Wrigley Field Forever
Chicago and the Cubs Compromise on Landmark Status for 1914 Ballpark.
By Salvatore Deluca | Online Only | May 9, 2003
Wrigley Field
Credit: Ballparks of Baseball
The Chicago Cubs won their last World Series almost a hundred years ago. Over the past six decades the team's legacy of power hitters—from Ernie Banks to Sammy Sosa—has been matched in consistency only by its conspicuous lack of post-season success.
But somehow the Cubs still manage to fill Wrigley Field, their North Side home for the past 87 years, with generation after generation of fans. Chicago's loyalty to its beloved, hapless Cubbies is legendary, but many say the team's draw is rooted in Wrigley's outfield ivy.
So it's not surprising that in March, the Commission of Chicago Landmarks issued a recommendation to preserve several elements of the 1914 stadium, including its ivy. The suggestion, which was introduced at a May 7 city council meeting and referred to committee for public comment, will be returned to the council for a final vote within a year.
Wrigley's historic scoreboard and ivy-covered outfield wall
Credit: Ballparks of Baseball
If the council approves, Wrigley's manually operated scoreboard, outfield ivy, brick wall, exterior marquee, and open, uninterrupted sweep of grandstands and bleachers will be maintained for all time.
At odds since 2000 over which of Wrigley's architectural elements merited landmark protection, city preservationists and the Cubs' front office now agree, at least tacitly, on what is worth preserving in one of only two of Major League Baseball's active ballparks built before World War I.
Originally, the Landmarks Commission wanted to grant landmark status to the entire ballpark, but owners opposed the attempt. A blanket designation would have precluded the team not only from installing luxury boxes and club seating paid for by corporate sponsors—a huge revenue boost—but would have made everyday upgrades and maintenance of the stadium's broadcasting equipment, seats, railings, wiring, and plumbing, subject to special city approval.
"Our concern has been and continues to be that ballparks need to evolve, that landmarking would encompass more than those features that we all feel make Wrigley Field special," Cubs president Andy MacPhail says. "As fans get exposed to new ballparks, their taste and their desires change, and it's important that any ballpark respond to this."
While the owners have never threatened to move the team elsewhere and are generally regarded as responsible caretakers of Wrigley, their discretion to modify the 38,765-seat stadium has caused friction with the city.
"The Cubs did not consent to the designation, although they did not object to its language," says Brian Goeken, deputy commissioner for landmarks for Chicago's department of planning and development. "They're saying, 'We don't think this is necessary. But if this is going ahead, we understand what's in this ordinance.'"
MacPhail says the Cubs are different from most other franchises because they do not rely on public money. In fact, he says, the team has paid for Wrigley's major expenditures over the last 15 years—installing field lights, constructing a mezzanine, and relocating the press box. It costs $2 million a year to maintain the ballpark, MacPhail says. "If you're in our park in January, it's a construction site. We're always stripping steel and replacing things. That's why there are so few [stadiums] that have lasted this long."
Because the Cubs have invested in Wrigley over the years, MacPhail believes they have proven they have the stadium's best interests in mind, and accordingly, should be allowed to run their business without external interference.
"We recognize the jewel we play in and have been very careful to preserve what it is," MacPhail says. "We want to be masters of our own domain and stay competitive with those teams in our division."
Wrigley Field
Credit: Ballparks of Baseball
Only Boston's Fenway Park and the now-abandoned Tiger Stadium in Detroit, both built in 1912, are older than Wrigley. (New York's Yankee Stadium is the only other active ballpark built before 1962, but it was overhauled in the 1970s.) The teams of Fenway and Wrigley, two of the three smallest ballparks in the league, have had to balance preserving their venues' uniqueness with turning a profit.
To boost ticket revenue this season, the Red Sox installed 274 swivel-stools and made space for 100 standing-room spectators atop Fenway's famed 37-foot Green Monster.
Alicia Berg, commissioner of the city's department of planning and development, says the Cubs' economic viability hinges most on preserving Wrigley's historic character but also believes the owners should be able to alter and expand certain stadium elements to keep pace with other teams. So, instead of creating an across-the-board landmark designation, the partial, or "targeted landmarking," allows the Cubs to upgrade Wrigley's security, seating, audio-visual, plumbing, and electrical amenities.
"We wanted the Cubs and the city to agree up front as to what kinds of changes would be allowed," Berg says. "It's unusual that we have created such guidelines, but because this is such an unusual property, we are happy to do that."
Many Chicagoans are unhappy with last year's expansion of the city's 1924 Soldier Field, which they say compromised the memorial to those who perished in World War I. An enormous seating bowl now rises out of the original structure, obscuring views of the stadium's Doric columns. Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin described it as a "Greek temple pinned on the side of a spaceship."
Cubs game
Credit: Ballparks of Baseball
The only major stadium change the Cubs are considering, MacPhail says, is the addition of 2,000 bleacher seats in the outfield. Because the Cubs and the city have been unable to come up with an acceptable seating number, however, the project has stalled.
Wrigley's targeted landmarking is designed to allow the Cubs to build their business by adding to the stadium if it doesn't affect the landmarked elements. Under the Landmark Commission's plan, for example, the Cubs may add a few rows of seats behind home plate if the brick wall in front of them is replaced. Changes that Major League Baseball requires will be exempt from commission guidelines. In the end, the commission wants to maintain the historic qualities that Cubs fans enjoy.
"Wrigley Field is a classic example of what a ballpark is from this period," Goeken says. "This is not about creating a museum piece; it's about protecting the most important aspects of the ballpark."
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