There are times, David Ross said, he still slips back into “Negative Town’’ when he thinks about the November day in 2023 when Jed Hoyer, the Cubs’ president of baseball operations, showed up at the door of his Tallahassee, Florida, home and blindsided him, informing him that he had been fired as manager of the Cubs and that Craig Counsell would be taking his place.
“When you first get let go,” Ross said, “it’s such a weird feeling. That first year, you’re kind of rooting for Nico [Hoerner] and [Ian] Happ and Dansby [Swanson] and all the guys that were there and played their butts off for you. But then there’s also like, I was hoping they didn’t win …
“So there’s a lot of thoughts. Sometimes, I go to ‘Negative Town.’ But I try not to. I think for the most part, I’m a pretty positive person, and I don’t like carrying stuff like that with me. That stuff’s poison for me.”
Ross was in town last weekend to shoot an episode of “The Lovable Reunion,” the podcast he co-hosts with Anthony Rizzo to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the 2016 Cubs championship team. The podcast is produced by The Volume, a sports podcast network founded by Colin Cowherd, the sports media personality and host of “The Herd with Colin Cowherd.”
“It’s been fun to do,” Ross said. “I love that people are enjoying it. It’s literally like what we would do even if we weren’t broadcasting it to the world. It’s kind of cool to put it out there.”
Ross and Rizzo were planning to interview former teammate Jason Heyward, who lives in Chicago. Ross has been back to town rarely since his firing. He came back for a Post Malone and Jelly Roll concert — he has a friend in Jelly Roll’s band — was there in January for the Cubs Convention and a couple of times for the podcast. He said hello in passing to Hoyer at the convention and recalls one brief conversation on the phone with Hoyer the first year after his firing. “He asked me about something,” Ross said. “I forget what it was.
“But I like Jed. Jed’s fine.”
He has talked on several occasions with Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts. “We just interviewed Tom for the podcast,” he said. “I saw Tom right after it happened, at Happ’s wedding, right after I got let go. We had a good conversation.
“I’ve talked to Tom more than probably anybody else. I’ll keep our conversations private.”
His first call after being fired, he told Fox’s Ken Rosenthal last year, was to Counsell, in which he congratulated him. The conversation lasted less than a minute.
For the most part, he said, he has moved on. He was on Mark DeRosa’s coaching staff for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. He’s doing the podcast. He was hired as a studio and game analyst by ESPN — he was in Kansas City on Monday for the Royals’ Memorial Day game against the Yankees.
He divorced since his firing but sees his three children regularly. His oldest daughter, Landri, is playing Division I volleyball at the University of North Alabama. His son, Cole, will be entering his senior year of high school in the fall, plays football and intends to attend culinary school.
“I don’t know where that came from,’’ Ross said. “His mother doesn’t cook, and neither do I.”
He laughed when someone suggested maybe that’s why Cole chose culinary school — it was his only way to be sure of getting a good meal.
“He cooks on the weekends and works for a catering company and enjoys that,” he said.
The youngest Ross child is daughter Harper, who is 10.
Ross said the only time he has been back at Wrigley Field was during the Cubs Convention (“We were just mainly in the locker room”) but plans to be there for the 10th anniversary on-field celebration of the 2016 team on July 18.
“No doubt about that whatsoever,” he said. “I can’t wait to walk out on that field and be in front of the fans again. We’re here celebrating the guys that did one of the most historic things in all of sports.”
Ross admitted he initially felt some hesitation before going to the convention.
“And I did it all,” he said. “You know why? Because my brothers were doing it, and I wanted to be a part of them.
“This city is great to me, the fans. It’ll be fun to be back in Wrigley and see a packed house and be on that field. I definitely miss that.”
Ross wants to manage again. No team to date has called, even though there have been close to a dozen jobs open in the last two seasons. He has been asked about his interest in a coaching position or a staff job but to date hasn’t found what he called the right fit.
“It’s not like I sit by my phone and wait on somebody to call me,” he said. “It doesn’t really bother me. It’s like being a free agent, right? The main thing is, like, who’s reaching out to you, and who’s got interest. I think there were eight or nine [managing] jobs open this offseason, and nobody called me. That’s all the information I need to know.”
He has reconciled his firing — and the Cubs’ preference for Counsell, whom they signed to a five-year, $40 million deal — as being part of the business. He referenced this season’s firings of Alex Cora by the Red Sox and Rob Thomson by the Phillies.
“Look at what happened — two really good managers,” he said. “I’m not putting myself in their category … but I think it’s just part of the business. So I try to look at it as the blessing of going into managing a big market with no coaching experience and kind of learning on the fly in this environment. It’s part of the business. This organization has been such a big part of my life. I got to go out so well on top when I was playing, so it was bound for the baseball gods to get me back at the back end of managing.”
When Ross arrived in town Friday afternoon, he turned on the TV and watched the end of the Cubs’ sixth straight loss. He mentioned the injuries to the pitching staff, the ongoing slump at the plate, but said this, too, will pass. This team is built to go deep into October. And he’ll be rooting for it to do so.
“It’s fun to watch the Cubs,’’ he said. “I root for Justin Steele, all those guys. Part of me thinks it would be really cool to have another group of guys, 10 years later, to celebrate a championship with.’’
