Ever since the days that Philip K. Wrigley owned the Chicago Cubs, the whole Cubs’ experience has been based off of seeing the “friendly confines” of Wrigley Field. Nestled in tightly at Clark and Addison in Chicago’s Lake View neighbourhood on the north side. It was about seeing old style baseball with no ribbons, no canned music, day games, and seeing “vintage” baseball live. Bill Veeck’s ivy covered walls, hand operated scoreboard, the sense of knowing that this is where Stan Musial, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, Jackie Robinson, and many more played. It’s also where the 1969 Cubs collapsed, Steve Bartman, and many, many, years of losing happened. 2014 was the 100th anniversary of Wrigley Field (and WW1, unrelated). It was also the end of the Wrigley Field experience as we know it. It has been a slow process, sure. On August 8th, 1988, a game against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Cubs played their first night game at Wrigley Field. Slowly the Cubs started putting ads in the outfield between the ivy, then putting up video ribbons around the upper deck, and underneath the Cubs’ scoreboard. Mind you all of this is happening while Cubs’ fans made fun of U.S. Cellular Field on the South Side for being “mall ball”. Next in 2010, the Cubs added a Toyota sign in left-centre field. The sigh would rise up to be about 50 feet or so above the side walk. Next, in 2012, the Cubs added a patio section to their right field seats. Now as we enter into 2015, the Cubs are beginning the new renovations of the bleachers (that were just built in 2010), putting in a jumbo video board, restaurants, . Some of this is long awaited. Expanding the clubhouses, removing the bullpens from the field, etc. When I visited Wrigley Field in 2010, and 2011 it definitely needed work. There were nets catching falling concrete from the upper deck. The concourse was cramp, in the team store I had duck my head (I am 5, 11’). And I felt the upper deck only had so many cold Chicago winters left in it. Now look, I am not condemning the Cubs for these renovations. The Cubs have somewhat kept Wrigley up over the years, but it legit needed a massive overhaul. Wrigley Field needs all of this. Not only for the park’s sake, but for also the Cubs’ brand. The Cubs’ attendance has been slowly decreasing. Since The Chicago Tribune bought the Cubs in 1981, the Cubs have been a top drawer in baseball, most of which is due to the aura of Wrigley Field. Tourists, fans of visiting teams, historians, etc, all wanted to enjoy Wrigley Field, and that is perfectly fine. The problem is that the ballpark can only carry you so far. At one point does a nice ballpark mask the fact that the franchise hasn’t won a World Series since 1908 (106 years)? Or does a nice ballpark mask that the Cubs haven’t even been to a World Series since 1945? Apparently not. Under Tom Ricketts, the Cubs have gone through a whole rebuild in an effort to shift funds to rebuilding the ballpark, upgrading facilities in Arizona, and Latin America. Ricketts is a businessman first, and knows that the Cubs need to start winning perpetually to keep the brand alive.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 09:17:08 +0000
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