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Wrigley scoreboard clock, outfield walls could get ads



[/size]Wrigley Field’s scoreboard clock could get a “branded name in white letters” on it under a plan approved by the city Landmarks Commission. (Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune / July 20, 2012)

Another idea outlined in the program is for a "sign grown into bushes" in the area of center field where there are no bleacher seats. That section, known as the "batter's eye," features bushes used to provide a dark background to help batters see the pitches better.

And the program allows the team to put up mesh ads along the basket that lines the top of the outfield wall which prevents fans from falling onto the field and sometimes catches home run balls as outfielders stand below with their gloves outstretched.

The sign plan also calls for "rotating or permanent signage" along the brick walls in left field and right field. Green said that is a reference to the infield walls on the left and right field sides and there are no plans to alter the ivy-covered outfield walls.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-wrigley-field-signs-0709-20130709,0,4303451.story

As much as Wrigley is going to become commercialized after the renovations, I'm really wondering if we would have just been better off building a new park. 

Is Wrigley really going to have the same charm that it had with Jumbotrons, LED scoreboards, and Budweiser ads on the clock and scoreboard?  Is commercialed up Wrigley really preferable to having a new cash cow ballpark and just keeping the memories of pristine Wrigley?

I remember an article someone (Rob Neyer?) wrote about Tiger Stadium when it was falling apart and these preservation groups were trying to keep it up, even after it had been years since the Tigers had moved to their new park.  Sometimes you just need to let an old park go and let it have a dignified end.  Tiger Stadium definitely wasn't getting a dignified end while all these preservation groups and the city of Detroit were trying to figure out what to do with it.

I'm starting to wonder if Wrigley is really getting a dignified end if all we're going to do is prop up its usefulness by having all these new ads, displays, and the like.  In some ways, all these renovations feel like putting someone on life support when the right thing to do is just to let them go.  It might be better if we just had a new ballpark that's designed to be a real cash cow money maker and let Wrigley have a dignified end.

As much as Wrigley is going to become commercialized after the renovations, I'm really wondering if we would have just been better off building a new park.  Wrigley?

I'm starting to wonder if Wrigley is really getting a dignified end if all we're going to do is prop up its usefulness by having all these new ads, displays, and the like.  In some ways, all these renovations feel like putting someone on life support when the right thing to do is just to let them go.  It might be better if we just had a new ballpark that's designed to be a real cash cow money maker and let Wrigley had a dignified end.

I agree.  I could live with an ad above the scoreboard clock but the final straw for me would be placing ads on the outfield walls behind the baskets.

Kamin: No time a good time for clock ad at Wrigley
Wrigley has features worth saving — and not be reworked in Fenway Park's image, architecture critic Blair Kamin writes



A rendering of proposed renovation for Wrigley Field includes a 6,000-square-foot video board in left field. The Cubs are also weighing the possibility of getting a sponsor for the center field scoreboard clock. (Chicago Cubs HANDOUT / April 29, 2013)

Here's my two-word take on the Cubs' move to stick an ad on the lovely circular clock atop Wrigley Field's iconic center field scoreboard:

No way.

Planned lights atop the LED board would help to illuminate the outfield, which city officials say is the darkest in Major League Baseball during night games. But the lights, which city officials acknowledge would be taller than the center field scoreboard's clock, would be discordantly vertical amid the bleachers' horizontal sweep. Along with supposedly contextual steel arches atop the LED board, they would create visual clutter at odds with Wrigley's clean lines.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-wrigley-field-710-20130710,0,7976959.story

Paul Sullivan ‏@PWSullivan     21m
Ten years ago today: Mark Prior flips over, lands on shoulder in baserunning collision with Marcus Giles. Stays in game.

If you ever wanted to know what Willie Mays looked like wearing Cubs gear, here you go.



ESPN SweetSpot has an article up on All-Stars who got their helmets mixed up during the All-Star Game.

Nice!

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/9550520/ernie-banks-dean-smith-get-presidential-medal-freedom-award

Five Chicago Cubs Who Were Supposed to Put the Team Over the Top

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/five-chicago-cubs-were-supposed-put-team-over-185700900.html

I don't recall anyone ever indicating they thought ANY of those five were going to "put the Cubs over the top."