Chicago Cubs: Everything you need to know about tonight’s ring ceremony

The designers of the Chicago Cubs championship rings seem to agree with those who say the Commissioner’s Trophy isn’t enough to reward 108 years of losing.

Anthony Rizzo needed only three words to sum up the Chicago Cubs’ championship run in front of the crowd gathered at Grant Park for the Victory Rally: “It happened, baby”.  He was as emotional as an estimated five million people lined up around the city to share in this historic moment.

Fast forward a few months and the Cubs’ first baseman is still delivering Hollywood moments for the franchise, hitting a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth on Banner Night.

Now, players, front office staff and other organization members will receive rings that commemorate the journey of the fans as much as the franchise itself.

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Faithful participants

20 ardent Cubs fans ranging in ages from 13 to 90, hailing from Chicago to St. Louis will participate in the ring ceremony, according to USA Today.

CSNChicago profiled one of the lucky ring bearers, Bob O’hara, and his incredible story of a family’s bond over baseball. 

The team held a competition to select the ring bearers. Over 1,500 fans entered. Every winner received their own profile on the Cubs MLB.com webpage.

Familiar Faces

During the ceremony, Chicago will pay respect to the players who departed following the 2016 season, including Dexter Fowler, Travis Wood and Jason Hammel. Unfortunately, they will not be attending because of the scheduling.

A few players you probably didn’t know were getting a World Series ring are Clayton Richard, Adam Warren, Neil Ramirez, Joe Nathan, Joel Peralta and Brian Matusz.

The Hardware

Ahead of Wednesday night’s ring ceremony, the Cubs released d a teaser video of the team’s rings. Cubs Twitter quickly devolved into a frenzy. 108 diamonds are set into each ring, one for every year of the title drought.

Jostens designed the team’s championship rings. According to Crane Kenny, picking the company was simple. No other choice seemed ready to compete with Jostens. Kenney called the company “in a league of their own.”

“During our comprehensive search to find the right partner to commemorate this moment in Chicago Cubs history, it became clear that the only company that could deliver a program this significant was Jostens.”

Buster Olney of ESPN reports the rings were designed in collaboration between numerous executives and players, including Jon Lester, Theo Epstein and Cubs owner Tom Ricketts.

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Chicago is expecting tonight to be another special occasion. Many of the players have expressed their gratitude to be a part of this historic celebration, including National League MVP Kris Bryant and World Series MVP Ben Zobrist.

As the ‘old’ saying goes, That’s Cub.