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Insider-trading charges brought Monday against Mark Cuban, an Internet entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, could weaken his chances of buying the Chicago Cubs. There was already some doubt whether other baseball owners would welcome the loud and brash self-made billionaire into their fraternity if he had the highest bid. Now, they have something to point to to deny him entry, said a sports economist familiar with baseball ownership decisions. "The charges give the commissioner's office another pretext for turning him down," said Andrew Zimbalist, an economics professor at Smith College. Robert DuPuy, president of Major League...

CHICAGO -- College students interested in longtime suffering and heartache have found the perfect subject. About 25 bright young minds gather at DePaul University twice a week for an in-depth class every Chicagoan can relate to. For those scoring at home, it's course number ISP 102-709: Chicago Cubs, taught by professor Blair Banwart and assisted by Ed Pniak. "When I tell people that I'm teaching a class about the Cubs, they kind of laugh, which is understandable," said Banwart, who wears a Cubs hat to class. "You try to make it academic, as much as you can. The kids take...

Kuroda vs. Harden. First pitch, 9:07 CDT.

Billingsley vs. Zambrano. First pitch, 8:37 CDT.

5:37 CDT first pitch at Wrigley Field in Chicago! Dempster vs. Lowe. Line-ups will be announced soon.

WATERTOWN, Wis. -- Fred Merkle was born in Watertown, Wis., in 1888, but he spent only one year there before his family moved to Toledo, Ohio. Still, that didn't prevent Watertown resident David Stalker from claiming Merkle as the town's very own. He spearheaded an effort to erect a monument in Merkle's honor. Set in black marble with a baseball perched on top, the monument notes that Merkle was a "potent line-drive hitter and agile first-baseman." It says he was a member of six World Series teams. However, there is no mention on the monument of the play that earned...

CHICAGO -- Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has yet to solicit Ozzie Guillen's help or advice in relation to fulfilling his ongoing quest of bringing the 2016 Olympics to Chicago. Not unlike the shoot-from-the-lip manner Guillen has operated under since taking over the White Sox in 2004, the opinionated manager recently offered up his own solution to clinch the bid. It involves the Cubs and White Sox and a special postseason meeting that has not taken place since 1906, which astonishingly also marks the last time both teams qualified for the playoffs during the same season. "Like I said two...

One hundred years ago this afternoon, the New York Giants and the Chicago Cubs played a game that can still be found on baseball's figurative Mount Rushmore, next to the Bobby Thompson home run game, the Sandy Amoros catch game, Don Larsen's perfect game, and the game where Carlton Fisk waved it fair. No one who played in or saw the game is alive. The Polo Grounds, where it was played, was demolished a half century ago. Doesn't matter. Some games just endure. More specifically, what happened on Sept. 23, 1908, was this. With the first breezes of autumn in...

CHICAGO -- The Cubs are back-to-back division champions for the first time in 100 years. Chicago clinched the National League Central by beating St. Louis, 5-4. The club has consecutive division titles for the first time since 1907-08, when the Cubs last won the World Series with one division per league. They're the first NL club to secure a playoff spot. "Just finishing is the most important thing," center fielder Jim Edmonds said. "You never know what can happen in the last week of the season, and you don't want to be anywhere near the pennant race, because it could...

Let's hear a little baseball chatter here! AL EAST Tampa Bay leads division by a game over Boston with the two teams squaring off in a three game series starting tonight. Yankees are in fourth, a half game behind the Blue Jays--and the last game at Yankee Stadium is set for Sunday night on ESPN. AL CENTRAL/WEST White Sox lead Twins by 1.5 games. Angels clinched the west and lead Texas by a mere 19.5 games. Curse of Hillary? The Obama campaign reminds me of the Yanks' fortune this year. Down down down Another close race in the NL EAST...

Carlos Zambrano just no-hit the Houston Astros in Milwaukee, where they were playing due to the Hurricane Ike rain-out in Houston. Zambrano gave up only one walk, got a hit and scored a run in the 5-0 Chicago Cubs victory.

Thirty-nine years ago today, a black cat found Ron Santo in the on-deck circle at Shea Stadium in New York, walked around him, then headed through the Cubs' dugout, past manager Leo Durocher and disappeared under the stands. Of course, the Cubs' high hopes during an extraordinary season disappeared right behind the feline. They lost to the New York Mets that night -- the sixth of eight straight losses -- and the next day, the Mets overtook them in the National League East race for good. ''At the time, I didn't think anything of it,'' Santo told the New York...

We all knew Barack Obama is a White Sox fan, but the presumed Democratic presidential nominee took it a bit further in an interview with ESPN. Obama joked about the stereotype of Cubs fans, who probably are tired of being described as partying people-watchers instead of serious baseball fans. "You go to Wrigley Field, you have a beer, beautiful people up there," Obama said, according to transcripts released by ESPN. "People aren't watching the game. It's not serious. White Sox, that's baseball." The interview, which took place Wednesday in Greensboro, N.C., will be aired on SportsCenter tonight at 5. Here...

Andrew Greeley's column in today's Chicago Sun-Times is "American warmongers excel at talking a good game." Greeley's writings are often unintentionally amusing, filled with the sort of kneejerk liberalism we'd expect from a Barack Obama contributor. This morning's article is typically hilarious: If we chant "USA!" Often enough, sing God "Bless American!" fervently enough, wear flag pins, fly the flag in front of our house and croak the national anthem loudly enough, we will win victory and honor our dead heroes. Who are those who reject compromise of a useless and criminally deadly war like Iraq? They are the blusterers,...

I hope this is okay to post. But a couple of things. First what do you think of my Cubs? Second who's your team and favorite player? Third if you found out a player was a complete opposite of you beliefs wise would it affect your opinion of him? My answers 1. I thought they'd be good but this team is awesome. Despite what might be 2 losses in a row to the Marlins. 2. Cubs. Kerry Wood or Ryan Dempster. 3. I don't think conservatives are this way. We like to watch the guys play and don't care how...

Even the unveiling of Ernie Bank's statue couldn't help stop this travesty.

I just saw a piece on the Chicago CBS TV station noting that the 10th anniversary of sportscaster Harry Caray’s death is upon us. 10 years…Holy Cow! Despite some of the bum raps he received a few years before his death, (“Too old,” “He’s losing it,”), Harry’s comeback from his stroke in 1987 sort of took the wind out of his critics and managed to make him a legend to thousands of North Siders. I grew up with Harry Caray as the play-by-play man for the Chicago White Sox, a fact, I think, that some Wrigleyville folks have conveniently forgotten....

CINCINNATI -- When the Cubs came off the field after Friday's 6-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds, manager Lou Piniella saw the players show some emotion. It wasn't relief, although that could be expected after losing three in a row to the last-place Florida Marlins, who then said the Cubs looked like they were panicking. What was it? "A sense of accomplishment, of sorts," Piniella said. "It was really good to see. I like players who show some emotion at times. We need one more. I hope San Diego hangs on tonight, but if they don't, we need one more."...

You’d think there were slightly more significant things to talk about the day after Labour Day than Carlos Zambrano wishing he could give the Wrigley Field boo birds a date with the fricasee. Pedro Martinez comes off the disabled list after missing the first five months of the season recovering from rotator cuff surgery, maybe he isn’t one hundred percent ready, but he throws stuff that looks like an imitation of Pedro Martinez and wins anyway, nailing his 3,000th career strikeout for good measure (ok, that’s cheating: he needed a mere two to get there) . Roger Clemens, maybe the...

We're heading into the stretch drive in baseball. Who is your team, where are they and what are your hopes?

Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban Submits Application to Buy Chicago Cubs CHICAGO (AP) -- Add internet billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to the list of potential Chicago Cubs buyers. "I submitted an app," Cuban said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. Interested parties must submit an application to Major League Baseball to examine the team's finances. Cuban told the Chicago Tribune he sent in the application last week, although he wasn't sure of the date. Tribune Co., which owns the team, announced in April it was selling itself for $8.2 billion to Chicago real estate mogul Sam...

Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) Created; Sam Zell to Invest, Join Board; Chicago Cubs and Comcast SportsNet Interest to be Sold snip Sale of the Chicago Cubs Separately, Tribune announced that following the 2007 baseball season, it will sell the Chicago Cubs and the company's 25 percent interest in Comcast SportsNet Chicago. The sale of the Cubs is subject to the approval of Major League Baseball, and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2007. Proceeds will be used to pay down debt. snip

Billionaire basketball team owner Mark Cuban denied a report on Wednesday that said he plans to offer $625 million to Tribune Co. for the Chicago Cubs baseball team.

Mark Cuban in Megabucks Bid for Cubs TEAM SPIRIT CubanBillionaire blogger Mark Cuban is more serious about buying a major league baseball team than he's been letting on. The tech entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks owner is set to offer $625 million to buy the Chicago Cubs from Tribune Co., according to a source familiar with the matter. "Mark is desperate to buy the Cubs," says the source. "He wants this so bad." Cuban hasn't responded to a message from Radar, but when asked about the Cubs in the past, he has admitted to being a potential buyer. "I'm always interested...

Cubs prospect Jeff Samardzija, a record-breaking receiver at Notre Dame, is giving up football for baseball, FOXSports.com has learned. Samardzija, a right-handed pitcher, was the Cubs' fifth-round pick last summer and projected as a first-round pick in the NFL draft. He signed a $7.25 million contract with the Cubs and went 1-2 with a 2.70 ERA in seven starts at Class A last summer before returning to Notre Dame for his senior football season. On Friday, Samardzija agreed to a $10 million, five-year deal with the Cubs. "Baseball is my first love. I played it my whole life," Samardzija said....

Senator Dick Durbin has reached a new low. He is now using Ron Santo for political points. Ron Santo, neloved Cubs player and now broadcaster is on the veteran's committee for the Hall Of Fame. As one of the 3 greatest 3rd basemen in baseball history he belongs but because the voting writers don't know their butt from a whole in the ground and Joe Satan Morgan the leader of the veterans committe doesn't want anyone one he isn't. Durbin is running around saying he is going to use his clout to help get Santo in. A. The votes are...

Dusty Baker will not be back as manager of the Chicago Cubs next season, the team said on Monday after finishing the campaign with the worst record in the National League. "I guess all things must come to an end, and all things come to pass," Baker told MLB.com. "It's emotional as you're doing it -- you see four years come to pass before your face." After 10 seasons in San Francisco guiding the Giants to the 2002 World Series, Baker moved to Chicago where he was expected to work his magic with the Cubs who have not won a...

(first post) OK, they won ugly tonight. We left a ton of runners on base- Couldn't lay down a bunt- Our leadoff man went 0 for 4- They won on TB's horrible errors- But now they are a game and half up on the Twinkies and only 4 and half behind Detroit. I'll take them anyway we can get em. It would be nice to get the sweep before having to play a suddenly hot KC and the Red Sox at Boston... ----------------------- (liberal lefty cub fan) Seems like just yesterday doesn't it? I mean like when you were in...

My fellow Freepers: DLee is a wonderful guy besides being a terrific baseball player. I've done some charity things with him and his wife and daughter. Please keep them in your prayers. Really puts a possible 100 loss season in perspective. Also prayers for pitcher Glendon Rusch who has a pulmonary embolism please. The link is to the article at chicagosports.com More info will be there and at cubs.com I actually am on my wireless at Soldier Field in a skybox awaiting kickoff of Bears Vs. Lions.

Washington D.C. Zoo Shows Off Three Sumatran Tiger Cubs Sunday, September 03, 2006 WASHINGTON — The introduced three to the public Saturday, more than three months after they were born.The cubs, two female and one male, had been kept inside since their May 24 birth to bond with their mother. In the last few days, the cubs were introduced to the outdoors to make sure that they could safely get around.<<<snip>>>  AP Sept. 3: Two of three Sumatran tiger cubs born at the National Zoo make their debut. AP Sept. 3: Maharani, one of three Sumatran tiger cubs born at the...

Boys will be boyshttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-2230571,00.html http://tinyurl.com/n3g5a DJ Taylor June 18, 2006 Why are fathers snapping up an old-fashioned book of boyhood lore? DJ Taylor looks at the gap in almost every father’s life -- Like practically every human relationship these days, fatherhood has become horribly institutionalised. A condition that was once thoroughly ad hoc and made up as one went along is now caught up in bureaucracy’s stifling grasp. Father’s Day (an American import that didn’t exist in my youth), fathers’ support agencies, parenting classes: on all sides comes evidence of a natural state hedged about with all kind of wholly...

CHICAGO - Dusty Baker didn't answer a classified ad when the Cubs hired him as manager after the 2002 season. Baseball teams don't work that way, and it's just as well. If the position were to open again soon, a possibility even Baker acknowledges, the job description might scare off the boldest of managers if the language honestly depicted the new work environment. Looking for manager to win World Series before 100th anniversary of last title in 2008. Must face daily comparisons in home city to best team in baseball and game's most charismatic manager. Duties include playing mostly day...

Dissident group says will continue efforts for sale or breakup of company... Tribune Co. shares gained ground Tuesday, rising as the media company that's been working to revamp operations amid shareholder unrest announced the results of a Dutch tender auction. Analysts said any gains could prove short lived, however. Chicago-based Tribune Co said that about 45 million, or 15%, of its common shares were tendered and that it expects to buy the shares at a price of $32.50 each. The number of shares tendered came in 8 million short of the maximum that the company had initially authorized in the...

A spokesman for Rudy Giuliani says the former New York City mayor is not interested in buying the Chicago Cubs and remains a diehard New York Yankees fan, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune. Giuliani's firm, Giuliani Partners, had reportedly been seeking to team up with former Cubs' star Ernie Banks and another investment firm to purchase the team. But according to Crain's Chicago Business, Banks met on May 23 with club executives by was rebuffed. An executive from Giuliani Capital Advisors had a meeting with Banks at Banks' request, according to Giuliani spokeswoman Sunny Mindel. She apparently...

Michael Barrett was suspended for 10 games and fined on Friday for punching White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski during Saturday's Cubs-Sox game at U.S. Cellular Field. Barrett immediately appealed the verdict from Major League Basbeall disciplinarian Bob Watson and was in the starting lineup for Friday's game against Atlanta. Sox outfielder Brian Anderson received a five-game suspension and fine for his involvement in the brawl, and Sox coach Joey Cora received a two-game suspension and a fine for fighting. Pierzynski received a fine but no suspension. Barrett would not reveal why he believed he should receive a lesser punishment for...

Michael Barrett was suspended for 10 games and fined on Friday for punching White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski during Saturday's Cubs-Sox game at U.S. Cellular Field. Barrett immediately appealed the verdict from Major League Basbeall disciplinarian Bob Watson and was in the starting lineup for Friday's game against Atlanta. Sox outfielder Brian Anderson received a five-game suspension and fine for his involvement in the brawl, and Sox coach Joey Cora received a two-game suspension and a fine for fighting. Pierzynski received a fine but no suspension. Barrett would not reveal why he believed he should receive a lesser punishment for...

I may have heard the most ridiculous or one of the most ridiculous things ever on the radio. I was flipping through stations while driving and landed on a liberal host. She was saying how uneducated athletes are because they don't speak out politically. Maybe because unlike Hollywood elite they don't think we want to hear who they support? And it wouldn't make her happy. I know most of the Cubs players. They are very heavily Republican. But they know we want to see them hit and pitch. We don't want to know who they vote for. Okay maybe right...

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Rick Sutcliffe, a Cy Young award winner and ESPN baseball analyst, gave a rambling, slurred interview during the local television broadcast of the Brewers-Padres game Wednesday night. Sutcliffe's microphone eventually was cut off. Craig Nichols, general manager of Channel 4 San Diego, on Thursday described the interview as embarrassing. It was the second time in three weeks that comments during a broadcast at Petco Park drew attention. On April 22, Former Mets and Cardinals All-Star Keith Hernandez, now a broadcaster for New York, said that women "don't belong in the dugout" after spotting Padres massage therapist...

This is the book jacket for Thomas D. Kuiper's 'I've Always Been a Yankees Fan: Hillary Clinton in Her Own Words,' one of many books about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. For someone who insists she is only thinking about her re-election campaign this year, Clinton has attracted the attention of conservative authors offering a host of new books aiming to slow her path to the White House. (AP Photo)

It was 1976, a fun year for America. It was the country's bicentennial, the war in Vietnam had ended a year earlier and everyone really wanted to put all the problems from the 1960s, Watergate and Vietnam behind them and just enjoy the country's yearlong 200th birthday party. On April 25, the Chicago Cubs were visiting Dodger Stadium for a three-game series. Playing center field for the Cubs was Rick Monday, the first player taken in the amateur draft that was created 11 years earlier. Monday was born and raised in Santa Monica, Calif., so playing in front of his...

It is just days away from the start of a new baseball season, and Tribune Co. finds itself in a pickle: Should it sell the Chicago Cubs, its game-losing but money-making team? Or keep the Cubs and toss out something else? With speculation mounting that Tribune could be the newspaper industry's next takeover play, the media company faces increasing pressure to do something. Tribune's stock price has slumped to multiyear lows, Wall Street analysts have slapped the company with rare "sell" ratings, and the company's strategy of corralling advertisers by owning newspapers and television stations in the same markets seems...

BOSTON (AP) Former Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra rescued two women who had fallen into Boston Harbor late last week, his uncle and a witness told the Boston Herald. Garciaparra, who played for the Chicago Cubs last season, was with his uncle in his Charlestown condominium at about 10 p.m. on Friday when they heard a scream and a splash, said the uncle, Victor Garciaparra. As soon as the All-Star shortstop and two-time American League batting champ ran out the door to help the woman, her friend also fell in, hitting her head on the pier, said Victor Garciaparra, who...

BOSTON (AP) - Nomar Garciaparra rescued two women who had fallen into Boston Harbor, his uncle and a witness told the Boston Herald. Garciaparra, the former Red Sox shortstop who played for the Chicago Cubs last season, was in his Charlestown condominium with his uncle Friday night when they heard a scream and a splash, said the uncle, Victor Garciaparra. As soon as the two-time American League batting champ ran out the door to help the woman, her friend also fell in, hitting her head on the pier, said Victor Garciaparra, who oversees his nephew's business and charitable ventures. Victor...

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- Sandberg didn't mention Sammy Sosa by name, but it was pretty clear his former Cubs teammate was the main target of his ire. In a powerful and eloquent speech lasting nearly 23 minutes, the normally reticent Sandberg spoke often of the "respect for the game" He just as frequently voiced contempt for the preening and self-promotion he has been seeing throughout baseball, with sluggers taking center stage and home runs accorded a value far beyond the game's finer points. "Don Zimmer and Harry Caray used to say it was nice that a guy who hit 40 home...

CHICAGO (AP) -- The Chicago White Sox are the best team in the majors, with no idea what second place is like this year. They're a likable, entertaining bunch, and their manager is one of the most colorful in the game. Anywhere else, they'd be the toast of the town, adored by casual fans and diehards alike. But the White Sox are the second team in the Second City, consistently underappreciated while their neighbors on the North Side are showered with love no matter how dismal their record. ``It's always been that way,'' said Bill Hyde, 68, a lifelong White...

CHICAGO -- Mark Prior left the Cubs' game against the Rockies in the top of the fourth inning after he was hit by a Brad Hawpe line drive on his right throwing arm. The shot appeared to hit Prior near the right elbow and the pitcher went to the ground, grimacing in pain and grabbing hold of the arm near the elbow. After being attended to on the field by trainers, Prior walked off on his own accord, but held his right arm close to his body and looked to still be in pain. Prior (4-1) pitched a total of...

Yesterday's WPost offered a great front-page shot of Washington DC's National Zoo's latest addition -- cubs. So, we headed over and took a few of our own photos. Check out http://community.webshots.com/album/267779016eIxpoI The pandas were absolutely wonderful!

Sammy Sosa is close to taking his home run hop all the way to Baltimore. The Chicago Cubs are just a few steps away from trading the unhappy slugger to the Orioles, several high-ranking baseball officials told The Associated Press. Medical tests and approval from commissioner Bud Selig and the players' association remain unresolved, the officials said Friday night, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Cubs would pay a substantial part of Sosa's $17 million salary this season, the executives said. In exchange, Chicago would receive second baseman Jerry Hairston Jr. and at least two prospects. Sosa has 574 homers,...

Wade Boggs was overwhelmingly elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility Tuesday, and Ryne Sandberg made it with just six votes to spare on his third try. Boggs, a five-time American League batting champion for the Boston Red Sox (news), was selected by 474 of the record 516 voters who are 10-year members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. The 91.86 percent of ballots he received was the 19th-highest percentage in Hall history, and he became the 41st player elected on his first chance. Sandberg, the 1984 National League MVP for the Chicago Cubs...

Sports Boggs, Sandberg Elected to Hall of Fame 13 minutes ago By RONALD BLUM, AP Sports Writer NEW YORK - Wade Boggs was overwhelmingly elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility Tuesday, and Ryne Sandberg made it with just six votes to spare on his third try. selected by 474 of the record 516 voters who are 10-year members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. The 91.86 percent of ballots he received was the 19th-highest percentage in Hall history, and he became the 41st player elected on his first chance. Sandberg, the 1984 National...