Sept. 22--An hour before last Friday's game in an important series against the Cardinals, groundskeepers walked around the Wrigley Field outfield tamping down the grass, looking for seams and patching up small divots.
The playing field had been removed before the AC/DC concert last week, and replaced before the start of the homestand.
Some in the Cubs clubhouse complained about the conditions before the game began, and walking down the first base line you easily could envision a cleat entering a seam and causing a player to be injured -- or at the very least to stumble.
Nothing happened over the weekend, but when Starlin Castro botched a grounder on Monday, manager Joe Maddon said the field was partly to blame.
"Since the AC/DC concert, we've had a little bit of trouble," Maddon said. "I don't know if they were out there taking ground balls before the game, or if they had nine-inch heels or spikes."
Maddon didn't blame the grounds crew, which has no say over whether the Cubs schedule summer concerts as revenue-enhancers. And he didn't say the Cubs should stop scheduling concerts at Wrigley Field in the summer when they're using the field to try and win a championship.
But Maddon doesn't really have to say it, because it's obvious.
The Wrigley concert era should end now.
Stop the concerts, save the Cubs.
Wrigley Field makes for a beautiful backdrop, and they've had many memorable shows over the years. That moment when Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder brought Ernie Banks out onstage was about as good as it gets at Wrigley.
But it's time to move on.
If the Cubs are serious about this championship thing, they have to put the baseball department's needs ahead of the business operations department's objectives for once.
The oft-heard argument from the Cubs that all the concert money goes straight into the payroll to help the Cubs win is simply is a fallacy. If that was true, the revenues from Foo Fighters, Billy Joel and AC/DC would've gone to get a starting pitcher or a closer at the trade deadline. Instead the Cubs relied on waiver claims and salary dumps for the stretch run. Dan Haren has already been scratched from his next start, and is unlikely to make any postseason roster.
I'm all for making money hand over fist, but not when it comes at the expense of your primary objective, which is winning a World Series. It's one thing to sell advertising in every nook and cranny of the ballpark, and another to schedule huge concert events that make millions for the Cubs owners while potentially damaging the playing surface.
I enjoy the Foo Fighters and AC/DC, but let them go play at the United Center or Soldier Field, where field problems are a Chicago tradition.
Maddon has a strong voice now, as evidenced by the fact the Cubs are reconsidering the 3:05 p.m. starting times on Fridays, one of his pet peeves. If Maddon came out and said the field could potentially affect the Cubs' chances of winning in any way, shape or form, it would resonate.
Ditto president Theo Epstein.
For now, the Cubs are stuck with a poor field for the final homestand and potentially some playoff games.
Hopefully it doesn't hurt them. But if it does, I can see the headline now:
"AC/DC kills Cubs' hopes."
