Someone Delivered A Severed Goat's Head To Wrigley Field
By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 11, 2013 1:30PM
Another chapter was written in the Chicago Cubs’ ignominious history with goats Wednesday afternoon when someone left a package containing the severed head of a goat outside Wrigley Field.
The package was addressed to Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts and found at Gate K, according to team spokesman Julian Green, who also, according to DNAinfo, “declined to 'entertain' questions of whether the goat's head was cooked, heavy or smelled, as he did not see it.” According to the Tribune, a police source said the head was "all black and had a U.S. Department of Agriculture tag on its ear." Chicago Police are investigating who may have sent what is being called an “intimidating package.”
The incident comes as negotiations between the Cubs, the city and the surrounding neighborhood businesses and groups on a plan to renovate Wrigley Field remain stalled. Owners of the rooftop clubs surrounding the ballpark oppose plans for the Cubs to raise a Jumbotron in left field and other outfield signage that would obstruct their views of the field. Another obstacle to a resolution was revealed Wednesday: Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) told the Chicago Tribune the Cubs’ wish to increase the number of night games at Wrigley on top of the outfield signage, the planned Jumbotron and parking issues that need to be resolved moving forward.
This isn’t the first time someone left parts of or a full dead goat at Wrigley Field. Police discovered a goat’s head outside Wrigley Field before Opening Day in 2009. Police were also called to remove the carcass of a goat hung from the Harry Caray statue in 2008. (Those incidents were considered harmless pranks at the time.)
The Cubs’ history with goats dates back to 1945, when Billy Sianis, owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, was asked to leave the 1945 World Series between the Cubs and Detroit Tigers because the smell of his goat annoyed fans. Sianis placed a “curse” on the team, who haven’t won the National League Pennant since. Numerous attempts to “lift the curse” have been unsuccessful. Last year, six men walked from Arizona to Chicago with a goat named “Wrigley” and raised money to fight cancer in the process.
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