Undercover Boss (2010) s02e07 Episode Script
Chicago Cubs
Male announcer: America is struggling to shake off the recession.
Public distrust of wealthy CEOs remains high.
But more and more bosses are looking for radical ways to reconnect with their workforce in order to find out what's really going on in their companies.
Each week, we follow the boss of a major corporation as they go undercover in their own company.
Chicago Cubs This week, the co-owner of the Chicago Cubs poses as an out-of-work roofer looking for a new line of work.
I'm Mark.
How are you doing? Oh, nice to meet you.
Announcer: This boss will trade in his post-modern home and motorcycle collection Hot dogs! Announcer: For a hot dog box and a mop.
While working on the front line, he'll find out he might not have what it takes for the Major Leagues.
He's got attitude already.
Who needs a hot dog? You could be a lot more loud.
Whoa! Announcer: And he'll discover the unsung heroes that make his business run.
I mean, I don't have the money for it right now.
Being here so much all summer, you miss your kids? Yeah.
Announcer: How will his co-workers react when they find out he's really the boss? And how will it change their lives? One of the things that we thought we were gonna be bringing to the team is this idea of a family business.
Announcer: Find out next on Undercover Boss.
Announcer: The Chicago Cubs are one of America's most beloved sports teams, from Harry Caray to Wrigley Field, the Cubs are steeped in baseball history.
Every year, over three million loyal fans visit Wrigley Field, hoping for a World Championship.
Going undercover is one of the new owners of this storied baseball franchise.
I'm Todd Ricketts, and my family and I recently bought the Chicago Cubs.
First and foremost, the thing that we want to bring here is the world series.
the Cubs won a world series.
We're on a hundred-year-plus drought.
[Cheering.]
Some people actually think the team is cursed.
Reaching into the stands and couldn't get it, and he's livid with the fans.
In 1945, a Cubs fan brought his goat to a world series game, and it was refused entry.
He got upset and he said, "the Cubs are never gonna win the world series.
" There is no curse.
But maybe 30 years from now, you know, when we haven't won, I'll say, "well, you know, the place is cursed.
" Hey, Todd, nice beard.
Yeah.
You like that? Looking good, man.
Sorry I'm late.
I'm the youngest of four siblings.
What we'd like to achieve as a family is bring winning baseball to Wrigley Field.
I think an exercise like this could really help us with our mission to have a championship team not only on the field but off the field.
On a lighter note, I'll give me a chance to do all those jobs that I never got hired for in college.
[Laughter.]
I took two years off, out of high school.
When I didn't go to college, my dad told me I had to get two full-time jobs.
That's the incentive to go to college.
I went to loyola university here in Chicago.
When I was in college, I used to come to games by myself and sit out in the bleachers.
Wrigley Field is something special.
Men started playing here in 1916.
Part of it's the Ivy, it's the bricks.
Whatever it is, it's like going to a picnic with 40,000 of your best friends.
Take me out to the ballgame all: take me out to the crowd in 1975, my dad started td ameritrade.
My father was one of the first people to bring investing to the internet, so our family's company really did not have great success until the late '90s.
So none of us really experienced any of that wealth as children.
Ameritrade went public, and it was about that time that the tribune made some indications that the Cubs were gonna be for sale.
Tom came to the family and said, "I think this would be a really great asset for the family to own.
" No disrespect to Ernie banks, but there's a new Mr.
cub in town.
Tom Ricketts is in charge now as the chairman, with his family assuming control of the franchise.
They paid $845 million r it.
I'd say we were pretty big baseball fans.
More than that, Cubs fans.
I don't think if any other major league team were for sale that we would even be remotely interested.
Wrigley Field is the greatest place on earth.
We want to give them the greatest experience in sports.
Myself and my three siblings are equal partners in the Chicago Cubs, but how I would fit into that specifically, as an executive, it remains to be defined.
The relationships that I have with all my siblings in regards to the Cubs, it's really, really difficult.
I am the youngest and, uh, I pay for that.
There are a fair number of people who work here that I know, so there's a risk of being recognized.
If you're selling beer, one of your friends will see you.
[Laughter.]
Tom is the chairman of the Board of Directors.
He's on tv.
He's the face of the Cubs.
So it didn't make sense for him going undercover.
So I think I'm the logical choice.
All right.
Sounds great.
When you're the youngest sibling, I think you get put into this role of perpetually trying to show your older siblings that you can do whatever they can do, and I think this is a good opportunity for me to show that I can do what they can't do.
Okay, team, I'm gonna be off.
I'll see you in a few days.
Todd is trying to figure out his role with the team, so I think he will learn a lot, and he will find ways to really impact the organization.
Bye.
Bye.
Have fun.
Pete, Tom, and Laura all think this is a really good idea.
We definitely think that going undercover is gonna really help us prioritize the needs of Wrigley Field.
I need to know how things work and how we can make things better, and that's w I'm going undercover.
My cover story will be that I am Mark Dawson, an out-of-work roofer taking part in a reality show where I'm tested to see if I have what it takes to work for the Cubs.
For the course of the week, I'm gonna be staying at one of the rooftops across the street in an apartment right here in the neighborhood, so I can get the full of what it's like to live in wrigley and work here.
All right.
It's gonna be extremely different than what my life is like now.
It's gonna be almost exactly likehwham life was Wrigley is closed today, and an off day at the park means a busy day at the park.
I will be helping clean bathrooms.
I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make sure the facilities are running in the most efficient way possible.
A lot of the bathrooms that we have, they've been here since the stadium was original.
When the stadium was built, it held about Today, we bring about so it puts a little pressure on the facilities.
Are you Darryl? Yep, I'm Darryl.
How are you doing, man? Hey, I'm Mark.
Nice to meet you.
How are you doing? We're gonna be cleaning, pressure washing, stocking a couple bathrooms before the game tomorrow, so-- okay.
We spent a lot of time and effort in the off-season to improve and renovate the bathrooms here.
So today, I'm looking to see if the expansion that we put in is working, but also that we're able to maintain those bathrooms and keep them nice.
Just follow me, and we'll get you set up and started.
It's gonna be a little fast-paced, man.
So the first thing we do is hose everything down.
That's closed d that's opened.
Okay.
Now, you want to kind of aim down.
Aim down? Okay.
Now watch this.
So you won't get the lights wet.
Just work your way back.
You gotta keep moving.
That's a little too much.
Okay, something like that.
Okay.
With your left hand, pull the hose.
If you get it kinked, you gotta twist it.
That's the dangerous part.
Don't let that go.
[Laughs.]
Just turn it off.
The other way.
That's it.
You gotta move a little faster, man.
Okay, I'm trying.
Here we go.
He's got attitude already.
I really hope my siblings appreciate what I'm doing for the team.
This purple detergent right here.
Uh-huh.
This is the degreaser.
This is how we would do it.
Okay.
The walls, sinks.
See how I'm doing that? Yeah.
Just start putting it on the floor.
Oh, so I'm putting it, okay, here, okay.
As you're moving, you're doing two things at one time.
Right.
I feel like I'm working my butt off right now, but, uh, it's not good enough for Darryl.
We gotta do this fast, man.
I feel like I'm moving as fast as I can, and he says, you know, "we gotta move faster, we gotta move faster.
" Keep moving, keep moving, keep moving.
We're gonna shoot over to the next bathroom.
Okay, sounds good.
You gotta have to pick it up a lot faster than at that bathroom there.
Okay.
This is one of the bathrooms people walk in, they say, "wow.
" This is one of the remodeled bathrooms, so what we gotta do is get this one swept out.
All this garbage up.
So as soon as you finish that, you're gonna jump on something else.
Okay, good.
I'll be right back.
Where's my guy at? You still here? I'm right here.
All right, man.
These bathrooms haven't been swept out at all.
The type of guy I need on my crew is a guy that I could just leave and I know he's gonna take care of it.
This is all brand-new? Pretty much half of it's brand-new.
I guess people were complaining about how raunchy these bathrooms were, and so when the Ricketts came here, they changed the floors around to make it look more modern.
Does that make it easier to clean? Uh, no.
Actually, it makes it harder.
Oh, yeah? We got a broom for that too.
You don't have to touch that with your hand.
The Ricketts family cannot count on Mark to take these bathrooms to the next level.
You want to take this mop and you're gonna slop mop this, but you gotta do it real quick.
We're gonna move you to the next bathroom after this.
I'll be back in five minutes.
Okay.
You know what? Instead of me just keep running back, what's yr r ll phone number? My cell phone? What's that about? You know, I could just call you and ask you where you're at, when I need to shoot you over to the next spot, shift to go somewhere else.
There's no radios and no communication.
No radios whatsoever.
I was super surprised to see that these guys were using their personal cell phones to communicate to each other within the ballpark, and that's something that we need to address.
[Cell phone rings.]
Mark here.
Mark? Give it a quick rinse-down.
Then I got to show you the final stage, which is squeegeeing.
Yep.
All right, you ready for the final stage? Okay.
Isiss a a ry fast process, so it's like this.
Okay.
Just gonna keep moving, 'cause if you don't, all this water's gonna roll back.
Real quick, before it rolls to the next bathroom.
Out, back, real fast.
Quicker.
You gotta go a little faster than that.
Normally, on a normal day, this guy would be broken.
You all right? Yep.
Just wiping off the sweat.
'Cause he felt a little timid and laid-back.
Not ready to, like, jump in and just take over.
We call it tiptoeing.
Is it break time yet? Break's in about 15 minutes.
Okay.
Ah, major puddle.
This has to go.
All right.
Out.
Oh, you broke the squeegee.
I broke the squeegee.
Oh! You know what? We'll go to break.
Okay.
Fresh meat for the grinder.
Fresh meat.
Okay, the washroom is up there.
Oh, look at that.
It's a little frenzied over there by the time anybody want to come in and just sit down and watch it all.
Darryl's got you sweating, huh? Yeah, that's right.
I got a pretty good sweat going here.
The locker room, it's definitely a cramped space.
We made a lot of improvements to the ballpark in the off-season.
One place that we have not made improvements to is the crew clubhouse.
It's a and, you know, everywhere you look, there's something that needs to be fixed up.
Hey, so, uh, where are you from, man? I live in New Jersey right now.
Jersey.
You know, I replied to an ad about, you know, "unemployed? Like baseball?" And now I'm cleaning bathrooms with you guys.
[Laughs.]
So you sent you to the meat grinder, huh? Yeah, that's right.
How long have you been here? I've been here 24 years in the bathrooms.
You know, I work on the scoreboard during the games.
Beat working in washrooms.
Right.
I get frustrated sometimes.
You know, angelique is probably the only one that's really motivang me to keep doing what I'm doing today.
Angelique, that's my daughter.
She's eight.
Oh, okay, okay.
Swim goddess, man.
I was amazed at how good she swam at seven years old, man.
And when I get really frustrated, I just think about angelique and the water.
That motivates me to move from that bathroom we started at all the way to this one before a break.
Right, right.
The story of his daughter was very similar to my daughter's story.
They're both eight years old, and they both swim competitively, and, uh, it was just kind of, it was cute and it was touching.
So what does she do during the summer when you're here? That'snother thing, because being here so much all summer, you miss-- you miss the whole summer.
You miss your kids.
So anyways, you know, they were suggesting about, why can't we bring our families up here? Where everybody's families can meet everybody.
That'd be--that's--that was one of my ideas, but that's in a suggestion box that's about that little.
[Laughs.]
But is there, like, an official, like, suggestion box for people, like-- no.
We have no suggestion box.
Darryl is exactly the kind of person that I wanted to go undercover to meet, because he's been here for a long time.
As new owners, it's gonna be key for us to tap into the experience and the knowledge of all the people like Darryl.
Ready? Yeah, I'm ready for round two.
After break, we've got three hours of straight stocking Okay.
I'll tell you what.
While you ride that, I'm gonna drop this stuff off, you know and, um, all you gotta do is wheel it.
Oh! I'm sitting here smiling to keep from crying, knowing how much damage he did.
You got it? Mark is not washroom ready for wrigley.
Probably do good outside or on the field.
Something less stressful.
Oh! Oh! You gotta be-- all right, man, this is it.
Man, I'm gonna have to let you go.
You know, I don't think this is, you know, right for you.
All right.
I know you gave it your best, man, but you're slowing me down, man.
Slowing you down too much? Yeah.
It was nice working with you.
Maybe just, maybe, I'm just saying, you know, it's not for you, man.
It's not for me.
It's not the job-- no, no, man.
I had to let Mark go.
He is not right for this job.
I gotta go back and clean up every mistake he made.
I feel bad about making a mess here.
It's all right.
It's a mess all the way from the beginning.
Instead of helpi, he hindered.
And he wouldn't work out.
Not in this business.
Well, thanks anyway, man.
Thanks for showing me around, and I have an appreciation for all the hard work you guys do.
All right.
Take care of yourself.
All right.
You know, it might be the first time I've ever been fired, so I'm hoping to rebound and make it up.
This isn't the place for me.
I can acknowledge that.
It's a tough job.
I'm glad I don't have to do it to feed my family, and I really respect those guys who do.
Announcer: Coming up, the boss gets caught red-handed.
Did you throw hot dogs in the garbage can? No.
Those aren't yours? Announcer: And later Todd runs into someone from his past.
Announcer: Todd Ricketts, co-owner of the Chicago Cubs, is a boss undercover.
His employees think he's an out-of-work roofer looking for a new line of work.
His journey continues in Wrigley Field.
Today, I'm really looking forward for a chance to redeem myself.
Getting fired from cleaning up the bathrooms definitely is a motivator to make sure I do a better job on the other tasks.
It's really important that I represent the family well.
Today, I'm gonna be working at wrigley as a hot dog vendor.
I hope I don't screw up because I don't think you can be a timid personality to do this job.
I always kind of considered myself a little bit of a timid personality, so we'll see how that'll work out.
Hi.
Rocco? Yes.
Rocco.
Hi, I'm Mark.
How you doing? Oh, nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
I have, uh, your uniform's in back.
Thanks.
I'm gonna be getting into the concession side of the business, which is a major source of revenue for the team.
We sell about I want to get in there and see if there's anything we can do to increase sales, and at the same time, improve the fan experience.
This is how you do it.
All right.
You grab your box.
Hi.
Dogs in there.
[Indistinct.]
Thank you, babe.
You've got your ketchup, mustard.
You've got your hot dogs here.
It's hot.
The box is hot.
You got your money.
Now, is that your own money? Yeah.
I mean, are you buying these hot dogs from these guys and then you're going out and selling them? Exactly.
All right.
We just hook it up.
Annow we're ready to go.
All right, let's go.
I want to hear, you know, "hot dogs.
" Let people know you're here.
So what do you say? You just say, "hot hot dogs?" Is that what you said? "Hot dogs," yes.
You gotta be-- gotta be aggressive, though.
Okay.
Hot dogs! Hot dogs! You guys need any hot dogs over here? No? Hot dogs! Hot dogs! Anybody need a hot dog? Go on down there.
Go on down there? Yeah.
Go ahead.
Don't be shy.
Okay.
Hot dogs! Hot dogs! Keep moving.
We'll keep moving till we sell one.
If they don'wawantne, they don't want one.
Do you ever get to sit down during the game? Well, you know what? When you work on commission Uh-huh.
If you-- you could take a break, but then you're not gonna get paid.
Right.
So do you think you could do this job every day? I don't know yet.
My--you know, I have to be honest with you.
My shoulder's a little sore already, and I haven't even sold a hot dog.
You need, like, a pad on this strap.
That's funny.
I don't believe that Mark's ever done work like this before.
It's a hard job, and he doesn't look very athletic to me.
I know you're gonna be sorry after today.
I know you're I remember my first day, My first day, I couldn't walk, you know? I was 16 years old.
My dad was the boss, and my family's been in this business forever.
That's what makes it fun for me.
My cousins did it.
My sister, my brother.
Okay.
But everybody's done.
I'm the only one left.
Oh, yeah? It's pretty interesting that Rocco's family, pretty much all of them have worked here at one time or another, and he's been here since he was 16.
This is his 28th year.
The fans are coming in.
Get back to work and we'll go from there.
Hot dogs, hot dogs! Hot dogs! Hot dogs! Who needs a hot dog? You need one? Just one? Hi, can you hand that up to her? Hot dogs! Just make sure you tell how much it is.
$4.
50.
That's $4.
50.
Rocco has just the right personality to be out there.
He has that aggressive voice to start yelling to get people's attention.
Who needs a hot dog? Loud, loud, loud! You could be a lot more loud.
Loud.
Louder? And then, like, that kind of soft personality, to, like, you know, connect with fans.
Rocco, yay! Rocco! Hi, shirls.
How are you, honey? Good to see you.
I think rocco is a pretty good coach.
I felt like I picked up the techniques pretty quickly, but to no avail.
So how are we doing? I think poorly.
You're doing poor? We'll, it's 12:00.
You've got a lot of hot dogs to sell.
All right.
Hot dogs! Hot dogs! Hustle, hustle, hustle.
Who needs a hot dog? Get a hot dog? Hot dogs! Yeah.
How many do you need? You want two? Okay.
I'm gonna get myself organized here really quick.
Call out the change.
All right.
This way, they know what they're getting back.
Mark was a little slow.
He was a little shy.
His handling of money was sub-par.
I'm gonna take over.
Okay.
Let's switch this real quick.
I'm gonna show you something.
Hot dogs? One for the birthday boy.
Hot dog? Hot dogs? Mustard, ketchup, relish.
Here's a little-- couple of mustard.
It's $9.
00 for two.
Here you go.
There's $41.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you, sir.
Ready to go back to work? I'm ready to get back to work.
I completely understand why we sell 1.
5 million hot dogs, because we've got guys like rocco hustling up and down the stairs, making sure anybody who needs a hot dog has a hot dog vendor right by him.
This is our busy time right now, for the next hour.
Mark, you're on your own, and I'll check in with you in a little bit.
There's no crying in baseball.
Let's do this.
All right, let's go.
Hot dogs! Hot dogs! Who needs a hot dog? Hot dogs! Hot dogs! You guys need hot dogs? Just one? Yeah, just one.
You ready? Sorry, sorry.
That was my bad.
I'm gonna get fired for that.
Hot dogs! Hot dogs! How are we looking? I've got four hot dogs left.
Okay.
See if you can get rid of them, okay? Hot dogs! Hot dogs! Who needs a hot dog? Hot dogs! Hot dogs! It's slow going.
I don't know if I was frustrated or not, but I had four hot dogs left.
I was supposed to go back with an empty box, so I took $20 out of my own pocket, I put it into the money, I took the four hot dogs and chucked them.
Not good.
Mark, did you throw hot dogs in the garbage can? No.
These aren't from you? No, uh-uh.
No.
I don't know if these were here.
You said you didn't do it? No.
He didn't believe me at all.
He was very upset with me.
You never do that.
I didn't.
You didn't do it? You didn't throw those out? No.
Where'd these come from? I don't know.
I don't know what to say.
Uh, I don't know.
It was kind of disappointing.
You have to bring back whatever you don't sell, so that's $18 right there that will--it's gonna come out of myocket.
We're not short in cash, though.
I sold my whole case.
The reality is, I bought 'em, so nobody lost any money on that trade, and he even got a $2.
00 tip.
Okay, so I'm gonna go back.
You want me to carry it or you got it? I got it.
I think he just wanted to make himself look better that he sold all of the hot dogs.
He said he didn't do it, so I really don't know.
Here's $207.
00.
That's basically how it works.
Okay, good.
All right.
Do we have anything else to do today, or now what? Oh, I'm gonna go have a beer right now.
Oh, yeah? The end of the day with rocco was a bit of a low moment.
I put some pressure on myself.
I took a little money out of my pocket.
I bought a few hot dogs myself just to make sure I went back with an empty tin.
So as we go forward, uh, I'm gonna have to think about, you know, basically, how can I pull from my experiences with rocco and Darryl in order to do the best job possible.
Any time you go to a sporting event, you have to deal with parking.
And what's unique with--in our situation is that we're not in a downtown area surrounded by commercial buildings, and we're not in a distant suburb, surrounded by a sea of parking lots.
Traffic and congestion and parking are things that always come up.
I'm looking for Jose.
Is he around? That'd be me.
That's you? How are you? Okay.
Hey, I'm Mark.
Mark? Nice to meet you.
How you doing? Today I'm gonna spend the day working in the lots to get a feel for how that works and to see if there's anything we can do to improve things around here.
You cannot have anyone blocked in.
'Cause everybody takes their keys with them.
Everybody parks themselves.
Should I get this one? Yeah, just grab it.
Thihiway? No, put 'em over here.
Can you bring it around and park it facing into this Honda? I'll be back in a few minutes.
Okay.
Watch her door.
Watch her door.
Come on.
Right there.
What happened? I let a little of these-- couple cars get off-line.
Yeah, they are.
Yeah, I noticed as I stepped backward and I started--I was moving at an angle, not straight.
I think they can get out, but that's too tight.
When we started off, I thought I was doing really great.
I'm like, let the cars just pull themselves in.
But then, as we looked at my line, it was crooked.
I tried to correct it, but then people don't listen to you.
Mark, you gotta guide 'em back too, man.
Oh, okay.
I don't think I ever really got it down.
E her for a little while to be able to get all the cars put in a straight line so you can maximize the number of cars you can fit in the lot.
That's good.
So is that the right distance there? About eight inches? That's fine.
I'gonna put you right here, next to this Toyota.
That's good.
How's that look? It looks good.
Not too bad, huh? A college roommate of mine parked his car and got out and said, "hey, Todd.
" I tried to be, like, shoo him away a little bit.
I was a bit panicked.
My cover was completely blown.
A college roommate of mine parked his car and got out and said, "hey, Todd.
" I was a bit panicked.
Like, I didn't know if I should, like, stop doing what I was doing.
Hey, what's going on, man? So we're shooting an episode of Undercover Boss.
Oh! Watch your door, please.
You have to keep it a secret.
All right, man.
Take it easy, Todd.
Thank you.
Yeah, I'll see you later.
Hopefully nobody really noticed, even though he did say that right in front of Jose, but I think Jose was more concerned about getting cars in the lot at that moment than listening to what this guy was trying to say to me.
So I think we got out of there okay.
Hey, Mark.
Yeah.
Dude, you disappeared at the wrong time.
Oh, sorry, man.
You can't just disappear.
Sorry.
Mark disappearing is a big strike.
People have gotten sent home for doing that kind of thing.
I had no one flagging the cars, so I had to do it all by myself.
I'm back now.
Where do you want me to go? The cars are pretty much done coming in.
We can take a break now.
I mean, I've been working on stuff.
I need it.
I need a drink of water.
I'll just get by.
Yeah, sorry.
It's a small--small space.
Yeah, it is a small space.
After observing Mark, on a scale of one to ten, I'd give him a six.
He did do some things right, but at one point, Mark disappeared, and he did make one row too tight.
They're probably gonna have a difficult time trying to get their cars out.
This is where you hang out? Yeah.
It's pretty spacious.
It's palatial.
We used to have a whole trailer here.
Oh, really? Yeah.
What happened to that? It wasn't in the budget this year, so we got stuck with this little thing.
I mean, the trailer used to have heating and a air conditioner.
Oh, nice.
Yeah, so I was a little surprised at the working conditions at the green lot.
Apparently there used to be a trailer that was hea dione for, obviously, early season games and, uh, midsummer games, and that's been taken away.
I'll have to look into it to see exactly why that was done.
So what do you do when you're not here? I'm taking a class for bilingual esl.
What's that all about? They're teaching ells, which is English language learners.
I'm an esl student myself.
Oh, really? That's interesting.
Yeah, back to grade school.
I'm only taking one class but, you know, I wish I could have taken two.
I mean, I don't have the money for it right now.
My wife's first language is french.
You know, she spends a great deal of her time making sure our kids are bilingual.
Anything that encourages people to be bilingual, I think, is really good for our society.
So what do you think? Would you have me back? Uh Today I'm going undercover with the grounds crew.
The field at wrigley, it's super important because it's the surface that we play on.
And with stone that sends a ground ball the wrong direction, it might impact the outcome of the game.
So these guys are crucially important in getting all these games played, rain or not.
How's it going? How you doing? You're the new guy, huh? I am.
I'm Mark.
How are you doing? I'm Joe.
Nice to meet you.
Joe, nice to meet you.
Got a lot of rain coming today, so it's gonna be a hectic day.
Picked a good day.
Yeah.
Yeah, real good day.
Yeah, the sun's starting to come up, so you want to get the tarp off as quickly as possible.
Here.
Grab those two handles.
Grab them both.
Pull! Pull straight back.
All right.
Pull! Keep going.
Keep going.
That tarp is a lot heavier than you think.
I was huffing and puffing a little bit.
All right.
Whew! What we're doing now is, we're putting down a nice, fresh coat of turface.
Uh-huh.
Kind of, like, chicken feed it, you know? Okay, I don't know what that means, but I-- you just put your hand in there and just kind of, just, like-- shake it out or do you kind of-- yeah.
Just--just-- just--just--yeah, just with your hand.
Don't leave, like, piles.
Wherever you think that it's bare.
I mean--uh-oh.
You don't want to put too much down.
Now I'll show you how a grounds crew guy does it.
Okay.
If we left the turface the way that Mark put it down, don't think that the players would have been that happy.
I'd say the way that Mark did the chicken feeding would probably be between little league and-- and, like, minor leagues.
So now we're gonna drag the infield.
Okay.
Right up along the edge.
Throw it out.
Just grab it by both ends right here.
Just walk backwards.
How's it going over here? I think it's going pretty good.
You missed a spot right here.
Missed a spot right there? Yeah, I see that.
In the Major Leagues, every little detail counts, you know? Yeah, that's right.
You gotta have it perfect.
Attaboy, atta way.
Okay.
Better than putting it in the grass.
You're a pro.
Beautiful.
Thanks.
It's actually pretty fun to get down on the field and working with the grounds crew.
Oops! I just ruined everything we just did.
It has a special feel.
It's a beautiful place.
I enjoy being outside, and I love doing a little heavy lifting every now and again.
We've got a really committed group that really cares about the field.
We try to pick the guys we think are gonna fit in, you know, 'cause we're like a team too, believe it or not.
Everyone gets along.
Everyone's laughing.
We see each other more than our families half the time.
Yeah, that's right.
They have a lot of fun with what they do, and it's pretty fun to be around 'em.
Sine you're the new guy, yoyou t to lift it up.
Oh! Oh! Yeah.
Have fun.
[Laughter.]
So what are we gonna do today for lunch? We can do whatever you want.
I mean, we've got a bunch of food places over here.
I think that this might be my last year out here.
Oh, really? I didn't go to school and pay all this money to sit out here and, you know, work 60-something hours a week.
And I kind of look to myself to go out there and see what I have coming to me.
Uh-huh.
I had a job interview not too long ago, but that job, I just didn't really didn't like that much.
What'd you get your degree in? I got my dreree business management.
Mm-hmm.
I just graduated in june.
It took a little longer than expected, but when I work here, I can't really take that many classes, so-- so you were saying you had a job interview.
I don't think that that job was for me.
Ideally, I'd like to be working in the front office for the Cubs somewhere.
Uh-huh.
That's a perfect scenario.
Mm-hmm.
I feel like I can bring something different to the front office that they haven't seen because they never really had a guy from the grounds crew from up there.
Well, how do you do that? Start low and work my way up.
Uh-huh.
Just-- just like I did here.
Yeah.
It was interesting hang oe and see that, even though he's been here for a while, that he's looking on for bigger and better things for himself that's more of a 9:00 to 5:00 kind of job and not an 81-game-a-year sort of job.
My undercover journey is almost done, but I'm still a little embarrassed about being fired from the washroom job.
This is it, man.
I'm gonna have to let you go.
This ain't, you know, this ain't the spot for you, man.
Then I remembered, during games, Darryl switches the numbers in the scoreboard here at wrigley.
It was built in 1937.
It's a landmark here in Chicago.
It's one of two manual scoreboards in major league baseball.
I'm gonna see if I can redeem myself by switching numbers properly.
Yo! What's up, man? Yo, what's going on? All right.
I didn't get enough punishment the other day, so I came back for a little more.
How are you doing, man? Good to see you again.
I was shocked to see Mark again.
I didn't think he had the heart to come back again, but I guess he tried it one more time.
Just follow me.
I guess you'll be running the scoreboard for the day.
Darryl, I'm not getting fired again.
You'll walk over here, and you read from right to left.
This is first inning.
First inning.
All right, so-- one, two, three.
There you go.
That's a zero already.
That's right.
Pull it out and flip it around.
It fits right in those slots.
Now press it up against there real tight.
Push down.
Okay, so what am I doing? Crossing that off? Mark seemed like he's one of those kind of guys that pays attention, and he's real excited about the old scoreboard and changing plates, so scoreboard work for Mark would be great.
All right.
First score today.
So is the, uh, is this the best view of the park? This is definitely the best view of the park.
Wow, wt a cool view.
It's a beautiful day.
Yep.
I feel like I've seen, with you, the worst and best jobs at this place.
Oh, okay.
That's right.
The washrooms are rough, man.
I felt, you know, real bad about that.
Bumags, n.
I like to pride myself on thinking that I could do any job, but that's not true.
[Laughs.]
Yeah.
Have we already got something going on here? Take me out to the ballgame I got to live the dream of every cub fan to get in there and actually change the numbers by hand.
Improvements that we contemplate making-- this one, absolutely nothing is going to change.
It's perfect.
[Crowd singing.]
One of the main things I wanted to do today was redeem myself with Darryl, uh, and I think I did it.
At the old ballgame [cheering.]
One strike away.
That's an out! [Cheering.]
That's it.
Ready? Okay.
Pull down.
Best of all, we got to raise the "w" flag because the cuon.
You know, I've worked really hard the last couple of days.
It hasn't gone exactly how I thought it would.
I got fired, I tossed some perfectly good hot dogs in the garbage, but I have to say, overall, lot I tossed some perfectly good hot dogs in the garbage, about the trade-offs and the sacrifices that people make to be part o this experience.
[Groans.]
That's more like it.
They miss their families all summer, and I think that's what kind of contributes to this idea that they all kind of talk about being part of a family here at wrigley.
It makes me more proud to be associated with this organization, and I really can't wait to share my findings with my siblings so we can kind of apply them and move closer to a championship season.
Announcer: Coming up, Todd summons his employees to Wrigley Field.
I don't think I would work with Mark again.
Announcer: How will they react when he reveals his true identity? I'm Todd Ricketts, one of the owners of the Chicago Cubs.
my journey has finally come to an end, and I can't wait to shave this beard and get back to normal.
I'm ready to get back and meet with my siblings and talk about everything that I've taken away from this last week.
Hey, guys, how are you doing? Hi, Todd.
How'd it go? I thinit went really well.
Met a lot of great people who work for us.
Some of them you never see, and they never get that kind of thank you for the jobs they do.
One of the things I thought we could do is to have a family appreciation night.
Oh, okay.
I think that sounds good.
As far as the facilities go, the things that jumped out at me, working on the washrooms.
These guys, when they're in different bathrooms, they communicate using their cell phones.
They don't have any radios or anything.
Just their personal cell phones? Yeah, they use their personal cell phones to call each other.
Maybe we could give those guys radios so they can communicate much more efficiently.
The crew locker room, they're really old.
That's something that I would really like to update.
Yeah.
That's easy.
The parking lots, they used to have a trailer where they could stay warm in the spring and it was air conditioned so they could stay cool in the summer.
It was taken away.
I suggest that we put it back.
On a personal note, I was thinking that we would get suggestion boxes, put them in a place that associates gather before work.
We could collect them once a week and review 'em.
That's a great idea.
That's sort of at the heart of this whole experiment.
Why we're doing it, yeah I think we're in that's sort of at the heart of this a good spot,ment.
And there's a lot of work left to do.
My associates are on their way to Wrigley Field right now.
They think they're coming to evaluate Mark Dawson, but actually I'm excited to tell them my true identity.
If he's there, it's gonna be hard for me to give my evaluation on Mark.
I don't think I would work with Mark again.
How are you doing today? Oh, how are you doing? All right, right.
I'm Todd Ricketts.
I'm one of the owners of the Chicago Cubs.
[Laughs.]
[Laughs.]
Ooh.
And I was Mark Dawson.
Oh! You're Mark Dawson? I'm Mark Dawson.
[Laughs.]
Oh, great.
I just want to know if I still have my job.
[Both laugh.]
We've done this show.
Right.
It's Undercover Boss.
Really? Yeah.
Whoa, this is crazy.
I can't believe that I'm gon be on Undercover Boss.
Yeah.
Rocco, I have something else to come clean about.
I totally threw those hot dogs out.
But I'm gonna be honest with you.
I had $20 in my pocket, so I even gave us a $2.
00 tip on that.
That's funny.
I just wanted to say that I saw how you worked.
I saw how you interacted with the fans.
You've been here for 28 years.
Right.
You've committed yourself.
Working with you inspired me to create a new annual award called the Wrigley Field award, and you're gonna be the first recipient of that award.
We're gonna have a plaque that'll have you name on it.
The caputo name will be forever engraved at Wrigley Field.
You know, that's an honor.
It really is.
My dad's up there, and I'm sure he's so happy for me right now.
Yeah, yeah.
We're gonna put you in row "a" for the last game of the season.
We're gonna have you throw out the first pitch.
You're gonna have four seats there, so you can bring some friends.
Great, great.
And a $1,000 cash award.
You know, I'm so honored.
I honestly thank you.
Yeah, yeah.
Today is a great day for me.
Did I earn it? Yes, I did.
But I am so happy right now.
Joe, I have to say, you're very conscientious about your job.
You really seem to love being out there on the field with those guys.
I do.
You've been here five years.
Yeah.
You're ready for that next step to, like, move forward in your career, so I would just like to offer you an opportunity to come work in our marketing department as a paid internship for this off-season.
Whoa.
Do you think you'd be willing to do that? Absolutely.
Thank you so much.
Oh, my God.
This is incredible.
I mean, here I am, hopefully gonna start a career.
I can't believe that this is happening.
My dream has always been to work for the Cubs it's just surreal.
Jose, your commitment and passion towards teaching and esl kids is--it's touching.
Oh, well, thank you.
So one of the things that I wanted to do is just finish paying for your esl classes.
Wow.
So you can accelerate and get on to doing your job.
Oh, wow.
That's awesome.
[Laughs.]
Thank you so much.
I'd like to personally write you a letter orecommendation, wherever you're applying for a job.
Oh, wow.
You know, with the Cubs letterhead, saying, "Jose's been here for nine years.
We know he's a dynamite guy, and you should hire him.
" It sounds terrific, honestly, because right now, I'll be honest with you, I wasn't thinking of coming back next year because this isn't, like, the best, you know, financial situation for me right now, and-- okay.
I want to be honest with you.
I'm trying to help you not come back.
[Laughs.]
That's what I want to do.
I want to get you into a permanent job, teaching with esl kids.
Oh, you know, that would-- that would be great.
Thank you very much.
I'm very happy.
I didn't expect it.
Honestly, I was trying to find a way to, like, to pay for those classes.
You know, I don't know.
I'm kind of at a loss for words right now.
Darryl, raising the "w" flag and sitting up there with you in the scoreboard, those were, like, two of the highlights of--of being associated with, like, the team here.
Thank you for doing that, and, uh, you know, one of the things that I wanted to touch on, 'cause, with you guys on the washroom crew, there's nobody ever here that says, "thank you.
" Right.
So as an owner of the Cubs, I would like to officially say to you and all those guys, thank you for what you do every day.
Thanks, man.
We're gonna have a facilities crew family appreciation day so everybody can come and bring their families for a game.
We're gonna acknowledge you down on the field.
Thank you, sir.
I'm happy.
And, you know, a couple of the other things that we talked about-- your daughter, you talked about how she's a swimmer.
We're gonna have your daughter take some swimming lessons with the head men's swimming coach at northwestern.
He was on the U.
S.
national team, and he's one of the top coaches in the area.
Thank you.
[Exhales.]
Man.
I appreciate that you make sacrifices, coming here every day, and so I wanted to invite you and your family to be my personal guests down in Arizona during spring training for a week this year.
Wow.
Family's important, and we want to let you know that we think your family's important too.
Thank you.
For the first time since I've been working here, it actually feel like somebody care.
I'm too happy.
It's too much joy to try to put in words right now.
[Sniffles.]
The bsiates think they're here for an associate appreciation day from the Ricketts family, but they're really here so I can tell them about my journey undercover with the Cubs.
We have a fun surprise for you today, and to tell you about that, we're gonna introduce my brother Todd.
[Cheers and applause.]
Thanks for coming out today.
I'm Todd Ricketts, and for the last week, I have been undercover, working at the Chicago Cubs.
[Applause.]
When I went undercover, I thought what I would find is that there are some places that we can be more efficient, there's areas of Wrigley Field that need some extra attention.
I found out that I don't know anything, and all the really great ideas to make this place better are all right in front of me.
[Applause.]
What I'd like to do now is, uh, share with you all some of the experiences that I had while undercover.
All you gotta do is wheel it through.
All right, this is it, man.
I'm gonna have to let you go.
You're slowing me down, man.
[Laughter.]
How was that, huh? [Laughter.]
When we purchased the team last year, one of the things that we thought we were gonna be bringing to the team is this idea of a family business.
But the reality is that it already was.
This is the Chicago Cubs family.
[Applause.]
And it's gonna change the way that I think when I walk into Wrigley Field every day.
Instead of just thinking of Laura and Tom and Pete as my family, that we're all one family, and I'm really proud to be part of it.
[Cheers and applause.]
One of the main things that I've learned here is that what we have to do to really improve wrigley is to start to listen to the people who are already here and who have been here for 20 years.
Thanks, man.
I had a lot of fun, and I think I had a great experience, and I got to know some of the people who work here really well.
[Grunts.]
Wrigley Field is special to begin with, and I think it draws special kind of people that just really add to that special feeling.
I'm actually kind of feeling like I'm one of the team and I belong a little bit.
We'll get 'em.
We'll get 'em next time.
When I look at Wrigley Field now, I just think it's more beautiful than ever.
It's really just a fantastic place.
Public distrust of wealthy CEOs remains high.
But more and more bosses are looking for radical ways to reconnect with their workforce in order to find out what's really going on in their companies.
Each week, we follow the boss of a major corporation as they go undercover in their own company.
Chicago Cubs This week, the co-owner of the Chicago Cubs poses as an out-of-work roofer looking for a new line of work.
I'm Mark.
How are you doing? Oh, nice to meet you.
Announcer: This boss will trade in his post-modern home and motorcycle collection Hot dogs! Announcer: For a hot dog box and a mop.
While working on the front line, he'll find out he might not have what it takes for the Major Leagues.
He's got attitude already.
Who needs a hot dog? You could be a lot more loud.
Whoa! Announcer: And he'll discover the unsung heroes that make his business run.
I mean, I don't have the money for it right now.
Being here so much all summer, you miss your kids? Yeah.
Announcer: How will his co-workers react when they find out he's really the boss? And how will it change their lives? One of the things that we thought we were gonna be bringing to the team is this idea of a family business.
Announcer: Find out next on Undercover Boss.
Announcer: The Chicago Cubs are one of America's most beloved sports teams, from Harry Caray to Wrigley Field, the Cubs are steeped in baseball history.
Every year, over three million loyal fans visit Wrigley Field, hoping for a World Championship.
Going undercover is one of the new owners of this storied baseball franchise.
I'm Todd Ricketts, and my family and I recently bought the Chicago Cubs.
First and foremost, the thing that we want to bring here is the world series.
the Cubs won a world series.
We're on a hundred-year-plus drought.
[Cheering.]
Some people actually think the team is cursed.
Reaching into the stands and couldn't get it, and he's livid with the fans.
In 1945, a Cubs fan brought his goat to a world series game, and it was refused entry.
He got upset and he said, "the Cubs are never gonna win the world series.
" There is no curse.
But maybe 30 years from now, you know, when we haven't won, I'll say, "well, you know, the place is cursed.
" Hey, Todd, nice beard.
Yeah.
You like that? Looking good, man.
Sorry I'm late.
I'm the youngest of four siblings.
What we'd like to achieve as a family is bring winning baseball to Wrigley Field.
I think an exercise like this could really help us with our mission to have a championship team not only on the field but off the field.
On a lighter note, I'll give me a chance to do all those jobs that I never got hired for in college.
[Laughter.]
I took two years off, out of high school.
When I didn't go to college, my dad told me I had to get two full-time jobs.
That's the incentive to go to college.
I went to loyola university here in Chicago.
When I was in college, I used to come to games by myself and sit out in the bleachers.
Wrigley Field is something special.
Men started playing here in 1916.
Part of it's the Ivy, it's the bricks.
Whatever it is, it's like going to a picnic with 40,000 of your best friends.
Take me out to the ballgame all: take me out to the crowd in 1975, my dad started td ameritrade.
My father was one of the first people to bring investing to the internet, so our family's company really did not have great success until the late '90s.
So none of us really experienced any of that wealth as children.
Ameritrade went public, and it was about that time that the tribune made some indications that the Cubs were gonna be for sale.
Tom came to the family and said, "I think this would be a really great asset for the family to own.
" No disrespect to Ernie banks, but there's a new Mr.
cub in town.
Tom Ricketts is in charge now as the chairman, with his family assuming control of the franchise.
They paid $845 million r it.
I'd say we were pretty big baseball fans.
More than that, Cubs fans.
I don't think if any other major league team were for sale that we would even be remotely interested.
Wrigley Field is the greatest place on earth.
We want to give them the greatest experience in sports.
Myself and my three siblings are equal partners in the Chicago Cubs, but how I would fit into that specifically, as an executive, it remains to be defined.
The relationships that I have with all my siblings in regards to the Cubs, it's really, really difficult.
I am the youngest and, uh, I pay for that.
There are a fair number of people who work here that I know, so there's a risk of being recognized.
If you're selling beer, one of your friends will see you.
[Laughter.]
Tom is the chairman of the Board of Directors.
He's on tv.
He's the face of the Cubs.
So it didn't make sense for him going undercover.
So I think I'm the logical choice.
All right.
Sounds great.
When you're the youngest sibling, I think you get put into this role of perpetually trying to show your older siblings that you can do whatever they can do, and I think this is a good opportunity for me to show that I can do what they can't do.
Okay, team, I'm gonna be off.
I'll see you in a few days.
Todd is trying to figure out his role with the team, so I think he will learn a lot, and he will find ways to really impact the organization.
Bye.
Bye.
Have fun.
Pete, Tom, and Laura all think this is a really good idea.
We definitely think that going undercover is gonna really help us prioritize the needs of Wrigley Field.
I need to know how things work and how we can make things better, and that's w I'm going undercover.
My cover story will be that I am Mark Dawson, an out-of-work roofer taking part in a reality show where I'm tested to see if I have what it takes to work for the Cubs.
For the course of the week, I'm gonna be staying at one of the rooftops across the street in an apartment right here in the neighborhood, so I can get the full of what it's like to live in wrigley and work here.
All right.
It's gonna be extremely different than what my life is like now.
It's gonna be almost exactly likehwham life was Wrigley is closed today, and an off day at the park means a busy day at the park.
I will be helping clean bathrooms.
I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make sure the facilities are running in the most efficient way possible.
A lot of the bathrooms that we have, they've been here since the stadium was original.
When the stadium was built, it held about Today, we bring about so it puts a little pressure on the facilities.
Are you Darryl? Yep, I'm Darryl.
How are you doing, man? Hey, I'm Mark.
Nice to meet you.
How are you doing? We're gonna be cleaning, pressure washing, stocking a couple bathrooms before the game tomorrow, so-- okay.
We spent a lot of time and effort in the off-season to improve and renovate the bathrooms here.
So today, I'm looking to see if the expansion that we put in is working, but also that we're able to maintain those bathrooms and keep them nice.
Just follow me, and we'll get you set up and started.
It's gonna be a little fast-paced, man.
So the first thing we do is hose everything down.
That's closed d that's opened.
Okay.
Now, you want to kind of aim down.
Aim down? Okay.
Now watch this.
So you won't get the lights wet.
Just work your way back.
You gotta keep moving.
That's a little too much.
Okay, something like that.
Okay.
With your left hand, pull the hose.
If you get it kinked, you gotta twist it.
That's the dangerous part.
Don't let that go.
[Laughs.]
Just turn it off.
The other way.
That's it.
You gotta move a little faster, man.
Okay, I'm trying.
Here we go.
He's got attitude already.
I really hope my siblings appreciate what I'm doing for the team.
This purple detergent right here.
Uh-huh.
This is the degreaser.
This is how we would do it.
Okay.
The walls, sinks.
See how I'm doing that? Yeah.
Just start putting it on the floor.
Oh, so I'm putting it, okay, here, okay.
As you're moving, you're doing two things at one time.
Right.
I feel like I'm working my butt off right now, but, uh, it's not good enough for Darryl.
We gotta do this fast, man.
I feel like I'm moving as fast as I can, and he says, you know, "we gotta move faster, we gotta move faster.
" Keep moving, keep moving, keep moving.
We're gonna shoot over to the next bathroom.
Okay, sounds good.
You gotta have to pick it up a lot faster than at that bathroom there.
Okay.
This is one of the bathrooms people walk in, they say, "wow.
" This is one of the remodeled bathrooms, so what we gotta do is get this one swept out.
All this garbage up.
So as soon as you finish that, you're gonna jump on something else.
Okay, good.
I'll be right back.
Where's my guy at? You still here? I'm right here.
All right, man.
These bathrooms haven't been swept out at all.
The type of guy I need on my crew is a guy that I could just leave and I know he's gonna take care of it.
This is all brand-new? Pretty much half of it's brand-new.
I guess people were complaining about how raunchy these bathrooms were, and so when the Ricketts came here, they changed the floors around to make it look more modern.
Does that make it easier to clean? Uh, no.
Actually, it makes it harder.
Oh, yeah? We got a broom for that too.
You don't have to touch that with your hand.
The Ricketts family cannot count on Mark to take these bathrooms to the next level.
You want to take this mop and you're gonna slop mop this, but you gotta do it real quick.
We're gonna move you to the next bathroom after this.
I'll be back in five minutes.
Okay.
You know what? Instead of me just keep running back, what's yr r ll phone number? My cell phone? What's that about? You know, I could just call you and ask you where you're at, when I need to shoot you over to the next spot, shift to go somewhere else.
There's no radios and no communication.
No radios whatsoever.
I was super surprised to see that these guys were using their personal cell phones to communicate to each other within the ballpark, and that's something that we need to address.
[Cell phone rings.]
Mark here.
Mark? Give it a quick rinse-down.
Then I got to show you the final stage, which is squeegeeing.
Yep.
All right, you ready for the final stage? Okay.
Isiss a a ry fast process, so it's like this.
Okay.
Just gonna keep moving, 'cause if you don't, all this water's gonna roll back.
Real quick, before it rolls to the next bathroom.
Out, back, real fast.
Quicker.
You gotta go a little faster than that.
Normally, on a normal day, this guy would be broken.
You all right? Yep.
Just wiping off the sweat.
'Cause he felt a little timid and laid-back.
Not ready to, like, jump in and just take over.
We call it tiptoeing.
Is it break time yet? Break's in about 15 minutes.
Okay.
Ah, major puddle.
This has to go.
All right.
Out.
Oh, you broke the squeegee.
I broke the squeegee.
Oh! You know what? We'll go to break.
Okay.
Fresh meat for the grinder.
Fresh meat.
Okay, the washroom is up there.
Oh, look at that.
It's a little frenzied over there by the time anybody want to come in and just sit down and watch it all.
Darryl's got you sweating, huh? Yeah, that's right.
I got a pretty good sweat going here.
The locker room, it's definitely a cramped space.
We made a lot of improvements to the ballpark in the off-season.
One place that we have not made improvements to is the crew clubhouse.
It's a and, you know, everywhere you look, there's something that needs to be fixed up.
Hey, so, uh, where are you from, man? I live in New Jersey right now.
Jersey.
You know, I replied to an ad about, you know, "unemployed? Like baseball?" And now I'm cleaning bathrooms with you guys.
[Laughs.]
So you sent you to the meat grinder, huh? Yeah, that's right.
How long have you been here? I've been here 24 years in the bathrooms.
You know, I work on the scoreboard during the games.
Beat working in washrooms.
Right.
I get frustrated sometimes.
You know, angelique is probably the only one that's really motivang me to keep doing what I'm doing today.
Angelique, that's my daughter.
She's eight.
Oh, okay, okay.
Swim goddess, man.
I was amazed at how good she swam at seven years old, man.
And when I get really frustrated, I just think about angelique and the water.
That motivates me to move from that bathroom we started at all the way to this one before a break.
Right, right.
The story of his daughter was very similar to my daughter's story.
They're both eight years old, and they both swim competitively, and, uh, it was just kind of, it was cute and it was touching.
So what does she do during the summer when you're here? That'snother thing, because being here so much all summer, you miss-- you miss the whole summer.
You miss your kids.
So anyways, you know, they were suggesting about, why can't we bring our families up here? Where everybody's families can meet everybody.
That'd be--that's--that was one of my ideas, but that's in a suggestion box that's about that little.
[Laughs.]
But is there, like, an official, like, suggestion box for people, like-- no.
We have no suggestion box.
Darryl is exactly the kind of person that I wanted to go undercover to meet, because he's been here for a long time.
As new owners, it's gonna be key for us to tap into the experience and the knowledge of all the people like Darryl.
Ready? Yeah, I'm ready for round two.
After break, we've got three hours of straight stocking Okay.
I'll tell you what.
While you ride that, I'm gonna drop this stuff off, you know and, um, all you gotta do is wheel it.
Oh! I'm sitting here smiling to keep from crying, knowing how much damage he did.
You got it? Mark is not washroom ready for wrigley.
Probably do good outside or on the field.
Something less stressful.
Oh! Oh! You gotta be-- all right, man, this is it.
Man, I'm gonna have to let you go.
You know, I don't think this is, you know, right for you.
All right.
I know you gave it your best, man, but you're slowing me down, man.
Slowing you down too much? Yeah.
It was nice working with you.
Maybe just, maybe, I'm just saying, you know, it's not for you, man.
It's not for me.
It's not the job-- no, no, man.
I had to let Mark go.
He is not right for this job.
I gotta go back and clean up every mistake he made.
I feel bad about making a mess here.
It's all right.
It's a mess all the way from the beginning.
Instead of helpi, he hindered.
And he wouldn't work out.
Not in this business.
Well, thanks anyway, man.
Thanks for showing me around, and I have an appreciation for all the hard work you guys do.
All right.
Take care of yourself.
All right.
You know, it might be the first time I've ever been fired, so I'm hoping to rebound and make it up.
This isn't the place for me.
I can acknowledge that.
It's a tough job.
I'm glad I don't have to do it to feed my family, and I really respect those guys who do.
Announcer: Coming up, the boss gets caught red-handed.
Did you throw hot dogs in the garbage can? No.
Those aren't yours? Announcer: And later Todd runs into someone from his past.
Announcer: Todd Ricketts, co-owner of the Chicago Cubs, is a boss undercover.
His employees think he's an out-of-work roofer looking for a new line of work.
His journey continues in Wrigley Field.
Today, I'm really looking forward for a chance to redeem myself.
Getting fired from cleaning up the bathrooms definitely is a motivator to make sure I do a better job on the other tasks.
It's really important that I represent the family well.
Today, I'm gonna be working at wrigley as a hot dog vendor.
I hope I don't screw up because I don't think you can be a timid personality to do this job.
I always kind of considered myself a little bit of a timid personality, so we'll see how that'll work out.
Hi.
Rocco? Yes.
Rocco.
Hi, I'm Mark.
How you doing? Oh, nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
I have, uh, your uniform's in back.
Thanks.
I'm gonna be getting into the concession side of the business, which is a major source of revenue for the team.
We sell about I want to get in there and see if there's anything we can do to increase sales, and at the same time, improve the fan experience.
This is how you do it.
All right.
You grab your box.
Hi.
Dogs in there.
[Indistinct.]
Thank you, babe.
You've got your ketchup, mustard.
You've got your hot dogs here.
It's hot.
The box is hot.
You got your money.
Now, is that your own money? Yeah.
I mean, are you buying these hot dogs from these guys and then you're going out and selling them? Exactly.
All right.
We just hook it up.
Annow we're ready to go.
All right, let's go.
I want to hear, you know, "hot dogs.
" Let people know you're here.
So what do you say? You just say, "hot hot dogs?" Is that what you said? "Hot dogs," yes.
You gotta be-- gotta be aggressive, though.
Okay.
Hot dogs! Hot dogs! You guys need any hot dogs over here? No? Hot dogs! Hot dogs! Anybody need a hot dog? Go on down there.
Go on down there? Yeah.
Go ahead.
Don't be shy.
Okay.
Hot dogs! Hot dogs! Keep moving.
We'll keep moving till we sell one.
If they don'wawantne, they don't want one.
Do you ever get to sit down during the game? Well, you know what? When you work on commission Uh-huh.
If you-- you could take a break, but then you're not gonna get paid.
Right.
So do you think you could do this job every day? I don't know yet.
My--you know, I have to be honest with you.
My shoulder's a little sore already, and I haven't even sold a hot dog.
You need, like, a pad on this strap.
That's funny.
I don't believe that Mark's ever done work like this before.
It's a hard job, and he doesn't look very athletic to me.
I know you're gonna be sorry after today.
I know you're I remember my first day, My first day, I couldn't walk, you know? I was 16 years old.
My dad was the boss, and my family's been in this business forever.
That's what makes it fun for me.
My cousins did it.
My sister, my brother.
Okay.
But everybody's done.
I'm the only one left.
Oh, yeah? It's pretty interesting that Rocco's family, pretty much all of them have worked here at one time or another, and he's been here since he was 16.
This is his 28th year.
The fans are coming in.
Get back to work and we'll go from there.
Hot dogs, hot dogs! Hot dogs! Hot dogs! Who needs a hot dog? You need one? Just one? Hi, can you hand that up to her? Hot dogs! Just make sure you tell how much it is.
$4.
50.
That's $4.
50.
Rocco has just the right personality to be out there.
He has that aggressive voice to start yelling to get people's attention.
Who needs a hot dog? Loud, loud, loud! You could be a lot more loud.
Loud.
Louder? And then, like, that kind of soft personality, to, like, you know, connect with fans.
Rocco, yay! Rocco! Hi, shirls.
How are you, honey? Good to see you.
I think rocco is a pretty good coach.
I felt like I picked up the techniques pretty quickly, but to no avail.
So how are we doing? I think poorly.
You're doing poor? We'll, it's 12:00.
You've got a lot of hot dogs to sell.
All right.
Hot dogs! Hot dogs! Hustle, hustle, hustle.
Who needs a hot dog? Get a hot dog? Hot dogs! Yeah.
How many do you need? You want two? Okay.
I'm gonna get myself organized here really quick.
Call out the change.
All right.
This way, they know what they're getting back.
Mark was a little slow.
He was a little shy.
His handling of money was sub-par.
I'm gonna take over.
Okay.
Let's switch this real quick.
I'm gonna show you something.
Hot dogs? One for the birthday boy.
Hot dog? Hot dogs? Mustard, ketchup, relish.
Here's a little-- couple of mustard.
It's $9.
00 for two.
Here you go.
There's $41.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you, sir.
Ready to go back to work? I'm ready to get back to work.
I completely understand why we sell 1.
5 million hot dogs, because we've got guys like rocco hustling up and down the stairs, making sure anybody who needs a hot dog has a hot dog vendor right by him.
This is our busy time right now, for the next hour.
Mark, you're on your own, and I'll check in with you in a little bit.
There's no crying in baseball.
Let's do this.
All right, let's go.
Hot dogs! Hot dogs! Who needs a hot dog? Hot dogs! Hot dogs! You guys need hot dogs? Just one? Yeah, just one.
You ready? Sorry, sorry.
That was my bad.
I'm gonna get fired for that.
Hot dogs! Hot dogs! How are we looking? I've got four hot dogs left.
Okay.
See if you can get rid of them, okay? Hot dogs! Hot dogs! Who needs a hot dog? Hot dogs! Hot dogs! It's slow going.
I don't know if I was frustrated or not, but I had four hot dogs left.
I was supposed to go back with an empty box, so I took $20 out of my own pocket, I put it into the money, I took the four hot dogs and chucked them.
Not good.
Mark, did you throw hot dogs in the garbage can? No.
These aren't from you? No, uh-uh.
No.
I don't know if these were here.
You said you didn't do it? No.
He didn't believe me at all.
He was very upset with me.
You never do that.
I didn't.
You didn't do it? You didn't throw those out? No.
Where'd these come from? I don't know.
I don't know what to say.
Uh, I don't know.
It was kind of disappointing.
You have to bring back whatever you don't sell, so that's $18 right there that will--it's gonna come out of myocket.
We're not short in cash, though.
I sold my whole case.
The reality is, I bought 'em, so nobody lost any money on that trade, and he even got a $2.
00 tip.
Okay, so I'm gonna go back.
You want me to carry it or you got it? I got it.
I think he just wanted to make himself look better that he sold all of the hot dogs.
He said he didn't do it, so I really don't know.
Here's $207.
00.
That's basically how it works.
Okay, good.
All right.
Do we have anything else to do today, or now what? Oh, I'm gonna go have a beer right now.
Oh, yeah? The end of the day with rocco was a bit of a low moment.
I put some pressure on myself.
I took a little money out of my pocket.
I bought a few hot dogs myself just to make sure I went back with an empty tin.
So as we go forward, uh, I'm gonna have to think about, you know, basically, how can I pull from my experiences with rocco and Darryl in order to do the best job possible.
Any time you go to a sporting event, you have to deal with parking.
And what's unique with--in our situation is that we're not in a downtown area surrounded by commercial buildings, and we're not in a distant suburb, surrounded by a sea of parking lots.
Traffic and congestion and parking are things that always come up.
I'm looking for Jose.
Is he around? That'd be me.
That's you? How are you? Okay.
Hey, I'm Mark.
Mark? Nice to meet you.
How you doing? Today I'm gonna spend the day working in the lots to get a feel for how that works and to see if there's anything we can do to improve things around here.
You cannot have anyone blocked in.
'Cause everybody takes their keys with them.
Everybody parks themselves.
Should I get this one? Yeah, just grab it.
Thihiway? No, put 'em over here.
Can you bring it around and park it facing into this Honda? I'll be back in a few minutes.
Okay.
Watch her door.
Watch her door.
Come on.
Right there.
What happened? I let a little of these-- couple cars get off-line.
Yeah, they are.
Yeah, I noticed as I stepped backward and I started--I was moving at an angle, not straight.
I think they can get out, but that's too tight.
When we started off, I thought I was doing really great.
I'm like, let the cars just pull themselves in.
But then, as we looked at my line, it was crooked.
I tried to correct it, but then people don't listen to you.
Mark, you gotta guide 'em back too, man.
Oh, okay.
I don't think I ever really got it down.
E her for a little while to be able to get all the cars put in a straight line so you can maximize the number of cars you can fit in the lot.
That's good.
So is that the right distance there? About eight inches? That's fine.
I'gonna put you right here, next to this Toyota.
That's good.
How's that look? It looks good.
Not too bad, huh? A college roommate of mine parked his car and got out and said, "hey, Todd.
" I tried to be, like, shoo him away a little bit.
I was a bit panicked.
My cover was completely blown.
A college roommate of mine parked his car and got out and said, "hey, Todd.
" I was a bit panicked.
Like, I didn't know if I should, like, stop doing what I was doing.
Hey, what's going on, man? So we're shooting an episode of Undercover Boss.
Oh! Watch your door, please.
You have to keep it a secret.
All right, man.
Take it easy, Todd.
Thank you.
Yeah, I'll see you later.
Hopefully nobody really noticed, even though he did say that right in front of Jose, but I think Jose was more concerned about getting cars in the lot at that moment than listening to what this guy was trying to say to me.
So I think we got out of there okay.
Hey, Mark.
Yeah.
Dude, you disappeared at the wrong time.
Oh, sorry, man.
You can't just disappear.
Sorry.
Mark disappearing is a big strike.
People have gotten sent home for doing that kind of thing.
I had no one flagging the cars, so I had to do it all by myself.
I'm back now.
Where do you want me to go? The cars are pretty much done coming in.
We can take a break now.
I mean, I've been working on stuff.
I need it.
I need a drink of water.
I'll just get by.
Yeah, sorry.
It's a small--small space.
Yeah, it is a small space.
After observing Mark, on a scale of one to ten, I'd give him a six.
He did do some things right, but at one point, Mark disappeared, and he did make one row too tight.
They're probably gonna have a difficult time trying to get their cars out.
This is where you hang out? Yeah.
It's pretty spacious.
It's palatial.
We used to have a whole trailer here.
Oh, really? Yeah.
What happened to that? It wasn't in the budget this year, so we got stuck with this little thing.
I mean, the trailer used to have heating and a air conditioner.
Oh, nice.
Yeah, so I was a little surprised at the working conditions at the green lot.
Apparently there used to be a trailer that was hea dione for, obviously, early season games and, uh, midsummer games, and that's been taken away.
I'll have to look into it to see exactly why that was done.
So what do you do when you're not here? I'm taking a class for bilingual esl.
What's that all about? They're teaching ells, which is English language learners.
I'm an esl student myself.
Oh, really? That's interesting.
Yeah, back to grade school.
I'm only taking one class but, you know, I wish I could have taken two.
I mean, I don't have the money for it right now.
My wife's first language is french.
You know, she spends a great deal of her time making sure our kids are bilingual.
Anything that encourages people to be bilingual, I think, is really good for our society.
So what do you think? Would you have me back? Uh Today I'm going undercover with the grounds crew.
The field at wrigley, it's super important because it's the surface that we play on.
And with stone that sends a ground ball the wrong direction, it might impact the outcome of the game.
So these guys are crucially important in getting all these games played, rain or not.
How's it going? How you doing? You're the new guy, huh? I am.
I'm Mark.
How are you doing? I'm Joe.
Nice to meet you.
Joe, nice to meet you.
Got a lot of rain coming today, so it's gonna be a hectic day.
Picked a good day.
Yeah.
Yeah, real good day.
Yeah, the sun's starting to come up, so you want to get the tarp off as quickly as possible.
Here.
Grab those two handles.
Grab them both.
Pull! Pull straight back.
All right.
Pull! Keep going.
Keep going.
That tarp is a lot heavier than you think.
I was huffing and puffing a little bit.
All right.
Whew! What we're doing now is, we're putting down a nice, fresh coat of turface.
Uh-huh.
Kind of, like, chicken feed it, you know? Okay, I don't know what that means, but I-- you just put your hand in there and just kind of, just, like-- shake it out or do you kind of-- yeah.
Just--just-- just--just--yeah, just with your hand.
Don't leave, like, piles.
Wherever you think that it's bare.
I mean--uh-oh.
You don't want to put too much down.
Now I'll show you how a grounds crew guy does it.
Okay.
If we left the turface the way that Mark put it down, don't think that the players would have been that happy.
I'd say the way that Mark did the chicken feeding would probably be between little league and-- and, like, minor leagues.
So now we're gonna drag the infield.
Okay.
Right up along the edge.
Throw it out.
Just grab it by both ends right here.
Just walk backwards.
How's it going over here? I think it's going pretty good.
You missed a spot right here.
Missed a spot right there? Yeah, I see that.
In the Major Leagues, every little detail counts, you know? Yeah, that's right.
You gotta have it perfect.
Attaboy, atta way.
Okay.
Better than putting it in the grass.
You're a pro.
Beautiful.
Thanks.
It's actually pretty fun to get down on the field and working with the grounds crew.
Oops! I just ruined everything we just did.
It has a special feel.
It's a beautiful place.
I enjoy being outside, and I love doing a little heavy lifting every now and again.
We've got a really committed group that really cares about the field.
We try to pick the guys we think are gonna fit in, you know, 'cause we're like a team too, believe it or not.
Everyone gets along.
Everyone's laughing.
We see each other more than our families half the time.
Yeah, that's right.
They have a lot of fun with what they do, and it's pretty fun to be around 'em.
Sine you're the new guy, yoyou t to lift it up.
Oh! Oh! Yeah.
Have fun.
[Laughter.]
So what are we gonna do today for lunch? We can do whatever you want.
I mean, we've got a bunch of food places over here.
I think that this might be my last year out here.
Oh, really? I didn't go to school and pay all this money to sit out here and, you know, work 60-something hours a week.
And I kind of look to myself to go out there and see what I have coming to me.
Uh-huh.
I had a job interview not too long ago, but that job, I just didn't really didn't like that much.
What'd you get your degree in? I got my dreree business management.
Mm-hmm.
I just graduated in june.
It took a little longer than expected, but when I work here, I can't really take that many classes, so-- so you were saying you had a job interview.
I don't think that that job was for me.
Ideally, I'd like to be working in the front office for the Cubs somewhere.
Uh-huh.
That's a perfect scenario.
Mm-hmm.
I feel like I can bring something different to the front office that they haven't seen because they never really had a guy from the grounds crew from up there.
Well, how do you do that? Start low and work my way up.
Uh-huh.
Just-- just like I did here.
Yeah.
It was interesting hang oe and see that, even though he's been here for a while, that he's looking on for bigger and better things for himself that's more of a 9:00 to 5:00 kind of job and not an 81-game-a-year sort of job.
My undercover journey is almost done, but I'm still a little embarrassed about being fired from the washroom job.
This is it, man.
I'm gonna have to let you go.
This ain't, you know, this ain't the spot for you, man.
Then I remembered, during games, Darryl switches the numbers in the scoreboard here at wrigley.
It was built in 1937.
It's a landmark here in Chicago.
It's one of two manual scoreboards in major league baseball.
I'm gonna see if I can redeem myself by switching numbers properly.
Yo! What's up, man? Yo, what's going on? All right.
I didn't get enough punishment the other day, so I came back for a little more.
How are you doing, man? Good to see you again.
I was shocked to see Mark again.
I didn't think he had the heart to come back again, but I guess he tried it one more time.
Just follow me.
I guess you'll be running the scoreboard for the day.
Darryl, I'm not getting fired again.
You'll walk over here, and you read from right to left.
This is first inning.
First inning.
All right, so-- one, two, three.
There you go.
That's a zero already.
That's right.
Pull it out and flip it around.
It fits right in those slots.
Now press it up against there real tight.
Push down.
Okay, so what am I doing? Crossing that off? Mark seemed like he's one of those kind of guys that pays attention, and he's real excited about the old scoreboard and changing plates, so scoreboard work for Mark would be great.
All right.
First score today.
So is the, uh, is this the best view of the park? This is definitely the best view of the park.
Wow, wt a cool view.
It's a beautiful day.
Yep.
I feel like I've seen, with you, the worst and best jobs at this place.
Oh, okay.
That's right.
The washrooms are rough, man.
I felt, you know, real bad about that.
Bumags, n.
I like to pride myself on thinking that I could do any job, but that's not true.
[Laughs.]
Yeah.
Have we already got something going on here? Take me out to the ballgame I got to live the dream of every cub fan to get in there and actually change the numbers by hand.
Improvements that we contemplate making-- this one, absolutely nothing is going to change.
It's perfect.
[Crowd singing.]
One of the main things I wanted to do today was redeem myself with Darryl, uh, and I think I did it.
At the old ballgame [cheering.]
One strike away.
That's an out! [Cheering.]
That's it.
Ready? Okay.
Pull down.
Best of all, we got to raise the "w" flag because the cuon.
You know, I've worked really hard the last couple of days.
It hasn't gone exactly how I thought it would.
I got fired, I tossed some perfectly good hot dogs in the garbage, but I have to say, overall, lot I tossed some perfectly good hot dogs in the garbage, about the trade-offs and the sacrifices that people make to be part o this experience.
[Groans.]
That's more like it.
They miss their families all summer, and I think that's what kind of contributes to this idea that they all kind of talk about being part of a family here at wrigley.
It makes me more proud to be associated with this organization, and I really can't wait to share my findings with my siblings so we can kind of apply them and move closer to a championship season.
Announcer: Coming up, Todd summons his employees to Wrigley Field.
I don't think I would work with Mark again.
Announcer: How will they react when he reveals his true identity? I'm Todd Ricketts, one of the owners of the Chicago Cubs.
my journey has finally come to an end, and I can't wait to shave this beard and get back to normal.
I'm ready to get back and meet with my siblings and talk about everything that I've taken away from this last week.
Hey, guys, how are you doing? Hi, Todd.
How'd it go? I thinit went really well.
Met a lot of great people who work for us.
Some of them you never see, and they never get that kind of thank you for the jobs they do.
One of the things I thought we could do is to have a family appreciation night.
Oh, okay.
I think that sounds good.
As far as the facilities go, the things that jumped out at me, working on the washrooms.
These guys, when they're in different bathrooms, they communicate using their cell phones.
They don't have any radios or anything.
Just their personal cell phones? Yeah, they use their personal cell phones to call each other.
Maybe we could give those guys radios so they can communicate much more efficiently.
The crew locker room, they're really old.
That's something that I would really like to update.
Yeah.
That's easy.
The parking lots, they used to have a trailer where they could stay warm in the spring and it was air conditioned so they could stay cool in the summer.
It was taken away.
I suggest that we put it back.
On a personal note, I was thinking that we would get suggestion boxes, put them in a place that associates gather before work.
We could collect them once a week and review 'em.
That's a great idea.
That's sort of at the heart of this whole experiment.
Why we're doing it, yeah I think we're in that's sort of at the heart of this a good spot,ment.
And there's a lot of work left to do.
My associates are on their way to Wrigley Field right now.
They think they're coming to evaluate Mark Dawson, but actually I'm excited to tell them my true identity.
If he's there, it's gonna be hard for me to give my evaluation on Mark.
I don't think I would work with Mark again.
How are you doing today? Oh, how are you doing? All right, right.
I'm Todd Ricketts.
I'm one of the owners of the Chicago Cubs.
[Laughs.]
[Laughs.]
Ooh.
And I was Mark Dawson.
Oh! You're Mark Dawson? I'm Mark Dawson.
[Laughs.]
Oh, great.
I just want to know if I still have my job.
[Both laugh.]
We've done this show.
Right.
It's Undercover Boss.
Really? Yeah.
Whoa, this is crazy.
I can't believe that I'm gon be on Undercover Boss.
Yeah.
Rocco, I have something else to come clean about.
I totally threw those hot dogs out.
But I'm gonna be honest with you.
I had $20 in my pocket, so I even gave us a $2.
00 tip on that.
That's funny.
I just wanted to say that I saw how you worked.
I saw how you interacted with the fans.
You've been here for 28 years.
Right.
You've committed yourself.
Working with you inspired me to create a new annual award called the Wrigley Field award, and you're gonna be the first recipient of that award.
We're gonna have a plaque that'll have you name on it.
The caputo name will be forever engraved at Wrigley Field.
You know, that's an honor.
It really is.
My dad's up there, and I'm sure he's so happy for me right now.
Yeah, yeah.
We're gonna put you in row "a" for the last game of the season.
We're gonna have you throw out the first pitch.
You're gonna have four seats there, so you can bring some friends.
Great, great.
And a $1,000 cash award.
You know, I'm so honored.
I honestly thank you.
Yeah, yeah.
Today is a great day for me.
Did I earn it? Yes, I did.
But I am so happy right now.
Joe, I have to say, you're very conscientious about your job.
You really seem to love being out there on the field with those guys.
I do.
You've been here five years.
Yeah.
You're ready for that next step to, like, move forward in your career, so I would just like to offer you an opportunity to come work in our marketing department as a paid internship for this off-season.
Whoa.
Do you think you'd be willing to do that? Absolutely.
Thank you so much.
Oh, my God.
This is incredible.
I mean, here I am, hopefully gonna start a career.
I can't believe that this is happening.
My dream has always been to work for the Cubs it's just surreal.
Jose, your commitment and passion towards teaching and esl kids is--it's touching.
Oh, well, thank you.
So one of the things that I wanted to do is just finish paying for your esl classes.
Wow.
So you can accelerate and get on to doing your job.
Oh, wow.
That's awesome.
[Laughs.]
Thank you so much.
I'd like to personally write you a letter orecommendation, wherever you're applying for a job.
Oh, wow.
You know, with the Cubs letterhead, saying, "Jose's been here for nine years.
We know he's a dynamite guy, and you should hire him.
" It sounds terrific, honestly, because right now, I'll be honest with you, I wasn't thinking of coming back next year because this isn't, like, the best, you know, financial situation for me right now, and-- okay.
I want to be honest with you.
I'm trying to help you not come back.
[Laughs.]
That's what I want to do.
I want to get you into a permanent job, teaching with esl kids.
Oh, you know, that would-- that would be great.
Thank you very much.
I'm very happy.
I didn't expect it.
Honestly, I was trying to find a way to, like, to pay for those classes.
You know, I don't know.
I'm kind of at a loss for words right now.
Darryl, raising the "w" flag and sitting up there with you in the scoreboard, those were, like, two of the highlights of--of being associated with, like, the team here.
Thank you for doing that, and, uh, you know, one of the things that I wanted to touch on, 'cause, with you guys on the washroom crew, there's nobody ever here that says, "thank you.
" Right.
So as an owner of the Cubs, I would like to officially say to you and all those guys, thank you for what you do every day.
Thanks, man.
We're gonna have a facilities crew family appreciation day so everybody can come and bring their families for a game.
We're gonna acknowledge you down on the field.
Thank you, sir.
I'm happy.
And, you know, a couple of the other things that we talked about-- your daughter, you talked about how she's a swimmer.
We're gonna have your daughter take some swimming lessons with the head men's swimming coach at northwestern.
He was on the U.
S.
national team, and he's one of the top coaches in the area.
Thank you.
[Exhales.]
Man.
I appreciate that you make sacrifices, coming here every day, and so I wanted to invite you and your family to be my personal guests down in Arizona during spring training for a week this year.
Wow.
Family's important, and we want to let you know that we think your family's important too.
Thank you.
For the first time since I've been working here, it actually feel like somebody care.
I'm too happy.
It's too much joy to try to put in words right now.
[Sniffles.]
The bsiates think they're here for an associate appreciation day from the Ricketts family, but they're really here so I can tell them about my journey undercover with the Cubs.
We have a fun surprise for you today, and to tell you about that, we're gonna introduce my brother Todd.
[Cheers and applause.]
Thanks for coming out today.
I'm Todd Ricketts, and for the last week, I have been undercover, working at the Chicago Cubs.
[Applause.]
When I went undercover, I thought what I would find is that there are some places that we can be more efficient, there's areas of Wrigley Field that need some extra attention.
I found out that I don't know anything, and all the really great ideas to make this place better are all right in front of me.
[Applause.]
What I'd like to do now is, uh, share with you all some of the experiences that I had while undercover.
All you gotta do is wheel it through.
All right, this is it, man.
I'm gonna have to let you go.
You're slowing me down, man.
[Laughter.]
How was that, huh? [Laughter.]
When we purchased the team last year, one of the things that we thought we were gonna be bringing to the team is this idea of a family business.
But the reality is that it already was.
This is the Chicago Cubs family.
[Applause.]
And it's gonna change the way that I think when I walk into Wrigley Field every day.
Instead of just thinking of Laura and Tom and Pete as my family, that we're all one family, and I'm really proud to be part of it.
[Cheers and applause.]
One of the main things that I've learned here is that what we have to do to really improve wrigley is to start to listen to the people who are already here and who have been here for 20 years.
Thanks, man.
I had a lot of fun, and I think I had a great experience, and I got to know some of the people who work here really well.
[Grunts.]
Wrigley Field is special to begin with, and I think it draws special kind of people that just really add to that special feeling.
I'm actually kind of feeling like I'm one of the team and I belong a little bit.
We'll get 'em.
We'll get 'em next time.
When I look at Wrigley Field now, I just think it's more beautiful than ever.
It's really just a fantastic place.