Cubs Go All "Old-Timey" With Proposed Wrigley Jumbotron (photos)

Don't call it a renovation. The Cubs prefer to call it a "restoration". And don't expect an effort to create a "new" Wrigley Field. Cubs President Crane Kenny told the Chicago Tribune: “It’s actually trying to make Wrigley old.”

Nothing says "old" quite like a gigantic videobaord.

But fear not Cubs fans, because this proposed jumbotron will look old-timey. As you can see below every bit of it will be painted Wrigley Green (it won't be) and on top it will say "Wrigley Field" (it won't) in old-timey cursive letters (cursive that's never existed in the ballpark). And I'm sure when instead it says "TOYOTA" - you'll still feel just like you're back in the old-times. It will also have ironwork that will copy the ironwork on top of Wrigley - that was made to look old-timey when they installed lights waaay back in 1988. Oh, and look: it will also have very subtle advertisements for the Cubs and for Cubs Charities. Very thoughtful, very tasteful, and... not at all what'll happen.

A look at this year's off-season work at Wrigley Field (Photos)

The talk of the town continues to be future renovations of Wrigley Field and the supposed $500 million worth of work they plan to do over the next 5 years. All that's well and good but there was still work to do done this off-season. Each year they say the Ricketts Family spends about $10 million in upkeep; for concrete work, repainting, and improvements here and there.

 

Here are a few of the tasks we caught them in the act of this past winter:

 

1. A new field:

Wrigley's Field - as bald as a baby (via globetrotscott)

It sure seems like they did this just a year or two ago, but they decided to re-do the entire playing surface. Hopefully some of our bad luck was replaced as well.


2. A new row behind home plate:

Again, this was something they did just a few years back - when they added 3 new rows. Apparently they felt they should squeeze some more high priced seats in - 56 seats to be exact.

Along with the work to move in the brick backstop, they created a removable section of brick just to the outfield side of the home dugout. This will allow for more room when they try to bring more football games to Wrigley Field - and hopefully avoid this


3. The Scoreboard spiffed up

Boy, we sure did enjoy watching them open up the old scoreboard. With the new paint job, she looks just dandy and ready for Opening Day.

Go Cubs.

Pearl Jam at Wrigley Field this July

Yeah, someday we'll go all the way!
But in the meantime we're stoked to hear Pearl Jam will be in concert this summer at historic Wrigley Field.

The boys from Seattle announced they will play the Friendly Confines on Friday, July 19th.

The Cubs are billing it as "An Evening With Pearl Jam", which is lame, but still...

Tickets go on sale February 9th at 10 am.

Sweeeet

Wild Coyotes At Wrigley Field? Oh My!

via @willbyington 

The list of critter found around Wrigley Field just keeps on getting bigger. A few months back a neighbor found a deer parking in her back yard, and now we've got ourselves a pack of coyotes wandering around The Friendly Confines.

Apparently Internet "friend" - and dandy photographer - Will Byington was documenting a band at Clark and Addison on Friday night. Close to midnight some folks noticed two wild coyotes across the street and Will was able to get the shot. Been the talk of the neighborhood ever since.

The only real questions is: How will the Cubs Marketing Department turn this into a quick buck?

Your Cubs vs your A's

Dear Theo:

Please take note of how the Oakland A's have built their success.  A team that is roughly $33 million cheaper won 94 games, and the AL West.  

If you compare the Cubs to the A's, defensively they were pretty similar.
The Cubs had fewer errors and turned more double plays, but both teams shared the same fielding percentage.
 
On the offense, the A's did have more home runs (195 compared to 137), but the Cubs were slightly better in team batting average and stole more bases.

Now take a gander at pitching. The A's had an ERA of 3.48. The Cubs: 4.51.  

I'm no rocket surgeon, but that there seems like the biggest difference between being 94-68 vs 61-101.