Theo Epstein
![](https://images.forwardcdn.com/image/970x/center/images/cropped/epstein-theo-getty-1478733444.jpg)
Image by Getty Images
The Cubs’ Dealmaker and Cursebreaker
Having overturned the 86-year-old curse of the Bambino for the Boston Red Sox in 2004, Theo Epstein brought similar good fortune to the Chicago Cubs. This year, the Cubbies won the World Series and toppled the 108-year-long curse of the billy goat.
Anyone who knew Epstein’s family might have predicted he would be successful; few would have predicted it would be as a savvy baseball wheeler-dealer credited with redeeming legendary losing teams.
Epstein, 42, who is president of operations for the Cubs, comes from literary royalty: His father is the novelist Leslie Epstein; his grandfather and great-uncle were famous screenwriters who co-authored the film classic “Casablanca.”
Epstein made his first big mark in 2002, when the Red Sox hired him as general manager — at 26, the youngest in baseball history. The team had last won a World Series in 1918, but, under Epstein’s leadership and after a series of trades, the Sox won the 2004 and 2007 World Series.
In 2011, Epstein accepted an offer to oversee the Cubs — whose last World Series championship, in 1908, made the team even longer losers than the Red Sox. The Cubs finished last in their division the year before Epstein arrived, and for the following three years. But thanks to Epstein-engineered trades and acquisitions, the Cubs this year won more games during the regular season than any other team and snatched their division crown. In the World Series, the Cubs trailed the Cleveland Indians 3-1 before winning the last three games to claim the title. It was a historic event for America’s pastime and for Epstein in particular. As one fan put it: “Here’s a Jewish boy who looks more like a doctor or a lawyer who might turn out to be the greatest baseball executive of the last 50 years.”
![](https://forward.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/msgtwo.png)
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30