land lying around in the city limits that they could build a park at. The main objectors would likely be traditionalists and they are notoriously loud.

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  32. Author
    Aisle424

    Pezcore wrote:

    Do the Cubs really need that much public money for renovations? Aren’t they banking enough themselves?

    Conservative estimates have put the remodel at $300 million with half coming from the family and half coming from the government. I think the tab will end up being closer to $500 million when it’s all said and done. Part of the plan is to dig under the field to expand the clubhouses. That isn’t going to be cheap if they try and do it without completely tearing apart the field in the process, and if they do have to tear apart the field to do it, they are going to lose a season at Wrigley and that adds to the cost in lost revenue.

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  33. mb21

    @ Berselius:
    Unless Castro has walked in the last few games he hasn’t walked since mid-April. I caught only about 30 minutes of the games this weekend, but Steve Stone was the first announcer to point out that Castro will swing at anything. It was nice to hear from an announcer for once. Like Bob Brenly says, throw it in the area code and Castro is swinging.

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  37. mb21

    @ Berselius:
    They’re also the people who would instantly fall in love with the new place even if it was as ugly as the place the Marlins play in. The Cubs could play in a pile of horse shit and Alvin is going to fall in love with it.

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  39. Rice Cube

    @ Berselius:
    The thing is that you don’t even have to go into the burbs. You just have to find some unused building/area and blow it up and tada! Instant land for ballpark + parking lots. I’m not as familiar with the city as those who have lived here all their lives but I’m sure there’s space somewhere. Hell, they can probably find a random Barnes and Noble or Borders that has recently closed down and blow that area up.

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  40. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ Rice Cube:

    As much as Tunney bitches about the effects of having the ballpark in the neighborhood, he and his constituents would bleat twice as loudly if they tried to move out. Which tells you everything you need to know about both.

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  44. mb21

    Offensively I think it’s a fair comparison. Neither are every going to get on base without the help from base hits. Neither will ever have much power. Both will probably have OK power numbers for a middle infielder, but that’s about it. Both have above average speed. Both are going to rely on high BABIP’s to have much offensive value, but both have the speed to do so.

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  45. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ mb21:

    That, too. But even in their minor league numbers, Altuve has about a season’s worth of PA more, and has about a .13 better OPS. It just seems to me a comparison not worth making, because we have to overlook too much to make it seem apt.

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  46. Rice Cube

    @ Berselius:

    It looked like they were going to try to toss some parking into the Triangle Building (if they ever got around to it) but that’s obviously not enough, and most likely would be just for staffers and players. Personally I never saw the point in driving to Wrigley anyway (dying laughing)

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  47. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ Berselius:
    Right. Thus the “asshole tax” I mentioned earlier. Ricketts has cost himself a lot of money with this latest gambit.

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  52. mb21

    @ Mercurial Outfielder:
    I think it’s a fair comparison based on their skill set. I don’t care much about the stats for the same reasons as you, but they do have similar skill sets. Castro is more valuable because he plays SS (for the time being anyway).

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  53. Berselius

    @ Mercurial Outfielder:

    Building a new stadium in the city is a non-starter. They’re either staying at Wrigley, where everything is grandfathered in (though still under the thumb of the city regs wise) or going to the burbs where space makes everything easier.

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  55. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ Rice Cube:
    I don’t remember that, but Tom has been pretty adamant about his adoration for Wrigley and has said mroe than once that he has no plans to relocate.

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  57. Rice Cube

    @ Berselius:
    I think you guys have said this too but I figured if they were going to sink that much money into renovations they might as well build a new one where Wrigley is now. Play somewhere else for a season after holding a detonation party right before the Cubs go fishing at the end of the regular season (dying laughing)

    If they were going to close Waveland and Sheffield at various points during the season anyway they should just expand the new ballpark out. I’m sure that would meet with tons of resistance but it sounded good in my head.

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  58. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ Berselius:
    They control the huge gravel lot behind the cemetery (stadium personnel even work it), and as I understand it, they control the larger lots on Clark and Addison in closest proximity to the park through proxies. Perhaps I was given bad information, though.

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  59. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ Berselius:

    Schaumburg is a horrible option. Limited access from the expressway, and even then they’re some of the most heavily congested areas. No public transportation options. Nothing to keep people around the ballpark before and after.

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  60. Berselius

    @ Mercurial Outfielder:

    I can believe it, but I’m sure those proxies / small lot guys are taking a big cut, unlike most other places (e.g. Miller) where you just buy parking directly from the team. Then again, with the prices charged for parking around Wrigley it probably doesn’t matter that much.

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  61. Berselius

    Mercurial Outfielder wrote:

    Schaumburg is a horrible option. Limited access from the expressway, and even then they’re some of the most heavily congested areas. No public transportation options. Nothing to keep people around the ballpark before and after.

    Not having lived in Chicago I’m probably not an expert here, but I think this is going to apply to any of the burbs.

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  63. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ Berselius:

    Yeah, it’s huge racket. The way it was told to me is that several years ago (around the time they cooked up the Cubs Premium scheme), the Cubs started getting their hands into the parking racket by buying into some of the independent operations close to the field.

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  65. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ Berselius:
    Evanston, Niles, and Skokie are all more accessible and have limited public transportation options, but only Evanston has the restaurant/bar scene the Cubs rely on to keep people around the park.

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  68. Mercurial Outfielder

    Schaumburg, though, really is located at the dark asshole of Chicagoland traffic.

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  73. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ Rice Cube:
    There’s actually a shitload of land in the South Loop. If I were going to relocate in the city, that’s where I’d go.

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  75. Author
    Aisle424

    Mercurial Outfielder wrote:

    Evanston has the restaurant/bar scene the Cubs rely on to keep people around the park.

    That will be built wherever the Cubs go. Goose, Bar Louie, Sluggers, Cubbie Bear, all of them will just open new locations out there. They might even shut down the Wrigley locations since there will no longer be any point in them being there. Half of them already have suburban locations already.

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  79. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ Berselius:
    Their property taxes must be staggering. They’d listen to anyone who was willing to mitigate some of that tax burden.

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  81. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ Aisle424:
    But all of that takes a lot of time and money. You’ve got to get things re-zoned, work out licenses, etc. Not all those bar owners are going to willing to do that, especially the ones who are running their places on grandfathered liquor licenses in Wrigleyville.

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  98. ACT

    I had some hopes for this start, since Garza supposedly recovered his former weight, but he just doesn’t have it.

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  114. mb21

    @ Rice Cube:
    I estimated the winning percentage as I didn’t feel like calculating it. .390 give or take. If they play at their current rate that would be about 105 losses. (dying laughing)

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  115. Rice Cube

    Need 74 more losses (including tonight) in 121 games. That’s .305 ball. The Cubs would have to really REALLY suck then. I think they might actually avoid 100 losses. Which I guess doesn’t say a lot.

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  119. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ Rice Cube:

    He’s got a sub-8 OPS in a hitter-friendly league. His fortunes are tanking faster than Todd Ricketts’ vending career.

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  120. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ josh:

    Part of the return for Derosa, along with Archer and someone whose name I cannot recall.

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  126. mb21

    @ ACT:
    Weren’t they about a .450 team entering the season? I wouldn’t lower it that much, but I’d probably say it should be closer to .440 at this point. The odds of them playing .390 ball the rest of the way are fairly slim, but it’s entirely possible. A injury two here or there.

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  128. ACT

    @ mb21:
    I’m not suggesting they should lower it compared to where they were at the beginning; I just think .450 seems a bit optimistic. That is, I don’t see how they could have been a .450 team entering this season.

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  130. Mercurial Outfielder

    Has Brett Jackson been Vittersed (i.e. has contact problems so sever they have short-circuited his status as a top prospect)?

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  133. ACT

    Jackson’s wRC+ is in the triple digits, according to Fangraphs. Just relax. They guy strikes out a ton, but we knew that already.

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  134. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ ACT:

    Vitters has contact issues, just not the ones Jackson has. Jackson doesn’t make enough contact, Vitters doesn’t make enough good contact.

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  138. josh

    @ Mercurial Outfielder:
    Yeah, that’s actually not a bad idea. There is some definite room for development. Horrible to drive down there, even if they built a garage, but way more convenient in terms of mass transit than Wrigleyville.

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  142. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ josh:

    Xibit heard you liked apple pie so he put an apple pie in your apple pie to make an apple pie pie

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  145. mb21

    @ ACT:
    Agreed. He got off to a great start, but has slumped and basically been league average throughout it. That’s the thing I’ve pointed out before about Jackson. Even his slumps he maintains a high enough OBP that he’s still productive. The strikeout rate is a huge concern, but I don’t think less of Jackson than I did entering the season. I’d probably put Rizzo at the top of the Cubs prospects list now, but that’s more because of what Rizzo has done than what Jackson has.

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  146. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ ACT:

    .778 is league average in the PCL? I understand it’s not a disaster, but I don’t see how what he’s done this year can be considered anything but disappointing. I mean this guy is on track to strike out at a higher rate than Stubbs at the ML level, and he’s got an ugly reverse platoon split that could make his numbers even worse once it normalizes, if it normalizes. I’m concerned, but not ready to quit on him.

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  148. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ mb21:
    Yeah, at least it’s not a patience thing with Jackson. If he wasn’t taking his walks, his line would be truly horrid.

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  152. Mercurial Outfielder

    Even in a blowout, we are treated to the obligatory 9th inning rally. (dying laughing)

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  163. josh

    I was asked to bring a desert to the company barbecue (which is, inexplicably, on a Tuesday), and this is what I made. Best. Coworker. Ever.

    Pie

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  167. Mercurial Outfielder

    If you guys want some underpriced beer that tastes surprisingly good, try Trader Joe’s Mission St. Pale Ale. Delicious.

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  172. GBTS

    @ josh:
    “But they can’t close down all the brick and mortar book stores. They can provide things the internet can’t.”
    “What, you mean like shelter the homeless?”
    “No, I mean like host book authors.”
    “Oh, well now we’re just splitting hairs here.”

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