PITTSBURGH — Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said Wednesday that he’s not concerned about public backlash from reports of his family’s support for presidential nominee Donald Trump tarnishing the luster of his team’s high-profile quest for history this fall.
“I’m not worried about that at all,” Ricketts said at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park after announcing a five-year contract extension for team president Theo Epstein. “It’s no big deal.”
Last week’s Wall Street Journal report of family patriarch Joe Ricketts’ pledge of at least $1 million in Trump support marked a surprising reversal for the billionaire family who had spent millions in a much-publicized effort to defeat Trump earlier in the election cycle.
Joe Ricketts’ wife, Marlene, gave $5.5 million to an anti-Trump super PAC.
Their son, Todd Ricketts, one of the four siblings listed as Cubs owners, co-chaired Trump opponent Scott Walker’s fundraising efforts last year before the Wisconsin governor dropped out early in the primary season.
Those efforts put the Rickettses on a long list of those targeted on Twitter by Trump, who threatened to expose untold family secrets. “They better be careful,” Trump tweeted during spring training. “They have a lot to hide!”
Last week’s reports prompted a wave of letters to the editor of the Sun-Times criticizing Cubs ownership’s support of Trump.
