David Ross accepted a spanking-new Cubs cap from team president Theo Epstein, located its rightful home atop his dome and grinned broadly.
“It feels good to put [this] back on,” he said.
There’s no taking it off now.
After the formality of Monday’s official introduction of, and press conference with, the 55th manager in Cubs history, Ross, 42, is locked into the task — as Epstein put it, the “personal mission” — of transforming the culture and environment at the major league level.
The mere fate of one of baseball’s blue-blood franchises now hinges on a first-time manager’s reputed next-level people skills.