[RubberMallet]

thats all well and good, now please build me a park in the suburbs so i never have to watch baseball there again.

Wow. Just stay home and watch it on your HD. Wrigley should NEVER be torn down. The day that happens is the day the Cubs become like the Florida Marlins, without the World Series wins.

i go to 5-10 cubs games a year. while historically its amazing, its an absolute dump and nightmare to actually watch a game at. when the wind hits perfect, there will be homers as well as the smell of urine emanating through the park.

"i wonder if it will be a high scoring affair today?"

"well it smells like i ticked my pants right now so i'm gonna guess today will be one of those days"

the food is pretty much on par with gas stations and the restrooms arn't even on par with the gas station bathrooms.

there is no winning tradition there, the stadium is falling apart, the locker rooms are terrible, the training facilities there are near non existant. parking is a complete cluster. the only thing i'll miss is a slice of bacci's for 3 bucks (google it).

nobody is saying bull doze it. keep it, but tell tom tunney to suck an egg and just imagine the park that could be built. make it a place where players actually want to come and play and feel like they aren't in the 1900's.

the yankees tore down a park with as much history and a much greater winning pedigree.

we have started going to milwaukee/cubs games in milwaukee over the last few years. its such a better experience its unbelievable.

and the florida marlins comparison is laughable.

[RubberMallet]

thats all well and good, now please build me a park in the suburbs so i never have to watch baseball there again.

Okay, I'll admit that I actually considered this as a valid idea mainly because of how playing day games negatively impacts the Cubs chances of winning...and then I went to the game last week. There really is something special about Wrigley and the surrounding area. I've been there dozens of times, but I always come away with a feeling that there really is nothing like an afternoon game in the Friendly Confines.

I'm looking forward to the renovations over the next couple of years. I also like the direction Theo and co. are taking with the team. Back to the Future II's prediction of a WS win in 2015 might not have been that far off.

by not taking a pitcher in this draft told us that 2015 is probably a pipe dream. they are finding there are alot worse contracts involved and its going to take longer to clean house. but thats ok. it needs a reset. the renovations are nice. i love them thumbing their nose at the rooftop owners (even though going to the rooftops is pretty sweet) and tunney.

the difference i've seen here locally is that the people that just want to go to the park and still grasp to the lovable losers mantra don't want them to leave the park. but the one that are finally sick and tired of this are ready for a change and don't care if they bull doze it and rebuild or move it out of there. while this has been going on, overwhelmingly people have supported a move.

[Purple Haize]

thats all well and good, now please build me a park in the suburbs so i never have to watch baseball there again.

Wow. Just stay home and watch it on your HD. Wrigley should NEVER be torn down. The day that happens is the day the Cubs win the World Series. Therefore, the Cubs should never win the World Series.

FIFY

I see what you did there!
I agree about WGN. I loved it when they broadcast every game. I'm sure it would draw better then Matlock and Walker Texas Ranger re runs
Wrigley Field IS the draw. There are things that can be done to modernize the locker room etc. I mean they did put in lights The Yankees have built several stadiums and pride themselves on spending money. Also, they didn't move Yankee Stadium to the Suburbs. The closest comparison is the Red Sox. As for the Marlins, they have a great stadium and like 8 fans. You move the Cubs from where they are now to say Woodfield, and they have the same record, the Cubs will have 9 fans.

[RubberMallet]

people that say that havnt spent much time at the park. wrigley isnt the draw you think it is. its literally falling apart. they had to put up nets to catch debris. they said if it was any other building the city would probably condemned. once again, food is bad, parking is bad, facilities is bad. the only thing anyone gives two craps about is the ivy. you can probably grow it elsewhere. overwhelmingly the response by the fanbase has been move it if you have to. you can modernize but part of it is room. they need expansion as much as modernization. woodfield would be preposterous. anything east of the des plaines would be ideal. anywhere along the blue line.

the marlins have been around for 20 years and have an idiot owner. any comparison between the two franchises is ludacris.

[LUnpretty11]

....the marlins have been around for 20 years and have an idiot owner. any comparison between the two franchises is ludacris.

Exactly... I mean, the Marlins have won the World Series!

[LUnpretty11]

[youtube]

[/youtube]


Not sure why this hasn't been mentioned
Last pitcher to throw back-to-back no-hitters was fellow Texan (and Bailey's idol), Nolan Ryan.
Outstanding performance by Homer!
http://www.givemesport.com/356802-cinci ... er-of-2013

Go Redlegs!

[SumItUp]

Yasiel Puig, the LA Dodger's Cuban manchild is the biggest story in baseball right now. The 6'3", 245 lb right fielder is hitting .443 with 8 home runs and a 1.218 OPS. The sample size is small with only 106 at bats, but he is fun to watch.

[SumItUp]

Not sure why this hasn't been mentioned
Last pitcher to throw back-to-back no-hitters was fellow Texan (and Bailey's idol), Nolan Ryan.
Outstanding performance by Homer!
http://www.givemesport.com/356802-cinci ... er-of-2013

Go Redlegs!

The MLB channel had this game featured last night and we watched the last 3 innings. He was bringing it until the end of the game. That no-hitter came without any spectacular defensive plays. He was dominant.

[LUnpretty11]

Not sure why this hasn't been mentioned
Last pitcher to throw back-to-back no-hitters was fellow Texan (and Bailey's idol), Nolan Ryan.
Outstanding performance by Homer!
http://www.givemesport.com/356802-cinci ... er-of-2013

Go Redlegs!

The MLB channel had this game featured last night and we watched the last 3 innings. He was bringing it until the end of the game. That no-hitter came without any spectacular defensive plays. He was dominant.

And apparently 80% of his pitches were fastballs. He threw 1 curveball (which Ryan Hanigan said he didn't remember Bailey even throwing), and his fastball was hitting 97-98 in the last at-bat of the game. Unreal.

[RubberMallet]

Yasiel Puig, the LA Dodger's Cuban manchild is the biggest story in baseball right now. The 6'3", 245 lb right fielder is hitting .443 with 8 home runs and a 1.218 OPS. The sample size is small with only 106 at bats, but he is fun to watch.

only dimaggio had done something similar. im not a fan of guys getting in because of a month of play but this guy is doing something historic. let the casual fan see this guy. is dominick brown more deserving? maybe. but who on earth is dominick brown.

[Purple Haize]

people that say that havnt spent much time at the park. wrigley isnt the draw you think it is. its literally falling apart. they had to put up nets to catch debris. they said if it was any other building the city would probably condemned. once again, food is bad, parking is bad, facilities is bad. the only thing anyone gives two craps about is the ivy. you can probably grow it elsewhere. overwhelmingly the response by the fanbase has been move it if you have to. you can modernize but part of it is room. they need expansion as much as modernization. woodfield would be preposterous. anything east of the des plaines would be ideal. anywhere along the blue line.

the marlins have been around for 20 years and have an idiot owner. any comparison between the two franchises is ludacris.

Having been to probably over 100 games there I probably need a bigger sample size.

[NotAJerry]

Off topic alert!!

My kid got to run around the bases at Wrigley last week. Oh, and I got to escort him out there.

The season could end today and I'd be happy.

You may continue.

Awesome experience. I remember being on the sidelines for a Redskins game in 82 with my Dad. Got to be on the field during warmups and had locker room passes for after the game.

[NotAJerry]

Yasiel Puig, the LA Dodger's Cuban manchild is the biggest story in baseball right now. The 6'3", 245 lb right fielder is hitting .443 with 8 home runs and a 1.218 OPS. The sample size is small with only 106 at bats, but he is fun to watch.

Definitely the story of the year so far. He's single handedly saving Don Mattingly's job.

[RubberMallet]

people that say that havnt spent much time at the park. wrigley isnt the draw you think it is. its literally falling apart. they had to put up nets to catch debris. they said if it was any other building the city would probably condemned. once again, food is bad, parking is bad, facilities is bad. the only thing anyone gives two craps about is the ivy. you can probably grow it elsewhere. overwhelmingly the response by the fanbase has been move it if you have to. you can modernize but part of it is room. they need expansion as much as modernization. woodfield would be preposterous. anything east of the des plaines would be ideal. anywhere along the blue line.

the marlins have been around for 20 years and have an idiot owner. any comparison between the two franchises is ludacris.

Having been to probably over 100 games there I probably need a bigger sample size.

then you must have a great pair of rose colored glasses. i wonder why i have been able to buy tickets for 3 bucks in july the last few years. same ole stadium. i thought it was the draw?

[01LUGrad]

I'll put it this way- My son ran the bases at Nationals Park after a game last summer. All of the adults in line with us seemed as excited as I was, which was about as amped as I got when I walked onto the field at Harbor Park in Norfolk. Keep in mind this was last year when the Nats were the best team in baseball for much of the year. By contrast, I'd estimate that about 1/2 of the parents in line at Wrigley were either crying or choked up watching their kids run around the bases. I took 65 pictures and I'm pretty sure that I was on the low end of the average.

The park matters.

[NotAJerry]

If I own the Cubs, I've got a plan in place for a new park but won't open it until a WS is won at Wrigley.

[jbock13]

Things come and go however. Does a young baseball player who didn't grow up with tradition like a Cub fan might, really want to play so many day games? Also, the facilities being what they are? It's like old Tiger Stadium, it's nostalgic but it's time eventually came. Same with Wrigley. But as a Rays fan I have no dog in the fight.

[RubberMallet]

I'll put it this way- My son ran the bases at Nationals Park after a game last summer. All of the adults in line with us seemed as excited as I was, which was about as amped as I got when I walked onto the field at Harbor Park in Norfolk. Keep in mind this was last year when the Nats were the best team in baseball for much of the year. By contrast, I'd estimate that about 1/2 of the parents in line at Wrigley were either crying or choked up watching their kids run around the bases. I took 65 pictures and I'm pretty sure that I was on the low end of the average.

The park matters.

you are comparing the washington nationals to the chicago cubs? you are comparing a 5 yr old park to wrigley. no one is saying the park doesn't matter, its just that it doesn't matter as much as you guys apparently think it does. once again, there was almost no outrage when moving was brought up. this isn't the 80's and 90's..hehe haha lovable losers lets go to the friendly confines! when the cubs are 60-100 the stadium has been full of empty seats in july/august/sept for the last 5 years. that means its not as much about the park as you think it is. if they moved the stadium or raised the stadium to the ground and rebuilt, you would have just as many fans and fill just as many seats as you would today. especially if doing so helped put a winning team on the field. there is no winning tradition. its an outdated crumbling building with a century of dissappointment and losing.

the numbers have spoken for ricketts. its not about the park. sure a few out of towners HAVe to go to wrigley but people aren't going to the games. its not a late summer destination. the park hasn't changed...thats obvious...people want a winner. they won't care where that winner is playing. no amount of dopes crying in the infield will change that.

we've lost out on hundreds of millions of dollars that could of potentially put a winning team on the field continually because everyone wants to preserve this stadium.

has anyone ever taken a tour of the facilities? no wonder we haven't signed a big name free agent in years.

[RubberMallet]

Does a young baseball player who didn't grow up with tradition like a Cub fan might, really want to play so many day games?

no they don't. players have commented on how much of a dump wrigley is since the 30's. the locker rooms are small and cramped, there is no in game batting cage, the bullpen of a little league field, there is a highschool weight room and the training room looks like a dungeon. no amount of money can create expansion. its a museum where kids run around the bases while their parents cry, not a baseball field for a major league baseball team trying to compete for a world series.

its not like they were all like that back then. the polo grounds were an amazing spectacle that probably would of been still pretty nice today.

[NotAJerry]

http://princefielderslides.tumblr.com/

[SumItUp]

Today is the last day of voting for the Final Vote adding one more player to the All-Star game roster. It's unfortunate that Freeman & Puig can't both be in the game. Maybe there will be last minute injury withdrawal allowing both players to participate.

[SumItUp]

http://princefielderslides.tumblr.com/

I like the June 18th "Blow Past and Hang On" entry. It's a good thing that Prince can hit the baseball.

[NotAJerry]

Today is the last day of voting for the Final Vote adding one more player to the All-Star game roster. It's unfortunate that Freeman & Puig can't both be in the game. Maybe there will be last minute injury withdrawal allowing both players to participate.

Freeman is the least deserving of the NL options. I'd go Puig, Gonzalez, Desmond, Pence, Freeman.

[jbock13]

Freeman is the least deserving of the NL options. I'd go with the entire Washington Nationals lineup

FIFY.

[flamesfilmguy]

You guys mad? Freeman deserved is more than puig. and because i despise the Gnats I wouldn't have been ok with Desmond. so Gonzalez would have been my next pick.