Cuban would be great fit to join Cubs' family

Monday, August 11, 2008 | Print Entry

The sale of the Cubs hangs over Wrigley Field and under the refrain of "Go Cubs Go." Conventional thinking says Bud Selig will quilt together his selected group around John Canning; after all, the last time there was a sale without it being chosen and manipulated by Selig was when Arte Moreno bought the Angels, a transition that has been a boon to the Angels franchise and the game.

But there is increasing speculation that Sam Zell, the chairman and chief executive officer of the Tribune Company, is not going to allow the Commissioner's Office to puppeteer the sale, and that Mark Cuban is in this thing far deeper than Selig and White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf want to believe. NBA commissioner David Stern has told those associated with Cubs that Cuban is one of the NBA's best partners, and everyone appreciates that Cuban understands fans and marketing, and is one of the creative pioneers in the world of new media and would create a tremendous buzz throughout baseball that would be nothing but beneficial to the industry.

So he might yell at Joe West? George Steinbrenner did a lot worse to umpires, and what Steinbrenner did for baseball because of how he grew the Yankees will put him in Cooperstown and has put a lot of money in other owners' pockets.  
 

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  • Peter Gammons Peter Gammons

    Hall of Fame baseball reporter Peter Gammons has worked for ESPN since 1988. He primarily serves as a studio analyst for "Baseball Tonight," but he also does regular spots for "SportsCenter," ESPNEWS and ESPN Radio and contributes to ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine.

    Gammons was voted the National Sportswriter of the Year for 1989, 1990 and 1993 by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association and was awarded an honorary Poynter Fellow from Yale University. But his highest honor was the 2004 J.G. Taylor Spink Award, voted on by the BBWAA and awarded at the Baseball Hall of Fame for outstanding baseball writing.

    Gammons, a 1969 graduate of the University of North Carolina, began his career as a reporter for the Boston Globe in 1969. He has also worked for Sports Illustrated covering the NHL, college basketball and major league baseball (1976 to '78, 1986 to '90). In 1986, upon his return to Sports Illustrated as a senior writer following a second stay at the Globe, he wrote numerous stories covering some of baseball's most important news events and authored Inside Baseball, Sports Illustrated's weekly baseball notebook. Gammons is also the author of "Beyond the Sixth Game," a look at free agency.

    Gammons is a gifted musician, and his debut album, "Never Slow Down, Never Grow Old," was released on Rounder Records. With the assistance of a crack band of Boston rockers, Gammons trades in his typewriter for a Stratocaster and delivers a rousing set of vintage classics, originals and rock obscurities -- all to benefit Theo and Paul Epstein's Foundation to be Named Later, a charity that raises funds and awareness for nonprofit agencies serving disadvantaged youth in the greater Boston area.

    Gammons' vocals and guitar are featured, along with guests such as Theo Epstein, Juliana Hatfield, George Thorogood, Little Feat's Paul Barrere, Kay Hanley and an all-star chorus consisting of past and present Red Sox players, including Jonathan Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis, Trot Nixon, Lenny DiNardo, Tim Wakefield and Bronson Arroyo, and NESN broadcaster Don Orsillo. Get more information from Rounder Records.

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