Ricketts will find he can't win this game

Chicago mayor Richie Daley has a black belt in social, political and economic leverage, so taunting him is a bad idea.

Yet Tom Ricketts feels compelled to throw his weight around the city by threatening to not throw his money around the neighborhood.

"I have a lot of dollars that can be invested in Wrigleyville," the Cubs' chairman has been quoted as saying, "or not."

In other words, approve the Toyota advertisement at Wrigley Field and the Ricketts family will invest in the 'hood. Prohibit the ad and it won't.

Ricketts is upset that bureaucrats, landmark advocates and a rooftop owner across from the ballpark are delaying construction of the Toyota sign behind the left-field bleachers.

Tom Ricketts is talking tough and, of course, beating his head against a wall in Daley's kingdom. My goodness, didn't he ever hear, "You can't fight City Hall"?

The Cubs will get their sign or not get their sign if or when Daley wants them to or doesn't want them to.

Ricketts won't be any more successful goosing the process than any other Chicago sports owner - or resident for that matter - would be.

They all learn the hard way that hardball doesn't work with city officials generally and Daley specifically any more than sarcasm does.

You know, like the sarcastic statement former Cubs president Andy MacPhail issued after building inspectors finally permitted the club to play in Wrigley Field following the falling-concrete controversy of 2004.

Included was this sentence: "The city had conducted enough inspections of Wrigley Field by now that they should be satisfied we are not printing a newspaper."

The line amusingly referenced the ongoing tit-for-tat and snit-for-snat between Daley and then-Cubs' parent Tribune Co.

City politicians aren't easily amused, however. For all anybody knows the Toyota sign holdup is retribution years later for MacPhail's sarcasm years ago.

Remember, this is the city with big shoulders and long memories, so it's never smart to tuck on Supermayor's cape.

Local pro sports executives have to keep being reminded that business is conducted here according to CDT - Chicago Daley Time.

Former Cubs general manager Dallas Green learned that while pursuing lights for Wrigley Field in the 1980s that politicians rule. The Bears learned it while trying for decades to get a new stadium. They all learn it at some time or other.

The Ricketts family can fight City Hall but can't win at that game any more than the Cubs have been able to win a World Series since 1908.

If the Ricketts want revenue from their precious Toyota sign, flowers, candy or bribes are better ideas than threats, taunts or sarcasm.

Rattle cages and city health inspectors might shut down the Cubs' bullpen until the White Sox fan running the city determines players are healthy by his standards.

That's how things work in Chicago, how they worked when I was growing up under the original Mayor Daley, and how they work now as the Ricketts family grows into Cubs ownership under the latest Mayor Daley.