CHICAGO — It's a ball that could have fetched untold riches — the ball from the final out from the 7th game of the 2016 World Series.
It's in the hands of Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts, now.
The main face of ownership of the team was given the ball Friday at the rally in Chicago to celebrate the team's world championship by Anthony Rizzo. The two hugged.
Rizzo credited Ricketts, whose family bought the Cubs in 2009, with changing the culture of the team.
Rizzo said that he had gotten a text message from a friend saying that the ball — described by one auctioneer as "one of the most coveted baseballs of all time" — was valued at $3 million.
"Everyone came here to do one thing and that's win the World Series. The man who really made that happen is our owner, Tom Ricketts," he said. "And it only feels right for me to hand this ball over to him, to Mr. Ricketts, because this a victory for all of us."
Video highlights showed Rizzo, who caught the last out at first, taking it out of his glove and slipping it into his back pocket before throwing his glove off and joining the party.
"I don't know what I'm going to do with that ball, but it's going to be cherished forever," Rizzo said on the field shortly after winning the first World Series for the Cubs since 1908.
"We're in the books. We're in history forever. This team is going to be brothers forever, no matter what."
The gesture was similar to when White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko gave the ball from the last out in 2005 to team owner Jerry Reinsdorf.
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