Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts: ‘You can’t buy a championship team in baseball’

Cubs Hall of Famers Billy Williams, Ryne Sandberg, and Andre Dawson watch Jose Cardenal throw a ceremonial first pitch before the game Saturday. (Quinn Harris/Getty Images)

In building the “next great Cubs team,” chairman Tom Ricketts appears all-in on the rebuild mission with many major-league auditions and minor-league talent being stockpiled for the second consecutive season.

“You can’t buy a championship team in baseball,” Ricketts told reporters Saturday after the induction of former outfielder Jose Cardenal, venerable announcer Pat Hughes and the late Buck O’Neil into the Cubs’ Hall of Fame. “You have to build it. That’s what we’re doing.”