Commisioner of Baseball Bud Selig and Philippino industrialist Eduardo Manda announced this morning a surprise ending to the ongoing Chicago Cubs sales proceedings.  At 8:05AM CST, Selig and Manda held a press conference to announce that a group of businessmen from Manilla, Philippines had come to preliminary agreement in principle with the Tribune Company to purchase the Cubs baseball team for $530 million dollars plus a player to be named later.  Manda made a fortune after inheriting his family's bamboo plantation and creating the largest paper products office supply manufacturing company in the Pacific Rim, specializing in hard copy filing products.

At the same time, Commisioner Selig announced the expansion of MLB to the Philippines to "tap new markets of baseball fans and consumers."  The storied Wrigley Field ballpark was not a part of the deal as the team will be moved to Manilla starting in the 2009 regular season.  It was not immediately known what the historic landmark's fate would be but a Tribune spokesperson, speaking off the record, indicated it was going to be turned into the American Futility Museum and that the Museum board, led by well-known Chicago personality Elwood P. Blues, was applying for a minor league baseball franchise license and hoped that the museum and minor league action would be open for business by April 1, 2009.

Manda noted that the Philippines is a hotbed of baseball fandom, and that the sport is second only to 10 Ball in interest there.  He closed by saying that the team name would change as a result of the move to the "Manilla Folders."