Donald Trump tapped Chicago Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts on Wednesday to serve as the administration’s deputy commerce secretary in the president-elect’s latest move to make good on his campaign promise to "win so much you’ll get tired of winning."
Trump praised Ricketts in a statement as an "immensely successful businessman" whose family’s management of the Chicago Cubs has been the culmination of "one perfect step after another." The Ricketts family, which purchased the team in 2009, helped lead the Cubs to a World Series victory earlier this month—the first such win for the team in over a century.
In a statement released by the campaign Wednesday morning, Ricketts said he was "honored" to be selected for the position and would focus on "advancing practical policies that promote economic opportunity."
Ricketts, who previously worked for his billionaire family’s financial firms, began managing a Super PAC founded by his family during the election, successfully raking in $30 million for pro-Trump efforts. The patriarch of the Ricketts family, Joe, founded TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. and was one of the top donors to the president-elect during the campaign.
Joe Ricketts pledged in September to pour at least $1 million into television ads attacking Hillary Clinton. Two months later, just five days before Trump would win the presidency on Nov. 8, the Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians in a historic victory. Trump said Wednesday that the Ricketts family "is what I want representing our people."
In formally announcing Ricketts, Trump also selected billionaire Wilbur Ross as commerce secretary.