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Advice on Wrigley Field to Cubs' new owners

By Blair Kamin | Tribune critic

January 25, 2009

Friends have been calling me and teasingly asking for box seats now that the Ricketts family has emerged as the likely new owner of the Cubs. The Rickettses, they know, are my neighbors in Wilmette.

But for me, as the Tribune's architecture critic, this is a serious matter. My neighbor Tom Ricketts may soon hold the deed to one of the nation's most beloved landmarks, Wrigley Field, the 95-year-old dowager queen of American ballparks. And Wrigley is a building whose future I cannot not write about.

Here's how I'll deal with a situation some may see as a conflict of interests: I plan to write about the new Cubs owners as I would any team owner or real estate developer — respectfully but aggressively.

So, congratulations, neighbors. And here's some free architectural advice:

Raze Wrigley? Forget it

Some media bomb-throwers are suggesting the Cubs tear down Wrigley, save for the bleachers, the ivy-covered outfield walls and the center-field scoreboard. But erecting a faux Wrigley makes no sense. It won't fly legally — the City of Chicago in 2004 declared the ballpark a protected landmark — and it's likely to be a losing business proposition.

Millions are drawn to Wrigley because it offers what the bloated retro ballparks of today strain to imitate: the authenticity that only decades of history can confer as well as a sense of being remarkably close to the game.

In an increasingly generic world, Wrigley is the real thing. And the real thing sells. Just look at the Boston Red Sox, who ditched a plan to build a faux Fenway Park, then upgraded their ancient home and went on to win the World Series in 2004 and 2007.

Balance Wrigley's past and future

If the bomb-throwers who want to raze Wrigley are wrong, so are the zealots who want to freeze it in time. In truth, Wrigley has gracefully evolved over the decades, from the original single-deck structure that opened in 1914 to the handsome bleacher expansion of 2006. The key is to balance the ballpark's identity as a baseball shrine and as a money machine. And that will require the skill of architects like John Vinci, the longtime Chicago historic preservationist who has done several Wrigley projects for Tribune Co.

Wrigley may well need to upgrade the skyboxes it has now and insert more of them as well as other fan-friendly amenities, Vinci said Friday. The key is coming up with a plan rather than doing things piecemeal. "You want to make it a better place without looking shoddy," he said.

Stop creeping commercialism and change the facade

Speaking of shoddy, the Rickettses would be smart to halt (or roll back) the spread of advertising around the playing field — specifically, the yellow CBOE stickers on the brick wall or the white Under Armour logos on the outfield doors in left- and right-center fields.

Perhaps the souring economy will take care of these small but corrosive intrusions on Wrigley's parklike atmosphere. As the Tribune reported Friday, Under Armour and the Cubs are engaged in a legal battle over the sponsorship deal.

Here's another idea: Take away the ugly concrete panels and chain link on Wrigley's facade. Replace them with historically accurate grillwork and clay-tile roofs.

Fix or replicate the upper-deck grandstand

Questions have swirled around the structural stability of Wrigley's steel-framed grandstand since 2004, when pieces of concrete fell into lower-deck seats, forcing the Cubs to install safety nets. Some fans dream of tearing down the grandstand. But that is only likely if a new grandstand essentially replicates the existing one.

The Wrigley landmark law "did not envision that the upper deck would need to be replaced," Brian Goeken, the city's landmarks chief, wrote in an e-mail Friday. "If for some reason the upper deck did have to be reconstructed, it would generally need to match the historic design and configuration" of the original.

Build the 'triangle building'

For years, the Cubs have proposed constructing a three-sided building along Clark Street, just west of Wrigley, that would house restaurants, a Hall of Fame and workout facilities for the players (plans for parking have been abandoned). The Rickettses should get this done — and fast. The new building would simultaneously expand Wrigley and its opportunities to generate revenue.

There are other pluses. The building would make it easier for upper-deck fans to exit after games. It would offer fans more shopping and dining. And it would present this part of Wrigleyville with something a whole lot better than what's there now: a scruffy parking lot.

bkamin@tribune.com