The Final 9

By ANDREW SELIGMAN
AP Sports Writer

CHICAGO (AP) -- A billionaire family of Chicago Cubs fans - including one who first met his wife in the bleachers at Wrigley Field - is set to purchase the team and ballpark from Tribune Co.

The sale would include Wrigley Field and a 25 percent interest in a regional sports network, said Dennis Culloton, a spokesman for group head Tom Ricketts. Culloton said the deal was worth about $900 million.

"My family and I are Cubs fans," Ricketts said in a statement Thursday night. "We share the goal of Cubs fans everywhere to win a World Series and build the consistent championship tradition that the fans deserve."

The family, whose bid was picked from among three finalists, also said in the statement that it's looking forward to working with the Tribune and Major League Baseball to close the transaction promptly. Tribune Co. spokesman Gary Weitman declined comment.

The selection of Tom Ricketts, a member of the founding family of TD Ameritrade Holding Corp., and chief executive of InCapital LLC, was first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times' Web site.

Tribune Co. picks billionaire Ricketts to buy Cubs....

By RICHARD SANDOMIR

Think of it: Mark Cuban as the Chicago Cubs’ owner, bonding with the Bleacher Bums at Wrigley Field, splurging for rounds of Old Style beer and screaming at umpires. The concept is almost Veeckian, as if Bill Veeck, the populist former owner of the Browns, the Indians and the White Sox, had had zillions of dollars.

Buying the Cubs is the latest project for Cuban, the owner of the N.B.A.’s Dallas Mavericks, but he is not alone in the expensive quest. Four other individuals and groups have given the debt-laden Tribune Company nonbinding offers of at least $1 billion for the team, its stake in Comcast SportsNet Chicago, and 92-year-old Wrigley Field.

Cuban is reported to be the top bidder, at nearly $1.3 billion, but the auction will begin soon, after the applicants and their bankers delve further into the assets books.

Cuban Wants Cubs, but Will Baseball Want Him?....

By Erik Matuszewski

July 7 (Bloomberg) -- The National Hockey League will play its second outdoor game at Chicago's Wrigley Field on Jan. 1, when the Blackhawks host the Stanley Cup-champion Detroit Red Wings, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

The game was approved last week when NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman met with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and officials from the Blackhawks and Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, the paper said, without citing the source of its information.

NHL to Play Outdoor Game at Wrigley Field, Star Tribune Reports....

Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - Nick Markakis and Luke Scott drove in two runs each for Baltimore, as the Orioles bested the Chicago Cubs, 7-5, in the opener of a three-game interleague set at Wrigley Field.

Markakis was 2-for-5 with a run scored and Scott added a triple, single and a run scored. Brian Roberts was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and a run batted in for Baltimore, which halted a two-game slide. George Sherrill got out of a bases-loaded jam with nobody out in the ninth with three straight strikeouts to earn his 26th save.

Jeremy Guthrie (4-7) tossed six effective innings, surrendering four runs on seven hits and a walk. Guthrie was mainly hurt by a three-run homer in the seventh and pitched well otherwise to earn the win. The hard-luck righthander has surrendered two earned runs or fewer in seven of his last 11 starts with only four wins to show for it.

Jim Edmonds connected for a three-run homer and Kosuke Fukudome was 2-for-5 with a home run and two runs scored. Aramis Ramirez added two hits, an RBI and a scored a run for Chicago, which ended both a three-game winning streak and the Cubs' 14-game winning streak at Wrigley Field, their longest such streak since June 4-July 10, 1936.

"These guys basically are ready to go," Cubs manager Lou Pinella said while addressing a letdown following the Cubs sweep of the White Sox. "The White Sox had nothing to do with this. Absolutely nothing. Baltimore came in here and played a good ballgame. Give them credit."

O's end Cubbies' 14-game home winning streak....

By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com

CHICAGO -- Wrigley Field is back on the market.

The Tribune Co. has rejected a no-tax proposal to purchase Wrigley Field by the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority (ISFA) -- which owns and operates the Chicago White Sox's home ballpark, U.S. Cellular Field -- according to former Illinois Gov. James Thompson.

Thompson, the ISFA's lead negotiator and chairman, said in a statement that the Tribune Co. believes the sale "requires either the transfer of future sales and amusement tax revenue from transactions at Wrigley Field for the next 30 years, or the imposition of new taxes, or the transfer of existing ISFA funds now pledged to projects at U.S. Cellular Field."

Thompson said that the ISFA could not agree to that, adding, "In our judgment, there are no votes in the City Council or in the Illinois General Assembly for transferred or new taxes for Wrigley Field."

FULL ARTICLE....

By Nick Zaccardi / MLB.com

CHICAGO -- Japanese cameramen hustled along the first-base side of Wrigley Field on Monday morning, following every step of Dodgers pitcher Hiroki Kuroda during pregame warmups.
Kuroda was on his way to meet a familiar face on the Cubs, an outfielder he played with in Japan. Kuroda made his way around the batting cage and found his friend.

He had a nice chat with Alfonso Soriano, his teammate in the Minor Leagues in the '90s. What, you were expecting someone else?

Well, the assembled reporters might have been. Eighteen Japanese media outlets are covering the Cubs-Dodgers series, about twice the usual amount for a game at Wrigley this season.

STORY....