Column: Wrigley Field deserves another All-Star Game, and the Chicago Cubs should get ready to host in 2027
Now that the City Council has done its part to get an All-Star Game at Wrigley Field, approving a measure to provide city and state funding to help subsidize the Chicago Cubs' plan to install security bollards around the ballpark, the ball is in the hands of Major League Baseball.
Or perhaps we should say MLB has had the ball in its hands all along and has yet to drop it.
But now MLB has no excuse not to award the Cubs the 2027 All-Star Game, since the security measure was the last issue to be resolved. The Cubs finally got help from the politicians, and an official announcement should come soon.
Team spokesperson Jennifer Martinez said MLB has not made a decision, but the Cubs remain hopeful the game finally will return to Wrigley after a 37-year absence.
So kudos to the Cubs for their long and winding pursuit to secure their first game since 1990 after failing to get something done through the last two mayors, Rahm Emanuel and Lori Lightfoot. You have to give the Rickettses credit for persistence.
When asked at a news conference if the Cubs would get their big event, Mayor Brandon Johnson replied: 'I certainly hope so. I do. Look, I think at some point Jesus the Christ is going to return and claim my soul for eternity. Just have to wait until that great gettin' up in the morning, won't we?'
I'm not sure what Johnson's soul has to do with getting Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge to Wrigley to aim for the rooftops, but whatever. Hopefully he can pick Pete Crow-Armstrong out of a lineup, but who knows?
Wrigley is baseball's mecca, and it deserves to get its moment in the spotlight. George Will, in an article for the 1990 All-Star program, once wrote that 'a baseball park, like Wrigley Field, is a place to play… (and has an) intimacy that makes fans participants in, rather than mere spectators at, an event.'
That was evident again Thursday in the Cubs' 8-7 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers when a fan climbed the netting behind the plate to pull down Sal Frelick's bat after Frelick lost control and sent it flying. His adventure resulted in him getting the bat, bringing cheers, being escorted out by security, bringing boos, and then returning to his seat, bringing a loud ovation and high-fiving from fellow fans.
It was the sort of Wrigley Field moment that makes it a unicorn among major-league ballparks. Frelick found the fan after the game and gave him a bat, bringing closure on a wild day that included another Crow-Armstrong home run, a Cubs comeback that fell short and an inspiring pregame performance of the Black anthem and the national anthem by the Leo High School choir.
The All-Star Game would be a big get for the Cubs, even though it really isn't as popular as the Home Run Derby, the real crown jewel of All-Star weekend.
'I never really watched the game, I watched the Derby,' Crow Armstrong said the other day. 'I feel like I watched one All-Star Game that I can remember, when Mike Trout got the car for winning MVP.'
Crow-Armstrong clarified he didn't mean to downplay the marquee game but was simply pointing to his memories growing up in Southern California.
'I was usually playing baseball when the All-Star Game was going on,' he said.
Crow-Armstrong, 23, is certain to be playing baseball when this year's All Star Game is going on next month in Atlanta, most likely as the starting center fielder for the National League. He has a huge early lead in voting and figures to be a fixture at the game for years to come if he maintains his current status as the player you can't stop watching.
So look for him at Wrigley in '27 — if the Cubs get their game.
What else can we expect from a 21st century special event played in an early-20th century ballpark?
Expensive tickets, of course, and a scalper's paradise. At the 1990 game, one fan lamented to the Tribune's Bill Jauss that he paid $100 for a bleacher ticket. That's a small fraction of what fans can expect to pay for a bleacher ticket in '27.
Photos: Chicago Cubs lose to the Milwaukee Brewers 8-7 at Wrigley FieldThere also will be more media than ever, thanks to the globalization of the game and the influx of Japanese reporters covering stars from their country. Wrigley Field's press box was full Thursday for the Cubs-Brewers game, and it's only June. Planning an All-Star Game will necessitate some outside-the-box thinking from the Cubs and MLB to figure out where everyone will fit. Maybe an auxiliary box on the roof of Murphy's Bleachers? Count me in.
The rooftops no doubt will be jammed, and the bars and restaurants in the neighborhood will be packed to the gills. Wrigleyville was still a relatively insular neighborhood in '90, with a few bars and Yum-Yum Donuts within walking distance of the park. It's now closer to River North in its food and dining options, not to mention having a boutique hotel across the street.
And just a guess, but Bill Murray likely will be involved in any festivities, as he was in 1990 when he served as emcee of the Home Run Derby, introducing the players. It wouldn't be a real Cubs event without Murray.
I'm old enough to have been part of the Tribune's coverage of the 1990 game at Wrigley, which was so long ago that CBS, the network televising it, went with a rerun of the program 'Rescue 911' when it went into a rain delay in the seventh inning. The delay lasted more than an hour, and CBS had more than enough reporters to fill time but apparently thought fans would lose interest.
The game itself was a dud — a 2-0 American League win with no fireworks. The National League mustered only two hits — a first-inning single by Will Clark and a ninth-inning single by Lenny Dykstra. There was a lot of dead time and time spent waiting on the rain to fall. Most of the fans at Wrigley had to find methods of entertainment, which included chanting 'Steroids, Steroids' at Oakland A's slugger José Canseco.
'The people were chanting steroids and flexing,' Canseco said afterward. 'I thought it was funny.'
It was a different era, one that we can be nostalgic about again after so many years have passed with baseball still intact.
An All-Star Game would be a chance to celebrate the ballpark and the city — and the fans who make it a special place.
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