War is hell, we all know. And few Americans are more aware of
that right now than the denizens of Chicago. Most of us are still
getting accustomed to the campaign Bush and Rumsfeld and Co. have
been prosecuting in the Middle East. North Siders in the Windy
City, however, are finding that merely the second major
fight to be concerned with.
The longer running and arguably more contentious contest pits
one venerable institution, the Chicago Cubs, against the team’s
neighbors directly across Waveland and Sheffield Avenues from
historic Wrigley Field.
One would be excused for thinking these to be completely
separate fights. But last week the Cubs, and their corporate
overseers the Tribune Co., revealed that the two are much
intertwined, and that Wrigley Field is just the latest stop in our
national war on terror. That’s right. First the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon. Afghanistan next. Then Wrigley Field.
A little background is in order. At issue in this brouhaha,
which inexplicably has drawn in Osama bin Laden and the one-eyed
Sheik Omar, are the apartments beyond Wrigley’s outfield bleachers.
One of the charms of Cubs baseball has long been the team’s
neighbors watching games from the upper floors and rooftops of
these buildings, looking directly over the bleachers and surveying
the whole field.
The folks grilling and quaffing a few adult beverages up on the
roofs have been as much a part of the Wrigley Field experience as
the ivy-covered brick walls, Ernie Banks, day baseball, and routine
second-division finishes.
But in recent years this has evolved into some pretty big
business — big business the Cubs don’t have a piece of. The
buildings’ owners don’t merely invite a few pals up to the roof;
they build large grandstands and rent them out for corporate
outings at more than $100 a head. Some have made millions over the
years at the baseball equivalent of stealing — and reselling —
cable.
The Cubs have grudgingly allowed these squatters to filch their
product — it helps the team market Wrigley as the “Friendly
Confines” and lends to the allure of the historic park. But they
haven’t exactly been happy about what they see as lots and lots of
lost revenue.
The Cubs have floated two ideas recently that have the residents
of Wrigleyville up in arms. First, they would like to play more
night games. The neighbors don’t want all the nocturnal commotion.
Worse, the Cubbies have proposed expanding their bandbox of a
stadium and adding 2,000 more bleacher seats.
It’s not too hard to guess who loses out in a situation like
that — those whose free view of the field would be blocked. So the
property owners on Sheffield and Waveland have been leaning on the
various neighborhood and municipal entities capable of stopping the
Cubs’ plans.
The Cubs themselves are playing hardball, as befits the
organization’s business model. On Opening Day last week they draped
large green tarps along the screens behind the bleachers to block
the view from the roofs. They have also threatened to hoist bunches
of helium-filled balloons to further obstruct the sight lines from
across the street.
A nice parry and thrust, but what ultimately makes the cut so
deliciously satisfying is the explanation put forth by the club:
terrorism. With a straight face — and Scout’s Honor — the Cubs
claimed the screens are a consequence of a thorough security review
conducted after September 11.
Oddly named Cubs flack Mark McGuire told reporters from the
Tribune, “What happens right now is you’ve got 1,000-plus
people [on the rooftops] that we have no control over. The people
entering our ballpark, we have a chance to screen the packages they
bring in. If we lessen some of the views, we lessen some of the
risks.”
The chutzpah! The gall! The cojones it takes for the
Cubs to make a claim like that! It’s almost enough to make one
admire that they did.
Naturally, local reaction has been one of outrage. Baseball
historian and Wrigleyville author Peter Golenbock has
blasted the action as “petty and cheap … beyond greed.” Mayor
Daley’s folks, in their best George W. impression, have labeled the
team’s actions “unhelpful,” while their boss joked he’s going to
erect huge screens around Soldier Field to keep residents of the
lakefront highrises from sneaking peaks of Bears’ games.
The Cubs are sticking to their guns. And to their credit it
should be noted Wrigley has witnessed no terrorist incidents since
last week. Still, they have sidestepped the obvious questions, such
as what color Tom Ridge would assign to Wrigley Field, or whether
Mohammad Atta and his brigades would even have known what Wrigley
Field was, especially with a tempting target like the Sears Tower
nearby to draw their attention.
But it’s not clear how successful the Cubs have actually been in
this latest skirmish in the Battle of the Midway. The Daily
Herald, a suburban competitor to the Trib,
interviewed one rooftop patron on Opening Day who “notes that while
the screen does make some outfielders appear green, it barely
affects the rooftop view.” His buddy was quoted saying, “It’s just
like watching a scrambled porn channel.”
True enough, but not nearly so interesting. The Cubs may have a
legitimate argument about the rooftops siphoning off revenue that
would otherwise fill the company coffers. It might be the case that
those assembled on top of those buildings would otherwise pay to be
inside the park. But if that’s true, wouldn’t the Cubs be better
off keeping fans they’ve identified as potential terrorists outside
the Friendly Confines?
