Major League Baseball has 29 managerial jobs — then there’s the Chicago Cubs.
Managers are employed to be fired, because the saying goes, and we’ve seen them come and go on the North Side.
Joe Maddon, who was the franchise’s winningest supervisor in additional than a century and the one one with a World Series championship since Frank Chance in 1908, didn’t get a cross. He ended the curse on Nov. 2, 2016, when the Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 of the World Series. But he was out a number of years later.
Now, after abruptly firing David Ross to herald Craig Counsell, the Cubs want to get again into the playoffs for the primary time since 2020, Ross’ debut season as supervisor.
Here’s what occurred with the managers who preceded Counsell within the Wrigley Field dugout.
Leo Durocher: 1966-72
“I just gave myself a title — manager — not head coach. I don’t mean I’m going to be a dictator. I never was. One man can’t do the entire job, but one man has to be in charge. I’ve always taken advice from my coaches.”
The Cubs had some expertise in place, with a nucleus of Ernie Banks, Billy Williams and Ron Santo, prompting Leo Durocher to utter, “This is not an eighth-place team” when he was employed in 1965 — and he was proper. The Cubs wound up dropping 103 video games and completed tenth, however they improved to 3rd place in ‘67 and ‘68. They made it attention-grabbing in 1969, blowing a 9 1/2-game lead over the Mets in August and ending eight video games again.
They underachieved in 1971, prompting a clubhouse rebel towards Durocher, together with a shouting match with Santo throughout which Santo needed to be restrained from attacking his supervisor.
In September, proprietor P.Okay. Wrigley purchased advert area in all of the Chicago newspapers to print his open letter to Cubs followers: “Leo is the team manager, and the ‘Dump Durocher Clique’ might as well give up.”
Durocher lasted into July of ‘72 earlier than “stepping aside” on the All-Star break throughout a 9-17 skid.
Whitey Lockman: 1972-74
“I’m sure (the players) have given their best. There are times, I know, though, when you can get psyched out subconsciously and have a letdown on the field. But a player never does that consciously. I don’t think the Cubs have consciously let down in the past and I know they won’t in the future.”
The 1972 Cubs had been 46-44 and 10 video games behind first-place Pittsburgh, however Lockman — who was beforehand the crew’s the crew’s director of participant growth — was undaunted.
“So what?” he stated his first day on the job. “It can be done. Remember, we had a 9 1/2-game lead a lot later than this in 1969 and we lost. I was on the New York Giants in 1951 when we were 13 1/2 games behind in August and we did it. It can be done.”
But not by the 1972 Cubs, who completed 85-70 and 11 video games behind the division-winning Pirates. In an eerie repeat of 1969, Lockman’s 1973 Cubs constructed an eight-game lead on June 29 after they had been 15 video games above .500. But they slumped in July and misplaced 11 straight in August, ultimately ending in fifth at 77-84.
General supervisor John Holland traded Santo, Fergie Jenkins, Glenn Beckert and Randy Hundley to rebuild in 1974, and Lockman stop in midseason to turn into Holland’s assistant.
Jim Marshall: 1974-1976
“I like to think I’m mild-mannered without all my emotions showing. But if something happens, you can count on me being out there, whether it’s a player or an umpire. I like action.”
The low-key third-base coach took over for Lockman after some referred to as for the hiring of Banks. Wrigley argued he didn’t need Mr. Cub to be positioned on the firing line.
“Becoming a major-league manager is like being a kamikaze pilot,” Wrigley stated. “It’s suicide.”
The 1974 Cubs went on to lose 96 video games, and Wrigley continued the purge of the 1969 Cubs after the season, sending outfielder Billy Williams to the A’s for Manny Trillo. As the primary Cubs supervisor within the period of free company, Marshall believed he was stymied by Wrigley’s tightfisted methods.
“Salaries were just starting to escalate, but our organization was not willing to compete,” Marshall stated years later. “I got the same story time after time when I went to the front office about a player who was demanding more money — ‘He’s not worth that much.’ I’ve always believed a manager is only as good as his material.”
Herman Franks: 1977-79
“My goal for the Cubs is simple — win games and win a pennant before I retire.”
GM Bob Kennedy lured Herman Franks out of retirement at 63 in 1977, effectively after his 4 stormy years managing in San Francisco from 1965-68. The tobacco-juice-spewing Franks had made a fortune in actual property and had been out of the sport since 1971, prompting considerations over his capability to narrate to modern-day gamers.
“I don’t have any problems handling players,” Franks stated upon his arrival. “Don’t believe that stuff about a communication gap because of age. You’ll never see me rip a player in the newspapers either.”
Franks’ Cubs acquired off to a sizzling begin in ‘77 and as soon as led by 8 1/2 video games, however they fell out of first on Aug. 4 and wound up dropping eight of their final 9 video games to complete 81-81 and in fourth place. After a 79-83 season in ‘78, Franks stop on Sept. 24, 1979, with a 78-77 document, leaving Joe Amalfitano in cost as interim supervisor. The crew fell aside: Ted Sizemore, Barry Foote and Dick Tidrow referred to as the group “cheapskates” for not supplying sufficient wine for the gamers at a team-sponsored dinner.
Franks ripped into his gamers on his manner out the door. He claimed Bill Buckner was “jealous” of Dave Kingman, that Kingman was “flaky,” that Mike Vail was “a constant whiner,” that Sizemore’s “trouble was always his mouth,” and that he was “sick and tired of (Foote) telling me `how we did it on the Phillies.’”
Preston Gomez: 1980
“A lot of people say I’m too tough. I always believe you have to have a certain amount of discipline. In any business, you have to be organized and you have to have discipline.”
Cubs followers clamored for Whitey Herzog to be named the brand new supervisor, no less than based on a newspaper ballot. But Kennedy went with Gomez, whom he referred to as “one of the smartest men in baseball.”
Gomez had managed the enlargement Padres to a few straight seasons of sub-.400 baseball earlier than being fired in ‘72, and his Astros teams were a combined 33 games below .500 in the two seasons he managed in Houston. Though out of work since 1975, Gomez was Kennedy’s selection, and the GM regarded like a genius when the Cubs burst out of the gate with an 11-6 document.
But after going 27-46 of their subsequent 73 video games, Gomez was fired and changed by Joe Amalfitano, who had changed Franks.
After his dismissal, Gomez admitted he had doubts as early because the second day of spring coaching: “We had more unhappy players than I had seen on any team … and no kind of an organization. I asked myself, ‘What in the hell are you doing here?’”
Lee Elia: 1982-83
“I’m not the kind of man who enjoys turning players’ ears red, but if I see something wrong happen on the field where people are paying to see big-league baseball, I’ll take action.”
“Building a new tradition” was the slogan of the primary full yr of the Tribune-owned Cubs, with new GM Dallas Green and supervisor Lee Elia working the present. But the “old tradition,” dropping baseball video games, by no means actually went away. Elia turned notorious in Cubs lore for his postgame tirade on April 29, 1983, at Wrigley Field, when he ripped into Cubs followers for booing his gamers.
“They really get behind you around here,” Elia stated sarcastically. “What am I supposed to do, go out there and let my players be destroyed every day and be quiet? For the nickel-and-dime people who show up here every day? They don’t even work. That’s why they’re out at the ballgame. About 85% of the world is working, the other 15% come out here.”
Surprisingly, Elia acquired solely a slap on the wrist from Green after he was advised to apologize for “losing it.” The remaining straw got here on Aug. 22, 1983, a number of days after Elia uttered one other inconsiderate postgame remark. Green stated he was upset that Elia had stated “We’ve never heard of this guy Gerald Perry” after the Braves rookie homered and drove in three runs to beat the Cubs.
“That was an embarrassment to the team and the whole organization,” Green stated. “Lee should’ve known better.”
Jim Frey: 1984-86
“I know about the Chicago syndrome, but I don’t go for that stuff. I don’t care if people think I’m popping off. The Cubs are going after the kind of players with winning attitudes and we’ll do everything we can to win.”
Jim Frey was often known as a no-nonsense disciplinarian who labored for years underneath Earl Weaver in Baltimore.
When requested to foretell what number of victories the Cubs would have in 1984, he replied: “We may win 80 games, we may win more. I don’t know how many games we’re going to win. But I will tell you quite frankly that Jim Frey is not afraid to do whatever it takes.”
Frey’s first yr modified the course of Cubs historical past. They gained the East with a 96-65 document and went up 2-0 on San Diego within the National League Championship Series earlier than dropping the ultimate three video games. No matter how the Cubs carried out on the sector after 1984, Wrigley Field turned the stylish place to be. Frey’s pitching workers was injured en masse in 1985 and he was fired in June 1986 with the Cubs 16 1/2 video games behind the Mets.
He resurfaced as GM in 1988.
Gene Michael: 1986-87
“I’m not going to go crazy with the umpires anyway. I’m more interested in finding out what the league is about and what my team can do.”
Gene Michael, who was ejected from his first sport as supervisor of the Cubs, was often known as “the Stick” for his lengthy, slender construct. He got here in with a status as a disciplinarian, which he didn’t deny.
“I’m not going to kick the players all over the place,” Michael stated. “But I’m not going to let them get away with things. I’m not a genius to know what every player wants.”
Michael guided the Cubs to a 46-56 document the remainder of the 1986 season and was 68-68 when he stop with three weeks left within the 1987 season. The marriage between Green and Michael didn’t finish fortunately. Michael was upset that left-hander Steve Trout had been traded to the Yankees with out GM Dallas Green informing him about it.
After a 3-2 loss to Pittsburgh on Sept. 7, Michael introduced in a radio interview with reporter Bruce Levine that he was quitting.
“It’s nice he told somebody,” Green stated. “He didn’t tell me.” Michael advised Levine: “I haven’t said anything about it because nobody asked me.”
Don Zimmer: 1988-91
“When I walked up those steps today where the telephone operators are in the front office, I kind of had an eerie feeling. The last time I walked up those steps, I was fired. This is a crazy game. When we left here a year and a half ago, you’d never think this could happen.”
After being fired together with supervisor Jim Frey in June 1986, Don Zimmer was employed from his job as Giants third base coach by none apart from Frey, his longtime good friend who had succeeded Dallas Green as Cubs GM.
“I know this is not a last-place club,” Zimmer stated, echoing Durocher in 1965.
Zimmer was proper. The 1988 Cubs completed fourth. Zimmer got here in touting a “let’s have fun” philosophy, and he warned about his unconventional technique. He was in all probability the preferred Cubs supervisor since Durocher, principally due to his unpredictable type and his capability to take a crew of overachievers to the NL East title in 1989.
During a nationally televised evening sport towards the Giants in July 1989, Zimmer engaged in a heated argument with a Cubs fan that was caught on cameras.
“Sit your butt in your seat,” Zimmer yelled. “If you don’t like the way I manage, get out of the park.”
In 1991, the Cubs spent lavishly on free brokers Danny Jackson, George Bell and Dave Smith however began poorly once more. Zimmer was fired May 21, after giving Cubs President Don Grenesko an ultimatum to resume his contract. Grenesko advised Zimmer he could be evaluated on the finish of the season, forcing his untimely exit.
“What am I, a piece of garbage in Lake Michigan?” a bitter Zimmer stated after his departure.
Jim Essian: 1991
“Probably the biggest advantage is that they responded to me in the past, and I think they’ll respond to me now. I just hope to be received by the players and that the impact will be immediate.”
Jim Essian preached “positive attitude” when he was referred to as up from Triple-A Iowa to take over the Cubs.
“I’m under no great pressure at this point, feeling that I have to make great changes or use pseudo-psychology,” he stated. “It’s my job to provide a spark.”
Essian’s first huge transfer was to put in shortstop Shawon Dunston as his leadoff man. Dunston hardly ever walked and had a .238 on-base proportion on the time. The Cubs gained their first 5 video games underneath Essian however ultimately went 59-63 throughout his temporary reign.
“It is with great sorrow I learned I was being replaced as manager of the Chicago Cubs,” Essian stated in a press release upon his firing. “One strength of the team was their work habits and attitude. They possessed a great desire to win. However, there is an inevitable gap between desire and ability.”
Jim Lefebvre: 1992-93
“The tradition of the Cubs is long. Every baseball person I know of dreams of becoming part of the Cub organization. My dream comes true today.”
Jim Lefebvre was known as the “high-energy” rent of latest GM Larry Himes after three years of managing the Seattle Mariners.
“He’s a little on the hyper side,” Himes stated. “You have to calm him down a little, but that’s all right.”
After being employed, Lefebvre stated his doctrine was “the philosophy of no philosophy.” Say what? “We don’t want to be predictable,” Lefebvre stated. “We want to let opponents know we’re going to do anything at any time to win this particular game.”
The Cubs completed in fourth place in each of Lefebvre’s years, going 78-84 in 1992 and 84-78 in 1993, giving him good Cubs symmetry and an ideal .500 document.
Tom Trebelhorn: 1994
“Well, it’s a plan, anyway.”
Trebelhorn, a former Milwaukee Brewers supervisor and a coach underneath Jim Lefebvre, was employed on Oct. 14, 1993, edging out Cubs bullpen coach Tony Muser for the opening. A former highschool social sciences instructor, Trebelhorn stated upon his hiring that psychological preparation was the important thing for his gamers and that he would stress “a very comprehensive, very repetitive — to some people a very remedial — type of approach” to baseball.
“We’re not going to reinvent it,” he stated. “We’re just going to play it at a more consistent level.”
Trebelhorn insisted the Cubs “match up with anybody,” however they had been winless of their first 12 dwelling video games in 1994, the worst dwelling begin in crew historical past. After loss No. 9, Trebelhorn held his notorious “firehouse chat” with indignant Cubs followers at Fire Co. 78 on Waveland Avenue.
“I felt like I was in the middle of the French Revolution,” he stated.
The speech didn’t placate the followers or enhance the Cubs, who had been 49-64 and 16 1/2 video games behind the Cincinnati Reds when the gamers strike ended the season in August. But that was the tip for Trebelhorn.
Jim Riggleman: 1995-99
“I used to think managing was 75% strategy and 25% motivation and discipline. Now I know it’s closer to 50-50.”
New GM Ed Lynch labored with Jim Riggleman within the San Diego group, the place Riggleman managed the Padres to a 112-179 document from 1992-94, the worst document in baseball throughout that stretch. But the Padres had been dismantled, leaving Riggleman with a rebuilding effort.
Upon his arrival in Chicago, Riggleman instantly introduced: “I’m not a disciplinarian. I’m just a manager.”
He then echoed the phrases of his predecessor, saying: “I’m not trying to reinvent the game. We’re hoping to play on a consistently hard level every day. It’s a long season. It can’t be all hugs and kisses for 162 games.”
After his crew broke a National League document by beginning 0-14 in 1997, Riggleman guided the Cubs to the 1998 playoffs, profitable a wild-card tiebreaker at Wrigley towards Dusty Baker’s San Francisco Giants earlier than dropping three straight to Atlanta within the division sequence. But the 1999 Cubs went down the tubes, dropping 95 video games and going 6-24 in August, the crew’s worst August within the twentieth Century. Riggleman argued that month that Cubs followers weren’t as loyal as marketed.
“We’re not loved that much,” he stated. “There is electricity in our park every day, and the fans get very disgusted with us at times. It’s not all love there.”
Riggleman and most of his workers the day after the season.
Don Baylor: 1999-2002
“I’m always asking favors, so I’ll ask right away.”
Don Baylor requested everybody at his introductory information convention to say a prayer for Chicago Bears working again Walter Payton, who died that day.
Baylor stated he would use an aggressive offensive philosophy, with runners at all times in movement, and addressed the problem of the unstable Cubs clubhouse.
“A lot of times I don’t like to hear anything (after a loss),” he stated. “And if I hear music, I can tell you I keep a bat in my room and I know what I can use it for now — and it’s not to hit baseballs.”
After a 96-loss season in his debut, Baylor’s Cubs turned it round in 2001, going 88-74, the most important one-year enchancment within the National League. But when the hitting went into the gutter in 2002, Baylor was criticized for his sacrifice bunts and double switches. He was fired July 5 with a 34-39 document.
Dusty Baker: 2002-2006
“Rarely am I stumped by a question, but when my daughter was little she asked me: ‘Daddy, why must you win all the time? I didn’t really have an answer other than: ‘I’m supposed to win.’”
Dusty Baker introduced the Cubs inside 5 outs of a World Series, nearer than any supervisor had carried out in 71 years.
The 2004 season spelled the tip for Baker in Chicago. The combating between gamers and broadcasters Chip Caray and Steve Stone, in addition to a late-season collapse that dropped the Cubs out of the National League wild-card race within the remaining week, mixed to make Baker an unpopular determine and a goal for sports-radio callers.
Baker’s exit was telegraphed in July 2006 when normal supervisor Jim Hendry stated he would consider the supervisor, coaches and gamers throughout the All-Star break. Over the ultimate three months, there was countless hypothesis on speak radio and within the newspapers about who would exchange Baker, creating an enormous distraction.
Baker later implied the Cubs’ actual issues ultimately would floor after he was gone, evaluating the Cubs to an airplane crash.
“The one thing you learn about in life, no matter what job you’re in, is you’re going to have your turn to be in that box, whether you’re a manager or a coach or a CEO or a president or a janitor,” he stated. “You know everybody is going to get a chance in what I call the black blame box, because that’s what it is.”
President Andy MacPhail resigned the day Baker was knowledgeable his contract wouldn’t be renewed.
It took Baker 3,884 regular-season video games over 25 seasons to turn into a World Series-winning supervisor. The wait led to 2002 when the 73-year-old Baker gained it with the Houston Astros.
Lou Piniella: 2006-2010
“Long-suffering Cubs fans, we’re going to win here. And that’s really the end of the story.”
That’s what Lou Piniella stated from the rostrum within the Stadium Club at Wrigley Field on Oct. 17, 2006.
Whether Piniella actually was unaware of the Billy Goat curse, as he steered, is unknown. But he claimed to be. “There’s no curse,” he insisted. “Come on. It makes for good copy.” He additionally feigned ignorance of the size of the championship drought, facetiously asking: “Ninety-nine years? I didn’t know that.”
No one was worn down by the Cubs job greater than Piniella, who was bothered by fixed criticism of his managing and dropped hints in July 2010 he wouldn’t return after his contract led to October.
“Somebody wants to talk to me, criticize me, I’ve got nothing against it,” he stated. “But be truthful about it no less than. That’s all. When they take photographs at me, my spouse says, ‘Well, turn the other cheek.’ I stated: ‘(Bull). Let me get a little feisty once in a while anyway.’ “
Piniella abruptly retired in late August 2010 throughout a 5-20 stretch, saying he wanted to go dwelling and care for his 90-year-old mom.
His .519 profitable proportion was one of the best for a Cubs supervisor since Charlie Grimm’s .547 mark over three stints within the Nineteen Thirties, Forties and 1960.
Mike Quade: 2010-11
“I’ve managed a few games over the years. Obviously not here (in the big leagues). We’ve got some young kind that need to get better and we’ve got a veteran group that we need to lean on.”
Mike Quade was popping out of the Gulf of Mexico after a protracted day of fishing and crabbing when he acquired the decision he had been ready on for the final 30 years.
The baseball lifer wasn’t even talked about as a viable candidate when Lou Piniella first introduced his retirement three months in the past. He edged out fan favourite Ryne Sandberg when he was named to fill the Cubs’ managerial emptiness.
His instant response was quintessential Quade, who grew up in Evanston.
“You take a deep breath,” he stated. “And then you make a decision — who is getting these crabs and how quick can I get this suit picked up and get back (home) and get to Chicago.”
Quade, then the third base coach, guided the Cubs to a 24-13 document after changing Piniella on Aug. 23, the second-best document in baseball throughout that stretch.
The Cubs’ 71-91 document and fifth-place end sealed Quade’s destiny and he was fired by new president of baseball operations Theo Epstein in November 2011.
The crew issued a information launch on the firing with a press release from Epstein, who praised Quade for his “excellent service” whereas including the franchise would “benefit long term” from bringing in a supervisor who can are available in “with a clean slate and offer new direction.”
Dale Sveum: 2012-13
“We’re not here to rebuild. We’re here to try to win the World Series this year.”
The Cubs misplaced 101 video games in 2012 underneath supervisor Dale Sveum. In his two seasons, he went by way of back-to-back sell-offs of veterans and misplaced a complete of 197 video games.
Tom Ricketts stated he had a few beers in Milwaukee with Sveum on the finish of the interview course of and referred to as him a “great fit” for the Cubs: “When you talk baseball with him, he has a very deep understanding and looks at things very thoughtfully.”
Hours after coming back from St. Louis following the ultimate sport of the 2013 season, he was requested to satisfy Theo Epstein at a neighborhood bar and grill that might afford them some privateness. Epstein and Sveum had been the one patrons within the bar. So the one eyewitness to Sveum’s firing was the bartender, who declined to remark, citing the code of honor amongst Chicago bartenders.
Sveum later stated he felt blindsided by the choice.
“You are caught off guard,” he stated. “I’d be mendacity if I stated I noticed it coming, simply due to the state of the group and the crew and my contract and issues like that. A month left within the season, and we had been all advised they had been going to be evaluating us and every little thing. Sure, that’s a part of the gig, too, however you continue to thought … ‘Ehhhh.’
“Then when it occurs, you’re clearly a bit bit wowed. Then you need to sit again and say, ‘OK, this is what we know can happen and it’s a part of the gig.’ “
Rick Renteria: 2014
“I know everyone things I’m nuts, but I feel like any team has a chance to move forward if you really believe in the confidence in a team growing up, preparing on a daily basis, knowing what you really want to do and giving yourself a chance to fight and play.”
After Joe Girardi rebuffed the Cubs to stay New York Yankees supervisor and Red Sox coach Torey Lovullo stayed in Boston, Theo Epstein turned to Rick Renteria, the Padres bench coach, to exchange the fired Dale Sveum in Year 3 of the rebuild.
The Cubs improved by seven video games, after which Epstein stated Renteria “absolutely” was returning in 2015. The Cubs went 73-89 underneath Renteria, assembly the group’s major objective in serving to revive the careers of Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro.
But when Joe Maddon turned accessible in October, Renteria unexpectedly acquired the ax with two years left on his contract.
“While there was no clear playbook for how to handle this type of situation, we knew we had to be transparent with Rick before engaging with Joe,” Epstein stated in a press release. “Jed (Hoyer) flew to San Diego last Friday and told Rick in person of our intention to talk to Joe about the managerial job. Subsequently, Jed and I provided updates to Rick via telephone and today informed him that we will indeed make a change. We offered Rick a choice of other positions with the Cubs, but he is of course free to leave the organization and pursue opportunities elsewhere.”
Renteria wound up as bench coach of the White Sox earlier than changing into their supervisor in 2017 for 3 seasons.
Joe Maddon: 2015-19
During his introductory information convention on the Cubby Bear in 2014, Joe Maddon conceded you “have to have a little bit of crazy to be successful” in baseball.
“I want crazy in the clubhouse every day,” he stated. “You need to be crazy to be great. I love crazy. I tell my players that all the time.”
No matter your opinion of the eccentric Cubs supervisor, the zeitgeist of the Maddon period won’t ever be replicated.”Try Not to Suck.” Cousin Eddie. “If it looks sexy, wear it.” American Legion week. Hazleton. “Embrace the Target.” Dress Like Pedro Strop Day. The Onesies journey. The Minimalist Zany Suit journey. The Shaggin’ Wagon. “The Office.” The Dye Job. Aroldis. Cubstock.
Before the Cubs introduced within the free-agent supervisor, his agent Alan Nero stated “It’s apparent to everybody there could be a match with the Cubs, however somebody has to inform the Cubs that. It’s clearly a risk, however they do have a supervisor.
Epstein canned Renteria and introduced in Maddon, who led the Cubs to 4 consecutive playoff appearances and the primary World Series title in additional than a century. Maddon acquired extra laughs in a single information convention than Rick Renteria did throughout the whole 2014 season, at all times an vital metric.
“He was the perfect guy to win a World Series (with the Cubs),” stated Ben Zobrist, who broke within the majors with Maddon with the Rays in 2006. “I felt it was going to happen.”
Maddon by no means had a dropping season with the Cubs; they made the playoffs from 2015-18 — the 4 straight berths to set a franchise first — however in 2018 did not advance to the NLCS for the primary time underneath his watch.
Epstein had declared 2019 a season of “reckoning” that noticed the crew fade quickly from postseason rivalry within the remaining two weeks. The Cubs blew a 3 1/2-game lead within the NL Central and did not make the postseason for the primary time since 2014.
Maddon and the Cubs agreed to half methods on Sept. 29, 2019. “You could feel things between people,” he stated with Theo Epstein by his aspect. “It’s obvious. It’s the right thing to do.”
David Ross
“I want to win a championship. I want to win multiple championships. I want to bring a championship back to Chicago, and we’ve done that before. I’ve done that in another city. And I know what that looks like. I’ve been on some losing teams. When you see the opposite, you’ve got to call it out as soon as possible.”
David Ross tried to distance himself from the fun-loving “Grandpa Rossy” picture as he tries to place his personal stamp on the Cubs whereas serving to carry them one other World Series title.
The supervisor job was the primary for Ross, whose resume included 14-plus seasons as a major-league catcher, three as a particular assistant to Theo Epstein and a lifetime of communication expertise. The familiarity of Ross with a franchise attempting to rekindle the spark of the younger core that gained the 2016 World Series was an element within the Cubs choosing him to exchange Maddon.
On Nov. 6, 2024, the Cubs shocked everybody by dismissing Ross — who was underneath contract by way of subsequent season with a membership choice for 2025 — for Milwaukee Brewers supervisor Craig Counsell.
It was an abrupt ending to Ross’ tenure in Chicago that noticed the Cubs go 262-284 (a .480 profitable proportion) underneath his path the final 4 years. They had been poised to succeed in the postseason this yr for the primary time since 2020, Ross’ debut season as supervisor, earlier than they collapsed throughout the remaining three weeks to squander their wild-card place.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com