CHICAGO, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- There's a storm brewing at Wrigley Field, the "friendly confines" to generations of Chicagoans and home to baseball's loveable losers, the Cubs.
The Tribune Co., which bought the Cubs from the Wrigley family of chewing gun fame in 1981, last fall proposed a 2,350-seat bleacher expansion that sent residents of the neighborhood, appropriately called "Wrigleyville," up in arms.
Critics fear the historic ballpark will be overbuilt, destroying the old-time ambiance of what many regard as a cathedral of baseball.
While neighbors rail against proposed changes, fans lined up as usual last Friday to scarf up single-game tickets. A record 268,934 ducats were sold and the bleachers sold out for 40 home games, with only limited-view seats remaining.
"We sold out half of our dates for bleacher tickets in one day. We only wish we had more inventory to sell instead of turning away fans who are hungry for bleacher tickets," said Frank Maloney, director of ticket operations.
And there lies the rub.
It's been that way for years, since the late Hall of Fame announcer Harry Caray brought his "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" 7th-inning stretch across town from the old Comiskey Park. People would show up just to sing along with Harry and drink beer in the sunshine.
Most didn't care whether the team won or lost. They liked Wrigley the way it is.
The feeling among many fans is that the North Side ballpark, the second oldest in the majors, is more important to the team's bottom line than the players wearing the uniform. And that includes Sammy Sosa, baseball's most popular player, who kept the team in first-place for much of last summer before it reverted to "Cubdom," missed the playoffs and finished in third place behind St. Louis and Houston.
After finishing the preceding season in the cellar, the worst-to-first performance may have been entertaining but the Cubs haven't been to a World Series since 1945 and haven't won a series in nearly a century. Still, the team remains one of the major leagues' biggest draws.
The Tribune wants to add more bleacher seats by opening day, April 5. The company offered compromises on Monday to eliminate about 100 seats and to cover with ivy ugly steel support columns that would extend over half the sidewalk on Waveland Avenue and Sheffield Street.
Wrigley has long been known for its greenery, which covers the brick outfield walls during the summer. The ivy was planted in 1938 by late baseball giant Bill Veeck Jr., who worked for William Wrigley and the Cubs and later owned Chicago's crosstown American League White Sox and the old St. Louis Browns.
With the clock running, the Tribune also offered to reschedule all 13 of the 2:30 p.m. Friday starting times to ease traffic congestion in return for 12 more night games.
"We're making concessions all over the place," said Mark McGuire, Cubs' vice president of business operations. "This really is a meaningful giveback to the neighbors."
The latest bleacher redesign would scrap about half of the proposed steel pillars on the sidewalk but that's not good enough for some who say the overhanging structure would attract criminals who like to hide behind poles.
"They don't want pillars," said 44th Ward Alderman Bernard Hansen. "I think that the ivy on the pillars should be done anyways. So what are you doing? ... If you put a bubushka on an animal, I guess it's an improvement."
Citizens United for Baseball in Sunshine (C.U.B.S), a neighborhood group, calls the modifications "window dressing." Members are still mad over losing the fight against lights and night games back the 1980s.
People who own the rooftops of buildings overlooking the ballpark from across the street are worried the expansion will spoil their free view of the field. But most Chicagoans don't care because the rooftops years ago were bought up by clubs and businesses that charge for their professionally built stands and amenities like barbecues.
Is it greed or is the Tribune Co. entitled to renovate the park to get the most revenue from its investment? They did sign Sosa to an expensive long-term contract and brought in veteran slugger Moises Alou for this season.
The last Wrigley redo added a level of income-generating terraced skyboxes that obstructed half the field in some lower level seats. Television sets were hung from the bottom of the terrace level but those are among the worst seats in the ballpark.
The Cubs also want to build a 400-space parking garage, ESPN Zone-style sports bar and a Cubs Hall of Fame on a lot next to Wrigley Field, but that's a separate issue.
The team may find out if the proposed changes are enough to appease the critics at a neighborhood meeting early next month. They think they may have found salvation in an old idea.
Besides adding more bathrooms and a center-field concession stand with "batter's eye view," architects propose replacing a metal gate in the right field wall with a picture window to give passersby a "knot hole" view of the field and a free peek of the action.
But it's doubtful that will be enough to change many minds.
