Theo Epstein: Ricketts Family 'Incredibly Generous' In Giving Cubs Championship Rings To So Many Contributors
(CBS) A select few details have leaked out regarding the World Series rings the Cubs will have bestowed upon them Wednesday, most notably that they will include 108 diamonds apiece to represent how many years the franchise went between championships.
On Monday, president of baseball operations Theo Epstein shared a few more thoughts on the rings, which the Cubs will have presented to them prior to their game against the Dodgers on Wednesday evening at Wrigley Field. The organization's three primary leaders all had a significant say. Epstein himself served a liaison for the players' input on the rings, meeting with about a half-dozen of them. President of business operations Crane Kenney and chairman Tom Ricketts also had a leading role in the design of the rings.
Epstein called it a "team effort."
"We really wanted to design a ring that would please all the different constituencies, from owners to players to front-office folks and fans," Epstein said on the Spiegel and Parkins Show on Monday ahead of the Cubs' home opener against the Dodgers in the evening. "It was an important one to get right.
"The Ricketts family is just incredibly generous, like beyond our wildest imagination. We basically all got to submit an over-inclusive wish list of how we could do it if we had basically no (financial) restrictions and everyone who's works for the Cubs, full-time, part-time, directly involved, tangentially involved and then that always goes through a filtering process and a budget and everything else. But the Ricketts basically made everyone's dream list come true -- very inclusive, wanted to reward everyone who was involved in making this happen. It's not a surprise to anyone's who worked here, to see that they run it like a family and they understand that so many different people play important roles and we probably wouldn't have gotten to the World Series without everyone's contributions. That's reflected in the ring distribution."
For his part, Epstein won't wear the championship ring all that much. He already has two in being the architect of the Red Sox's championship teams in 2004 and 2007, but he gave one away.
"I'm not a big jewelry guy," Epstein said. "They come in a nice box, and I kind of tuck them away. People want to see them when they come over, and I take them out. I gave my '04 ring to my dad, so he's got that one. I got the '07 one, keep it around the house. This one, I'll find a nice place for it. But yeah, I don't wear rings, I don't keep any baseball memorabilia. The only thing I have are World Series trophies, World Series rings, that's it. Anything else, I just kind of like to live in the moment with."