Chicago Cubs David Ross: The End Is Just The Beginning
David Ross, the now retired catcher from the Chicago Cubs has something in common with Donald Trump. They both won the lottery this year.
When David Ross announced in November of 2015 his plans to retire , it barely drew a ripple on the radar screen outside of baseball. But at the same time, there was an inkling from those who knew better that there was something special about David Ross that separated him from the pack. Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo , for instance posted on Twitter: “Whoa whoa whoa what’s this about retiring? TWO MORE YEARS!!!”
But by the end of the World Series this year, David Ross, the man with a career batting average of .229, was familiar to all of us as someone who had that special something about him, and he was that guy who we saw being carried off the field by his teammates after the final out of Game Seven.
It could easily have gone the other way though. Because earlier in that game which he didn’t even start, David Ross had made a critical error that led to the Indians scoring two runs in a wildly dramatic seesaw game. But as legend would have it, David Ross cracked a rare, but inspirational home run that helped to propel his team to victory.
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It was a real life story that you couldn’t write any better. Except that now, David Ross is going to do just that by writing a book. It’s tentatively titled “Teammate: My Life In Baseball” and is scheduled to be out sometime in May. Well, take that back. He is not actually writing the book. He’s telling a story to a trusted reporter who’s putting the words in Microsoft Office. But probably, that’s only because David Ross is too busy considering other options that are becoming available to him.
One of the offers he’s considering is a job in the Cubs front office .
"“There’s definitely interest on our part,” general manager Jed Hoyer said during last week’s winter meetings. “It would seem almost a shame if he wasn’t (around). He was such a big part of what we did from a team-chemistry standpoint.”"
For his part, Ross is giving it the standard “I have to talk to my family about it” routine, but obviously the idea of being a Chicago Cub for life has to be appealing to a man who has already said he wants to remain connected to baseball in some capacity.
David Ross: A Feel Good Baseball Story
But the real future path of David Ross, the elephant in the room if you will, is for him to become the next manager of the Chicago Cubs when Joe Maddon himself decides to retire. Neither David Ross or the Cubs are speaking publicly about this now, which only means that both are seriously thinking about it privately because that is the politically correct thing to do. At the same time though, it would seem to be the most likely progression for a man who was held in such high esteem in the clubhouse.
We’ve don’t see stories like this one in baseball very often. And they usually don’t develop this quickly. The usual refrain we hear from retiring players often is something like, “I’m looking forward to spending more time with my family,” which often really means “I have no idea what I’m gonna do with myself now.” Which, in turn, can mean that he’s sitting around waiting for the phone to ring.
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For David Ross, that’s not exactly the case. His problem, if it really is one, is to decide which offer to accept. Overall, you’d have to say that’s pretty good for a guy, who until a few months ago, would have been considered to be a journeyman defensive catcher, a offensively challenged hitter, and just another player who had reached the end of his baseball playing days.