MAG: THEO WORLD’S GREATEST LEADER
Fortune magazine names Cubs executive Epstein the greatest leader ... in the world
MESA, Ariz. — Four heads of state, a governor, a senator, the mayor of London, the chief justice of the United States, a former vice president and the pope all earned prominent places on Fortune magazine’s annual list of the world’s 50 greatest leaders.
But the greatest leader on the planet was Theo Epstein, of course.
Break one baseball curse, and you might get in the Hall of Fame. Break two? Get out of the way, Pope Francis.
The Cubs president makes his Fortune list debut in the top spot of the magazine’s fourth annual list, just ahead of Chinese business mogul Jack Ma and the head of the Roman Catholic Church.
“That’s a little skewed there,” third baseman Kris Bryant said. “I think the pope should be a little higher. I mean, you’re talking about the pope. I guess it just shows the influence that we had over the last year.”
In explaining its methodology, the magazine notes that the hundreds of candidates for the list were evaluated for leadership “within his or her own field of endeavor.” Still, the pope two spots back? “That’s OK,” manager Joe Maddon said. “The pope didn’t have as good of a year. Has the pope broken any 108- year- old curses?”
Baseball miracles aside, Epstein kept a low profile on the matter Thursday, avoiding public dialogue about the list and issuing only a statement to media via text:
“I can’t even get my dog to stop peeing in the house. The whole thing is patently ridiculous,” he texted. “It’s baseball — a pastime involving a lot of chance. If [ Ben] Zobrist’s ball [ in Game 7 of the World Series] is three inches farther off the line, I’m on the hot seat for a failed five- year plan.
“And I’m not even the best leader in our organization; the players are.”
First baseman Anthony Rizzo seemed to think Epstein deserved the lofty ranking.