Maddon, some Cubs to informally visit White House again
WASHINGTON - It won't be anything quite as formal as what happened in January, but Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon and some of the team people will make another White House visit Wednesday.
The World Series trophy was on Capitol Hill Tuesday, with Cubs board members Tom and Todd Ricketts meeting with Illinois Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth.
In January, the Cubs and a throng of Chicago media went to the White House as then-President Barack Obama saluted the 2016 World Series champions.
"It's not as ceremonial as the last one was, going there as the World Series champions," Maddon said. "It's more based on the Ricketts family relationship and the Cubs going to the White House tomorrow.
"Whatever Mr. Ricketts (chairman Tom) would like me to do, I'm going to do. Mr. Ricketts and the Ricketts family has been good to all of us. So part of that is that. The other part is whenever you have a chance to go to the White House, I think it's easy to say yes out of respect to the office and the building itself."
Player participation is voluntary, as Maddon says he has no rules. Maddon was asked if teams that would refuse to go to the White House to meet President Donald Trump were making a political statement.
"If they're going to say no, then it absolutely is," he said. "To go tomorrow is out of respect to the Ricketts family and to the office and the building itself. Listen, I like the United States a lot. I like living here a lot. And I like everything that it represents a lot. When you get a chance as a citizen to get to go to the White House, you go. Whether you like the person that's running the country or not, out of respect to the office itself, you go.
"I don't agree with all the other banter that's going on right now because I have a different perspective. I like living here a lot. I like this country a lot. I would much prefer living here than some of the other places that adopt different methods of government. So I think sometimes that gets confused when people want to take a stand and not really realize actually what we have here, which is a lot better than most every place else."
Injury updates:
Pitcher Kyle Hendricks, who is on the disabled list with tendinitis in his right hand, threw from 90 feet off flat ground during a late-afternoon cloudburst Tuesday. Hendricks has been on the DL effective June 5.
The Cubs want to increase the throwing distance, up to 150 feet, before Hendricks throws a bullpen session.
Infielder-outfielder Ben Zobrist continued working out in Chicago Tuesday as he tries to come back from left-wrist inflammation.
Zobrist is likely to repeat the workout Wednesday and possibly head out on a minor league rehab assignment if he checks out OK.
Leading the way:
When Willson Contreras homered to lead off Monday night's 5-4 victory, he became the first catcher in the history of the franchise, dating to 1876, to homer leading off a game, according to research historian Ed Hartig.
Contreras become the second Cubs player this month to homer in the first inning of his first career start out of the leadoff spot. Anthony Rizzo did so on June 13 against the Mets.