Chapter 11: Cubs' trials, Trib-ulations

Maybe this is a Tribune Company ploy.

The Trib's theory must be that if ownership creates enough distractions, no one will focus on the Cubs' championship drought.

Otherwise, the media conglomerate's business dealings would seem to be counterproductive to baseball success.

Actually, they're too similar to a couple of other episodes in Chicago baseball history.

This is the drill: The Cubs or the White Sox build something, get close to winning something and implode into something else.

Of course, the 2005 Sox were the exception. Instead of evolving toward a championship over a few years, Kenny Williams pretty much built them in one off-season burst.

It happened so fast that nobody inside or outside the organization could stop the Sox from winning the World Series.

Ah, but then there were the Cubs in the 1980s. General manager Dallas Green had it going with a farm system that produced the likes of Greg Maddux and Mark Grace.

Then Tribune Company honchos decided they couldn't live with Green's methods or personality and he was gone.

Also gone was that Cubs' window to win a World Series.

Then there were the Sox in the early 1990s. My goodness, they became contenders every year with young players such as Frank Thomas, Robin Ventura and Jack McDowell.

The Sox made the playoffs in '93. The following year they were going to finally win a world championship.

Instead, Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf felt a labor-management showdown was more important, a work stoppage ensued, and the World Series was canceled.

That window closed on the Sox by the time play resumed.

The lesson is that ownership can't have priorities that supersede winning.

So, here we are now. The Cubs are two-time defending National League Central champions and poised to be NL favorites in 2009.

Except, one day general manager Jim Hendry has to convince everyone, maybe even himself, that the Trib's ongoing attempt to sell the Cubs won't prevent him from improving the team.

The next day the Trib files for bankruptcy. A news release has to emphasize that the Cubs are excluded from the process and the business of baseball will proceed as usual.

The next day Gov. Blagojevich is arrested and it's alleged he tried to force the Chicago Tribune to fire editorial writers in exchange for supporting the sale of Wrigley Field.

Yikes! Yikes! And yikes!

Folks, too much is swirling around Tribune Company for its baseball team's own good.

Winning a World Series is difficult. It takes the focus of everybody in an organization from batboy to players to coaches to manager to general manager to, yes, ownership.

All that should matter is winning, not selling the club or bankruptcy filings or gubernatorial entanglements.

Reinsdorf must have figured that out between '94 and '05 because he did nothing to derail the Sox' title run.

The Cubs especially don't need anything corrupting their concentration. It's daunting enough to try winning a World Series for the first time in 101 years or merely getting to one for the first time in 64 years.

Then again, it might be genius for the Trib to place the spotlight elsewhere.

But if those guys up in the Tribune Tower are that smart, how did they go bankrupt?

mimrem@dailyherald.com