Your Cubs vs your A's

Dear Theo:

Please take note of how the Oakland A's have built their success.  A team that is roughly $33 million cheaper won 94 games, and the AL West.

If you compare the Cubs to the A's, defensively they were pretty similar.
The Cubs had fewer errors and turned more double plays, but both teams shared the same fielding percentage.

On the offense, the A's did have more home runs (195 compared to 137), but the Cubs were slightly better in team batting average and stole more bases.

Now take a gander at pitching. The A's had an ERA of 3.48. The Cubs: 4.51.  

I'm no rocket surgeon, but that there seems like the biggest difference between being 94-68 vs 61-101.

Cubs Cancel Pizza Party After Failing To Sell 3 Million Tickets

Earlier today, the Cubs Marketing Department was informed that their annual pizza party had been cancelled. The announcement came after the Cubs failed to reach 3 million in ticket sales for 2012. This season was the first since 2003 that the team didn't reach the magic number with only 2,882,756 fans paying to see the 61-101 team.

"We're not going to reward failure," said Team Chairman Tom Ricketts. "Maybe they can earn it back next year."

Many in the Marketing Department walked around in shock after the announcement was made.

"Does this come as a surprise? No," said Colin Faulkner, Vice President of Ticket Sales and Services. "Do I like pizza? Yes. Yes, very much so."

Asked why he thought the Cubs didn't reach the 3 million mark, Mr. Faulkner had few answers.

"I have absolutely no idea" he said. "I mean, we have such a simplified system for tickets. Good games are "Gold",  great games are "Platinum"... really, really great games are "Marquee", crappy games are "Silver" and games you can't believe you still have to pay to watch are "Bronze." It's very simple."

Executive Vice President, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Wally Hayward didn't have much more to offer.

"Couldn't be the ticket prices," he said. "Plenty of people were willing to hand over up to $160 a ticket to sit in the bleachers, plenty."

"Maybe it was the weather. It did get cold in April, and it did rain a few times a couple of weeks ago," Mr. Hayward said. "Listen, I'm not one to point fingers. If I was, I'd point them directly at the team's play this season, but I'm not going to do that."
 

A First Look at the New Bleacher Videoboard

For those of you hiding under a rock, the Cubs have been doing some off-season work in the bleachers.

What they're doing is raising a section in the Right Field to make some sort of "party patio". By doing this they confidently create a spot just perfect for an "LED video board"

The patio work remains under wraps, but thanks to the good work by one @GoMirrus we now have an actual view of this new fancy new video board.
Have a look see:

images via @GoMirrus (we owe you a beer)

Purdy Photo

I've convinced the boys here at Wrigley Blog to try and add a little class to this whole "documenting" idea. Instead of throwing together a few reactionary shots of some random event this is an attempt to bring something of thought and of beauty to this site. I've always been inspired by the majesty of Carleton Watkins, haunted by the shear truth of Timothy O'Sullivan, and ever delighted by the subtle charm of William Henry Jackson. These photographers are my heroes. Like them I work in sunlight and in film; in the cloud covered days and the dark quiet nights. Wrigley Field is my chosen canvas, and I sure do hope you enjoy these photographs; both today and beyond.

Sloop Purdy

New Rendering of Bleacher Patio and LED Videoboard at Wrigley

We've had a few weeks to calm down since seeing the Cubs off-season plan to add a party deck and LED ad board to the bleachers. Sure we were mighty upset by the notion, but we know that Wrigley Field isn't a static place. She's slowly evolved over these years; she's had too. And let me tell ya, we have no doubt Wrigley Field can handle this change and hopefully the next round of changes Mr. Ricketts throws at her.

But next time around, we'd appreciate if they'd cut the bull when selling us the idea. Don't tell us it's "for the fans". This here patio is only for corporate events and bachelor parties. It's just one more place in the park we aren't welcome, and we don't take too kindly to that fact. But more to the point, the reason for the patio is the advertisement money. If that there money turns the Cubs into winners, then and only then could you say it was "for the fans".

Now back to that ad / patio. Two thing struck me when taking a gander at the pretty picture of the patio and strolling around the stadium. For one, there sure isn't much room there for a patio. My hope is that when it's complete most folks reaction will be: "Is that it?"  The second thing that I noticed is that the image only shows that one section of the ballpark. It doesn't show how or if it'll fit in with the rest of Wrigley Field.

I reckon that they don't much care if it does...

But we do care, and I really wanted to know how it'll look so I asked my employment-challenged friend of the blog draw it up. He sort of took what they presented and fiddled with it until it went in. Take a gander and let us know what you think.