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John McDonough's ties to Cubs not completely cut

Mike Downey | In the wake of the news

July 17, 2008

Let's see now: Games 3, 4 and 5 of the World Series would be played at Wrigley Field on Oct. 25, 26 and 27.

"I'll be there," John McDonough vows.

Then that outdoor hockey game at Wrigley between the Blackhawks and Red Wings would be played on Jan. 1, 2009—wait, that's only a few weeks later.

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"The World Series celebration should be almost over by then," McDonough agrees.

A year ago, he was president of your National League Central Division champion Cubs.

This weekend he will serve as your genial host for the first (annual, you can bet) Blackhawks Convention for fans at the Hilton downtown.

And then next Tuesday, he will be in the third-base dugout at the Unfrozen Confines for a news conference to point out exactly where that NHL ice and the nets and blue lines will go.

McDonough won't need directions, right?"I haven't been back to that park since I left in November," he says.

For a quarter-century, this was his office. Those men in Cubs caps you saw at that All-Star Game — the eight young ones, the old Hall of Famers, that manager (Lou Piniella) he helped to hire—were like his extended family.

Don't get him wrong. No one is happier that the Cubs have been in first place for two months. No one feels more of a bond with those 1,989,035 who have come to the home games so far.

McDonough is merely observing the proprieties. He sees it as keeping "kind of a respectful distance" while letting current Cubs management do its thing.

"I was there for 24 years," he says. "I left on as good a note as anyone could in leaving any job.

"I just feel it's right to let a little time pass and let everybody there do what they need to do."

Besides, he's a little busy.

If a dull moment has passed since McDonough quit as the Cubs' president to take the same gig with the Blackhawks, we must have missed it.

Bill Wirtz died on Sept. 26, 2007. The Cubs were eliminated from the playoffs 10 days later. Rocky Wirtz, the hockey team's new CEO, brought McDonough aboard on Nov. 21.

As the appointment was announced that day, McDonough gave everybody a hint of things to come by saying, "I have pages of ideas that Rocky hasn't seen yet."

They included a convention, one modeled after the wildly successful one that brings the Cubs out of hibernation every winter.

It becomes a reality Friday.