Chicago Cubs reach contract agreement with manager David Ross

CHICAGO - The Chicago Cubs announced Friday that the organization has agreed to terms with manager David Ross on a contract extension through the 2024 season with a club option for 2025. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

According to a news release from the Cubs, Ross, 44, is in his third season at the helm of the Cubs having guided the club to a 34-26 record and the N.L. Central Division title in the abbreviated 60-game 2020 regular season followed by a 71-91 mark in 2021, a campaign in which the team utilized a single-season MLB record 69 players. 

The release states that in 2020, Ross finished third in N.L. Manager of the Year voting after he became just the seventh manager to lead the Cubs to a division crown in his first season at the helm of the team. He joined Albert Spalding (1876), Charlie Grimm (1932), Gabby Hartnett (1938), Jim Frey (1984), Dusty Baker (2003) and Lou Piniella (2007).

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Ross was named the 55th manager in Cubs history on Oct. 24, 2019, after a 15-year major league playing career in which he won World Series titles with the Red Sox in 2013 and the Cubs in 2016. He is the 24th person to both play for and manage the Cubs, the release states. 

He joins Frank Chance, Joe Tinker and Johnny Evers as the only players to win a World Series as a Cub and later manage the team.

Ross is in his 25th year in professional baseball after he was selected by the Dodgers in the seventh round of the 1998 draft out of the University of Florida. He played 883 major league games with the Dodgers (2002-04), Pirates (2005), Padres (2005), Reds (2006-08), Red Sox (2008, 2013-14) Braves (2009-12) and Cubs (2015-16). He appeared in 25 postseason games, hitting .250 (13-for-52) with three home runs and eight RBI, the release states.

Following his playing career, Ross spent the 2017-19 seasons in the Cubs front office as a special assistant to baseball operations.