There is nothing new to report on the renovation front, so if you’re tuning in for the latest, this ain’t it. Presently, all eyes are on the July 10 Landmarks Commission meeting.
Instead, I just wanted to share something Josh Noel wrote recently for the Tribune about Wrigley Field, as it is one of the best things I’ve read recently about the fabled ballpark. Noel’s piece extols the virtues of the historic park, while leaving room for the necessary renovations that are to come.
This is just a fantastic selection:
History is one of the few commodities that can’t be bought or sold, and Wrigley has earned it, year-by-year, loss-by-loss, heartbreak-by-heartbreak. It is a nearly timeless world where our grandparents watched the Cubs and where Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Wille Mays all played ball. Other teams would buy that kind of lore if they could. They can’t. But fans can, and it’s part of the reason that Wrigley is one of the city’s top tourism draws.
Stadiums will continue to evolve and improve in the decades to come, but those decades will also make a properly-renovated Wrigley Field even more valuable.
In just a few sentences, Noel perfectly sums up – from both sentimental and financial perspectives – why preserving and renovating Wrigley Field is so critically important. Read Noel’s full piece here.
Wrigley Field has become things – valuable, wonderful things – that cannot be recreated anywhere else. Even as the Cubs head to Fenway Park tonight, I am reminded that it’s OK to feel like Wrigley Field is something more than just a place where the Chicago Cubs play baseball games. Loving Wrigley Field doesn’t mean you love the Cubs any less.
And I’m also reminded, not that a reminder was necessary, why I spend so much time obsessing about the present and future of this beautiful baseball stadium.