Green light expected for Cubs game
Work continues into the night for final repairs

By Gary Washburn and Patrick Rucker, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune reporters Phil Rogers and Jon Yates contributed to this report

July 30, 2004

City Buildings Commissioner Stan Kaderbek said Thursday that he expects questions about Wrigley Field's safety to be answered satisfactorily in time for Friday's game between the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Kaderbek met with Cubs officials for about two hours Thursday to discuss a preliminary engineering report and then walked around the ballpark before issuing a statement that indicated he was optimistic about giving a green light for the game.

"We have asked for clarifications of some items in the report," he said. "We anticipate we will get those clarifications and review them late tonight. If the items needing clarification have been addressed, and we anticipate they will be, we will concur that it's safe to play at Wrigley Field."

Kaderbek did not identify the subjects that required further information.

A final decision on the game, scheduled to start at 2:20 p.m., is expected to be announced early Friday morning.

Meanwhile, workers at Wrigley continued into the night with installation of protective netting at the ballpark.

One of them, Derrick Meyers, an iron worker, emerged from the park on an apparent break at 8 p.m. He and a crew of about 40 co-workers, who had been working since 6 a.m., were about 75 percent finished, he said.

"We are trying as hard as we can to get this done for the Cubs," Meyers said. "We expect to be all done tonight."

The fine black mesh was going up as a precaution following three incidents within the last two months in which pieces of concrete from above fell into lower deck seats.

Cubs President Andy MacPhail expressed confidence "that the steps we are employing will ensure as high a level of safety as is possible. ... We are confident that all remaining issues will be resolved to everyone's satisfaction."

The Cubs and Wrigley Filed are owned by Tribune Co., which also owns the Chicago Tribune.

Mayor Richard Daley has accused the Cubs of failing to be forthcoming and open about the problems at Wrigley, and he said the responsibility rests with the club to ensure that its fans are safe.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said the Cubs "are one of our most conscientious, well-run clubs, very thorough. When I say I have faith they're doing everything they can, it's from working with them for a long time."

Meanwhile, documents released by the city revealed that engineers who inspected Wrigley in 2001 found problems with concrete, but mostly in pedestrian ramps and the bleachers rather than in the upper deck and mezzanine areas where pieces have fallen recently.

Nevertheless the engineers warned that serious difficulties could develop at the ballpark if remedial action were not taken.

The assessment was provided to Cubs management by two contractors, Osborn Engineering Co. of Cleveland and Professional Service Industries of Hinsdale.

"The inspection of the concrete and steel at Wrigley Field has revealed the park is in relatively good condition," Professional Service concluded. "The concrete in the main seating areas, upper and lower, is structurally sound.

"Most of our observations indicated the defects were cosmetic in nature," the report said. "However, some of these defects, such as the exposed reinforcing steel and weathered and abraded concrete, could lead to further problems and loss of structural integrity."

The engineering report, requested by Kaderbek, was forwarded to City Hall by the Cubs after the first incident of falling concrete at Wrigley, on June 9.

In a letter sent Thursday to the Cubs, an Osborn engineer said that "we have concluded that the Cubs have implemented a systematic repair and renovation program that addresses the specific items noted in the report. As a result, we have determined that the overall structural condition of the facility is safe for use by the Cubs and their fans."

But the engineer, Kurt Rim, said that his firm's work included only a visual inspection of the underside of the upper-deck concrete, the source of the recent problems.

"This is an overall assessment of the park back in 2001," said Jack Beary, a spokesman for the Buildings Department. "It recommends repairs to the ramp areas and to the column bases. When I talk to people [in the department] who looked at the report, their understanding is that the majority of the repairs were made."

But a new engineering analysis now underway as a result of the recent incidents, "is going to be more helpful" in determining Wrigley's current condition, Beary said.

"If the immediate concerns that these folks identified then were in fact addressed, they are not going to get worse," said Dallas Williams, a project engineer with George A. Kennedy & Associates, who reviewed summaries contained in the 2001 report that were provided him by the Tribune. "The next step is to see what the report says from the guys doing the survey now.

"If the concrete has not changed much, all you really are dealing with is deterioration, aging, which can be addressed," Williams said. "The only question there is cost. If someone is willing to correct a building, it can be corrected."

In a 1985 engineering study, Kennedy & Associates found major problems at the old Comiskey Park, leading the Chicago White Sox's owners to conclude that it was not cost-effective to try to save the old stadium. Williams does not believe that similar conditions threaten Wrigley's future.

Meanwhile, a letter released by the city on Thursday indicates that two pieces of concrete, rather than one, may have fallen on June 9.

Officials of the Structural Shop Ltd., a consulting engineering firm now doing work for the Cubs, said in the letter that two pieces fell from a precast concrete planking system that creates the upper deck. Each measured 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches by 4 inches, it said.

"They may be talking about one piece" that broke in two when it hit the ground, Beary said. "I really don't know."

At Wrigley on Thursday, Keith Kolb and his family, fresh from seeing a Cubs-Brewers game in Milwaukee on Wednesday, had tickets for Friday's game and stopped by the park to pick up more tickets for a future contest.

"I'm a little worried this might be a continuing problem," said Kolb of Evansville, Ind. "The stadium is so old, it is bound to need renovation."

But Kolb's 15-year-old son, Kameron, said he would welcome coming across a fallen piece of concrete.

"I wouldn't mind going home with a piece of Wrigley Field," he said. "It would make a nice souvenir."

Copyright © 2004, The Chicago Tribune