Cubs World Series hero embracing Chicago in retirement as 10-year anniversary of broken curse approaches
This November will mark 10 years since the Chicago Cubs were champions for the first time in several generations.
On Nov. 2, 2016, the Cubs broke a curse that had lasted 108 years, winning their first World Series title four years before the Titanic even sank, and many members of the team will get back to Wrigley Field next month to celebrate.
"It's crazy. Time flies. I mean, it was a special team, special run, and it's gonna be fun to celebrate it," Anthony Rizzo recently told Fox News Digital.
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Now in retirement, Rizzo, who signed a one-day contract to retire a Cub after spending nearly four years with the New York Yankees, has been back in Chicago attending Cubs games and recording a podcast with former World Series teammate David Ross. But recently, as the World Cup nears, he partnered with Abbott and Real Madrid to help give rising soccer stars in Chicago a chance to play for the Abbott Dream Team.
The 16 selected male and female "Abbott Dream Team" members, ages 18–19, will travel to Spain on an all‑expenses‑paid trip to train at Real Madrid's official facilities.
"Giving back in the community here in Chicago means the world to me, and these kids getting an opportunity to go to Real Madrid, practice, and train there is pretty special," Rizzo said. "It's a really cool program, they're both respective leaders in their industry, bringing together kids playing soccer, and then harping on the nutrition side of it, as well, means a lot, because it takes a lot to get to the next level, and the fact that Abbott's drilling these kids with nutrition and the importance of it, I think is very important as well."
"Everyone's talented when you get to the higher levels, right? Everyone has the talent, but it's the mental capacity, it's the little things, and nutrition is, I think, for me, one of the most important things," Rizzo added. "You don't really see the results on the field, but you feel you're gonna recover better, you're gonna sleep better, you have more energy, so taking care of your body is very important, and I let them know that when you get to a certain level, the talent level evens out, and it's what separates you from making it, or getting that opportunity, or being ready for that opportunity when it comes."
Rizzo, of course, knows what it takes to get to, and succeed at, the next level. He found the ultimate success with that 2016 title, which obviously came with additional pressure. But the former first baseman said that, despite fans' desperate desire for a drought to end, he was able to maintain business as usual in the World Series in which he hit .360 with a 1.084 OPS.
"You don't really feel as much of that weight, because you're in the World Series, you're at the highest level, you're one of two teams standing, right? So, all the drought stuff comes in on the outside, and I was only there for five or six years up to that point, so, the previous 102 years ... You just have to, you have to be able to have perspective on it," Rizzo said.
"You have to be able to laugh about it, and for us, we just kept all the outside noise outside, and we just focused on what we had to do to win."
The 2016 Cubs will gather on July 18, 10 years to the day Rizzo hit a three-run homer off New York Mets pitcher Steven Matz in a 5-1 victory to go to 56-36.
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