Even Wrigley Field's Ballhawks Are Upset At Ballpark Renovation Plans

By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 9, 2013 8:20PM

While the Wrigley Faithful wait for an announcement from the Cubs on whether their Wrigley Field renovation plans pass muster with the rooftop owners the city, another special interest group has expressed displeasure with the plan.

The ballhawks, that myriad group of people who hang outside Wrigley Field waiting for a home run or a batting practice shot to exit the ballpark, aren’t happy with plans to erect a Jumbotron in left field. They believe it’s all a part of a cash grab by the Ricketts family. The Sun-Times spoke with George Field, who’s patrolled Waveland and Kenmore for a decade, and hays he believes a Jumbotron would keep 80 percent of the balls heading out of Wrigley Field inside the ballpark.

But the threat of 21st Century modernity isn’t going to stop Field or fellow ballhawk Dave Davison from waiting for balls to fly out of Wrigley.

Davison has taken home more than 4,000 balls in that span — keeping them “on the walls, under the bed.” He works in the evenings so he is available for day games.

The team’s owners “need more money in their pockets,” Davison said. “If you spend the most, that’s how you win championships — [but] Ricketts has produced the three worst teams in the history of the Cubs.”
A small crowd formed to complain about team owner Tom Ricketts’ greed at the expense of the field’s tradition.
“To me, a landmark is it’s never going to change,” Davison said.

At least the ballhawks have taken the potential changes in stride and responded as a fan should, although that could have been different had Cubs President of Business Operations Crane Kenney done something astoundingly short-sighted and signed the ballhawks to a 20-year deal to share their haul with the team. As much as the rooftop club owners sturm und drang about the contract they have with the ballclub, the fact remains they have a contract with the Cubs with 11 years left on it. The Cubs executive who helped negotiate that contract? Crane Kenney.

Here’s CBS Chicago’s Sam Zuba, making a solid case in favor of the rooftop owners and lays the blame squarely at Kenney’s feet.

”In 2004, it was Kenney and Lufrano who successfully negotiated a 20-year contract with the rooftop owners centering around two essential components: First, the Cubs would receive revenue sharing from the rooftops owners’ yearly profit. Second, the Cubs agreed to protect the rooftops’ view of Wrigley Field for the duration of the two-decade-long agreement.

“Essentially, the Cubs would be paid a percentage of the money made by the rooftops, while simultaneously agreeing to not make any changes to Wrigley Field that would inhibit the rooftops’ view of the ballpark.

“Mind you, this contract was signed in 2004 when Wrigley Field was 90 years old. It was blatantly obvious at that time the ballpark would soon need to undergo a massive facelift.

“Agreeing not to make any changes that would inhibit the rooftops’ view for 20 years when Wrigley Field would soon need a complete and total makeover is beyond short-sighted - it’s downright irresponsible. The fact that Kenney and Lufrano are still collecting a paycheck from the Ricketts family should raise more than a few eyebrows among Cubs’ faithful.

“Because of this contract, the Ricketts family has a mess on their hands. Because of this contract, the Cubs’ plan to emulate the Red Sox’s model of adding signage to an old ballpark has hit a major snag. Because of this contract, the Cubs are still dealing with the same type of “Cubbie” garbage that 29 other Major League Baseball teams wouldn’t dare be associated with.”

It's a bad enough situation that has Deadspin calling for the Ricketts family to consider buying out the rooftop owners of their deal.

Maddening as the standoff on Wrigley renovations has been, we find it hard to castigate the Ricketts family. They overpaid for the Cubs and are left with the unenviable task of cleaning up a litany of business errors made by Tribune Co. Most of the Cubs’ fan base is aboard with the Theo Epstein-Jed Hoyer rebuilding plan, but that doesn’t make seeing Carlos Marmol give up back-to-back homers to the Upton brothers at Turner Field any less palatable, and there is still the part of the fan base who reacts emotionally to the team’s growing pains. Of course the Rickettses are going to be the target of their ire.

Meanwhile, the waiting game continues and the ballhawks are still at their perches.