[Roger Kaputnik]

Admin, could you post the story from the ND, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008, page B 1, top right?

"Deadline set for Dec. 1"

[Southsider2k12]

I am guessing this is the story you are looking for?

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=40754.95

Deadline Set For Dec. 1

The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Bidders for the Chicago Cubs have until Dec. 1 to submit offers, Major League Baseball said Wednesday after a meeting of its ownership committee.

Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, said representatives of four bidders have met in New York in recent weeks with officials from the commissioner's office, MLB's Internet company and the sport's new television network.

The team was put up for sale in April 2007 when Tribune Co., the Cubs' owner, announced it was being acquired by real estate developer Sam Zell. DuPuy said the latest deadline was set by the Tribune Co.

"Bids are expected the week after Thanksgiving," DuPuy said. "Mr. Zell claims the team is for sale and they're moving forward."

Given the current financial climate and the difficulty in raising capital, there has been widespread speculation that bidders are having trouble raising money for a purchase of the famously unsuccessful franchise, which hasn't won the World Series in a century.

Baseball officials do not think Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been part of the bidding process for months. Cuban was charged Monday by federal regulators with insider trading for allegedly using confidential information on a stock sale.

In other actions:

• MLB said it had ceased efforts to locate the MLB Network in Harlem and would keep the offices and studios are their temporary location in Secaucus, N.J.

• The sport adopted a budget with no increase for 2009, deferring unspecified projects because of the deteriorating economy.

• Discussions took place to formalize in the rules commissioner Bud Selig's decision that postseason games cannot be shortened due to weather.

MLB took in a record $6.5 billion this year, but DuPuy said the economy had caused baseball to be cautious in its spending.

"No one wants to count any dollars before they actually come across the transom," he said.

Of specific concern has been the Nov. 10 announcement by Deutsche Post AG, the German parent of DHL, that it will no longer offer U.S. domestic-only air and ground services as of Jan. 30. DHL sponsors MLB awards for relief pitchers, and the company has agreements with some individual teams.

"We've had very positive conversations. They're staying in business obviously, they're just shifting their emphasis internationally," DuPuy said. "But obviously in this market we're talking to all of our sponsors to make sure that we give them as much value as possible for their sponsorship dollars and try to keep them all in place."

As for the network, a $435 million project with Vornado Realty Trust was announced in January to construct a 21-story office building in Harlem at Park Ave. and 125th St. Instead, baseball has decided to remain at the former MSNBC studios in Secaucus.

"The Harlem project ran into difficulty getting financing, developer financing," DuPuy said. "There's no activity on the Harlem project. At the moment, we're very satisfied with the Secaucus facility. It's a terrific facility and will serve our needs very well."

Staffing at the network had doubled to about 120 over the past month, ahead of its January launch, and there will be about 155 employees when hiring is completed. Auditions are taking place this week for studio staff and next week for reporters. While the network originally contemplated broadcasting Saturday night games, DuPuy said discussions are ongoing to shift those to Thursday evenings.

DuPuy said talks also were underway on the issue of not shortening postseason games. Selig decided last month that Game 5 of the World Series wouldn't be cut short by rain. While the game was suspended with the score tied after 5 1/2 innings, Selig said if one team had been ahead when play was stopped, he would have presided over the longest rain delay in baseball history until weather allowed action to resume.

"The commissioner has indicated his intention of getting that done," Selig said. "There are various approaches that could be taken, and we're still working on the process."

[Roger Kaputnik]

Nothing heard about the sale/purchase.

Today the Veterans Committee votes on inductees to the Hall, and Ron Santo is up again. I sure hope he gets there.

[Southsider2k12]

Even more interesting is that their parent company is talking about filing bankruptcy which could potentially make a mess out of the sale of the team.

[Roger Kaputnik]

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.j...sp&c_id=chc



<h1 class="hl">Santo denied Hall entry by Veterans</h1> <h2 class="subHeadLite">Cubs icon nearly 15 percent shy of Cooperstown enshrinement</h2> By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com

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LAS VEGAS -- Once again, Ron Santo has come up short. The former Cubs third baseman received 39 votes from the Veterans Committee and was denied entry into the Hall of Fame.

"It's so ridiculous that nobody gets in again," Santo said from his Arizona home. "I can't understand it."

Last year, Santo received 57 votes, or 69.5 percent, and was five votes short. This year, he received 60.9 percent and came up nine votes short. Any player receiving at least 75 percent of the vote from the Veterans Committee, which consists of the 64 living Hall of Famers, will be enshrined in Cooperstown.

The Veterans Committee did not elect anyone from the post-1943 group into the Hall but did name Joe Gordon, who was on the pre-1943 ballot.

The other members of the post-1943 ballot were Jim Kaat (38 votes), Tony Oliva (33), Gil Hodges (28), Joe Torre (19), Maury Wills (15), Luis Tiant (13), Vada Pinson (12), Al Oliver (nine) and Dick Allen (seven).

"I feel there are guys out there who belong in the Hall of Fame," Hall of Famer Joe Morgan said Monday at the Bellagio Hotel, where the announcement was made. "The problem is we can't find 75 percent who agrees that one guy is the guy."

Santo has not been shy about how much he wants to be enshrined with baseball's greats.

"They get the ballot and they only look at the name -- they don't look at the numbers," Santo said on Monday. "They should have a committee and sit down and talk about the 10 guys [eligible]. You've got to have people who know what you've done."

Santo said he was handling the disappointment on Monday better than he thought he would, although he did confess to not being able to sleep the past three weeks.

"If they can't fix [the format], then let it go," Santo said.

Part of Santo's urgency stems from his health. He was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 18 but didn't reveal that he had it until the Cubs celebrated "Ron Santo Day" on Aug. 28, 1971. He played for the team from 1960-73, spent one season with the crosstown White Sox, and then retired.

A career .277 hitter, Santo won five Gold Glove Awards and was a nine-time All-Star. In the past few years, he has had both of his legs amputated below the knees because of complications with the disease. That hasn't stopped him. The 2009 season will be Santo's 20th in the broadcast booth with WGN Radio. He turns 69 in February.

Billy Williams, who was Santo's teammate on the Cubs, and who was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1987, likes the Veterans Committee system.

"Many years ago, the players used to vote for who was elected to the All-Star Game and you really felt good about it because your peers voted you in," Williams said. "It's always good to know that they voted you in.

"This is what we have now -- there are players who played with Gil Hodges or against him, and the majority of these people [on the committee] were Santo's peers and played against him," Williams said. "There are guys like Ernie [Banks] and Fergie [Jenkins] and myself, and we saw him play and saw the type of player he was, and that's how we cast our votes. We thought he was a Hall of Fame player."

Santo holds the National League record among third basemen for most consecutive games played (364 -- April 4, 1964, to May 31, 1966), most games played in a season (164 games, 1965) and most seasons leading the league in total chances accepted (nine).

He joined the Cubs on June 24, 1960, and made his Major League debut two days later. It was a good start, as Santo went 3-for-7 and drove in five runs. Funny thing is, he has already been to Cooperstown. On June 27, 1960, the Cubs played the Indians in the annual Hall of Fame game, and Santo homered off Jack Harshman in the Cubs' 5-0 win.

Carrie Muskat is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

[Roger Kaputnik]

Oh, well. Last year may have been the best balloting he received. Now to wait another year.

[Johnny Rush]

I'm a huge Cub fan, I love Ron Santo...I appreciate that Bill James (my baseball guru) has him ranked amongst the top 6 third basemen of all-time...but can you really have 4 Hall of Fame players on a team that only once came within 5 games of even making the playoffs? That's not even including their HOF manager. To me, the numbers are there, but could that be what is holding him back? Have any other non-playoff teams featured that many Hall of Famers for such a length of time?

[Roger Kaputnik]

If you rread the article, you will see that the teams with lots of representation get more guys in. With just two, Santo has an uphill battle. Oh, well. We can't agree with every call, and that is part of the charm of baseball.

[Roger Kaputnik]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi...9,0,46221.story





Cubs sale 'unchanged'

Company says timetable not affected; others see complications
By Ameet Sachdev |Tribune reporter December 9, 2008 Tribune Co. said Monday that its bankruptcy filing will not alter its plans to sell the Chicago Cubs, but people involved in the auction said they expect the sales process will get more complicated.

Tribune Co. did not include the franchise and Wrigley Field in its bankruptcy petition, allowing the media company to retain control of the sales process. Nonetheless, Tribune Co. will have to keep creditors informed about the auction, and the winning bid will have to be signed off by a bankruptcy judge, sources close to the situation told the Chicago Tribune.

Moreover, the bidders are unsure of how to proceed. "I really don't know enough to comment," said one bidder. "Some very complex issues have arisen."

However, the Cubs said in a statement that "the sales process for the team, ballpark and related assets continues, and its timetable for completion remains unchanged by [Monday's] announcement by Tribune."




Had the team been included in the filing, it would have been a black eye for baseball, given that the Cubs are one of its signature franchises. It's possible that if the Cubs were part of the bankruptcy petition, a judge could have stopped the auction and started a new bid process in an effort to obtain the highest price possible, said a bankruptcy law expert.

Keeping the team out of the bankruptcy, said a source close to Tribune Co., "will allow the process to move along more quickly. That's in the banks' interest and the Tribune's interest."

The Tribune Co. bankruptcy is the latest setback for a sales process that has lasted since Chicago real estate investor Sam Zell reached a deal to take Tribune Co. private in April 2007. Tribune Co. also owns the Chicago Tribune.

Eighteen months later, the Chicago-based media conglomerate is still without a deal for the Cubs, ratcheting up the pressure on the company as advertising revenue falls rapidly and large debt payments loom. The credit crisis and economic recession have made the process more difficult, as bidders have had trouble determining the team's value and lining up financing to buy the franchise, the iconic stadium and related broadcast assets.

At least three bidders remain: Chicago real estate investor Hersch Klaff; the Ricketts family, which founded online brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.; and a group led by Marc Utay, a New York private-equity investor.

Bidders on Monday began scrambling to find bankruptcy advisers of their own. Among questions they want answers to is how the bankruptcy affects the highly leveraged partnership Tribune Co. sought from a Cubs buyer to avoid a huge capital-gains tax expected from the sale of the franchise.

According to a person close to a second bidder, the partnership works only if Tribune Co. guarantees the debt. He said he is not sure the Internal Revenue Service would allow a firm in bankruptcy to guarantee the debt.

The bidders also have lost some negotiating power as a result of Tribune Co.'s bankruptcy, said Mike Simonton, an analyst at Fitch Ratings. Prior to the bankruptcy, Tribune Co. faced pressure to reach a deal to sell the Cubs before the end of year or risk being in default of its loan terms.

"Now, there's less urgency to get a sale done at a fire-sale price," Simonton said. "There's more time to reach the best deal."

Despite the added complexity, Tribune Co. hopes to reach a deal to sell the Cubs by the start of the baseball season in April, a source close to the company said. Major League Baseball owners must approve any deal.

asachdev@tribune.com

[Southsider2k12]

I did just notice the "baseball 101" subtitle to this thread... I guess that make the White Sox "Advanced Placement Baseball 501"?

[JHeath]

I did just notice the "baseball 101" subtitle to this thread... I guess that make the White Sox "Advanced Placement Baseball 501"?

No, that makes the Sox a pre-requisite course.

[Roger Kaputnik]

I did just notice the "baseball 101" subtitle to this thread... I guess that make the White Sox "Advanced Placement Baseball 501"?

It refers to the 101 years, something of a double entendre.

[Southsider2k12]

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.j...sp&c_id=chc

Grace just kept hits comin' in his career
First baseman takes 2,445 career knocks to Hall of Fame ballot

By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com

When Mark Grace was called up to the Cubs in May 1988, it was to replace a struggling Leon Durham and platoon at first base with Manny Trillo.

"This is something a kid dreams about all his life," Grace said on his first day in Chicago. "And then it finally happens."

Don Zimmer, then the Cubs manager, made it clear Grace had the job.

"I told this man, 'You're the first baseman,'" Zimmer said.

Grace had been scuffling a little in the Minors and Jim Frey, then the Cubs general manager, had a chat with the slender first baseman. Turns out, Grace was trying to hit home runs.

"I was trying to jerk the ball," Grace said at the time. "That's what got me in trouble in the first place. I realized after hitting about .170 the first couple weeks that wasn't the answer."

"I'll take a double down the left-field line," Zimmer said. "I'll take a ball up the middle, like I saw him hit all spring. Home runs will come."

Those doubles added up. Grace delivered one after another and plenty of singles and eventually became the Major League hits leader of the 1990s with 1,754 knocks. And the glib first baseman, who played 16 seasons, will now see if all those hits were enough to get him into the Hall of Fame.

He's on the ballot for the first time, and if Grace could garner votes for being able to answer any question, he'd be a shoo-in for Cooperstown.

A candidate must get 75 percent of the vote to gain election, with former Red Sox slugger Jim Rice (72.2 percent), former Expos and Cubs outfielder Andre Dawson (65.9 percent) and former Twins ace Bert Blyleven (61.9 percent) standing as the top three returning vote-getters.

Rickey Henderson, whose career spanned 25 years and nine teams, headlines the newcomers to the 2009 Hall of Fame ballot. Henderson, who has never announced his retirement, last played for the Dodgers in 2003. The 1990 American League MVP is the all-time leader in runs scored (2,295), stolen bases (1,406) and is second in walks (2,190).

All of the 20th century decade hits leaders have been elected to the Hall, with the exception of Pete Rose. Grace has 2,445 career hits and never finished a season with more strikeouts than walks. But even a fan Web site, MarkGrace.com, acknowledges it will be tough for the "amazing" left-handed hitter to get into Cooperstown.

Of the 18 first basemen in the Hall of Fame, the Web site points out nine were voted in by the Baseball Writers' Association of America and nine were inducted by the Veterans Committee. Grace played in 2,245 games in his career, more than the average of all the Hall of Fame first basemen.

He does have more doubles (511) and the best fielding percentage (.990) but falls way short in home runs (173) compared to the average numbers of all BBWAA-selected first basemen. The nine BBWAA-elected Hall of Famers averaged 399 home runs each.

In Grace's first season in the big leagues in 1988, he hit one homer in Spring Training and that was during a pre-Cactus League exhibition game against Mesa Community College. His first big league blast came May 5, just three days after his debut, and it helped the Cubs complete a three-game sweep of the Padres. It was in the sixth inning, a solo shot, off lefty Keith Comstock in a 6-3 Chicago win.

In his 16 seasons, all but the last three with the Cubs, Grace posted a .303 average, hit 173 homers, 511 doubles and drove in 1,146 runs. Grace is the last Cubs player to hit for the cycle, doing so May 9, 1993, against San Diego. In that game, he went 4-for-5 with three RBIs.

He got things started in the first with a double to left with two outs off San Diego's Greg Harris. Grace singled to center with a man on in the third and made his only out when he lined out to right leading off the fifth. With two outs in the seventh, Grace tripled to left.

Harris was lifted in the eighth with a 5-1 lead. In the Chicago ninth, Rick Wilkins singled to lead off and pinch-hitter Rey Sanchez popped up. Dwight Smith flied out to left and Jose Vizcaino then singled to center. Rich Rodriguez replaced Roger Mason, and Grace homered, a three-run shot to pull within 5-4. Gene Harris then came into the game and got Ryne Sandberg to line out to shortstop to end the game.

There were 30,062 at Wrigley Field who witnessed Grace's feat.

"I should get the game film, because I'll never do that again," Grace quipped after the game. "I don't hit too many triples. I hit fewer triples than I hit home runs, and that's saying something."

He was old school. You knew it was a cold day at Wrigley Field if Grace was wearing batting gloves. He played baseball to pass the time at Saddleback Junior College and was spotted by big league scouts while at San Diego State University. They were actually there to look at Tony Gwynn's brother, Chris.

"They'd come to see Chris and go, 'Oh, by the way, that first baseman's not bad either,'" Grace told the Chicago Tribune in 1995.

A three-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner, Grace never finished in the top 10 in the National League Most Valuable Player balloting. But Grace does have one thing other longtime Cubs don't have: a World Series ring. He signed a two-year contract with Arizona in December 2000 and helped the D-backs beat the New York Yankees in the 2001 World Series. He also came through with a home run in that series, connecting in Game 4. Grace got things started in the pivotal ninth inning of Game 7 with a single off Yankees closer Mariano Rivera.

He even pitched an inning in relief on Sept. 2, 2002, during a 19-1 loss to the Dodgers and gave up one run on catcher David Ross' first career home run.

"That poor kid is going to get his first home run ball and it's off [Mark Grace]," Grace said. "I didn't have a scouting report on him. Obviously, he can hit 65-mph fastballs."

That won't get him into Cooperstown, though. One of the most popular Cubs ever, Grace's No. 17 jersey is still worn by fans in Wrigleyville. In Grace's last game in Chicago in September 2000, he went 0-for-4, but the fans knew he was not going to be re-signed and received a standing ovation before his last at-bat.

It was a terrific tribute to a terrific player.

Carrie Muskat is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

[lovethiscity]

It refers to the 101 years, something of a double entendre.

HEY! Anybody can have a bad century or two.

[Southsider2k12]

And 101 it is

[TSNSPYDER]

Hey Southsider, that's a cool pic you found.