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President Obama hopes to schedule Cubs White House visit before leaving office

Not long after the Chicago Cubs World Series victory there were rumblings of a visit to the White House before outgoing president Barack Obama left office in January.

According to the Chicago Tribune, those talks are more than just rumblings now. With seven weeks remaining in Obama’s presidency, members of his office are working with Cubs officials to get the visit scheduled before his final day.

The big complication, of course, is that the Obama administration is smack dab in the middle of a transition to the Donald Trump led administration. By the same token, the Cubs are also in the midst of a transition as they attempt to put together a roster for 2017. Key contributors like Dexter Fowler, Aroldis Chapman and Jason Hammel are all likely to play elsewhere next season, which could make an offseason reunion a little awkward.

That much was acknowledged by Cubs spokesman Julian Green on Monday, who would no doubt play a key role in the arrangements.

“Obviously the challenging part is with an outgoing president, and now that we’re in the offseason, it makes it extremely challenging to coordinate with the players being on vacation. It’s been difficult to do.”

President Barack Obama holds up a personalized Kansas City Royals jersey during their visit to the White House in 2016. (AP)
President Barack Obama holds up a personalized Kansas City Royals jersey during their visit to the White House in 2016. (AP)

The Tribune article notes two other factors that changed in the immediate aftermath of Chicago’s victory that could play a role in the team’s decision. The first being Donald Trump’s election on Nov. 8. The other being Trump’s decision to nominate Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts as his deputy commerce secretary. The idea being it might not sit well with the Trump administration that the Cubs bumped up a meeting that typically takes place the following summer.

For what it’s worth, Green denied any suggestion that who occupies the White House will have any impact on the meeting.

“Regardless of who is in the White House or who may be working for the administration, certainly this has been something that would be viewed as an honor,” Green said. “It’s just a difficult exercise in scheduling.

“President Obama made the invitation, and we’re honored to receive the invitation. Ordinarily, you would look at whenever the team is playing (in Washington) the following season, so you’d have more than enough time to coordinate.”

Needless to say this is an interesting dynamic that could play out awkwardly over the next few weeks.

One thing we do know though is that Obama’s very public affection for the White Sox will not be a factor. He’s the one who extended the invitation after all, and he’s been very open with his appreciation of the Cubs success. That included placing a congratulatory phone call to Joe Maddon on Nov. 3, the day after the team’s Game 7 win.

Obama, like most other baseball fans, probably wondered if he’d live to see the day the Cubs played in and won the World Series. One can’t blame him for wanting a small part in their story.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!