Last night's edition of CBS' "60 Minutes" profiled the Cubs' turnaround that "began five years ago when the team’s new owner, Tom Ricketts, hired a miracle worker" in Theo Epstein as President of Baseball Operations, according to Bill Whitaker of CBS. In Epstein's first season, the Cubs "lost 101 games." Epstein "devised a five-year plan to go all the way from worst to first, starting with the draft." Most teams "take young pitchers, but Epstein chose hitters," as they "don't get hurt as much." Esptein said, "Not only were they safer bets, but we also felt we could change the culture a little bit easier by building around talented position players with high character." Epstein added character was important “because baseball's a game with a ton of adversity inherent in it and players that tend to respond to adversity the right way and triumph in the end are players with strong character." Whitaker said Ricketts has "become a rock star in Chicago," and he "hopes the championship will be transformational." Ricketts: "Our ‘C’ in our logo, it used to stand for ‘Loveable Loser’ or just ‘Loser.’ I want that to stand for excellence, for players that do things the right way, and I want that to stand for winning" ("60 Minutes," CBS, 5/7).
