Help on way for beat-up Wrigley Field surface
First resodding, then a major overhaul possible

By Dave van Dyck
Tribune staff reporter

September 22, 2007, 10:00 PM CDT

Wrigley Field's concert-deadened, rain-gutted playing surface has been taking a physical and verbal beating.

If the Cubs make the playoffs, much of the choppy outfield will be resodded right away. But making the playoffs could cost valuable time if management decides to give the go-ahead to White Sox groundskeeper Roger Bossard to rebuild the field completely.

"We will be aggressively dealing with the field for the next two weeks, so it will be in great shape for the playoffs," Mark McGuire, the Cubs' vice president of business operations, said Saturday.

The outfield is in worse shape than the infield. Large portions are lumpy and worn. The causes: two Police concerts in July for which a stage was set up in left-center field, and heavy rain last month.

Wrigley has the oldest playing surface in the major leagues and is the last without a modern drainage system. Basically, the grounds crew can do little to improve the surface.

While Cubs players have said little, the field has taken plenty of abuse from opponents.

"That outfield is dangerous," Reds left fielder Adam Dunn said last week. "It's as bad as it gets, like a parking lot. It's like they just had a monster truck rally on it."

After Friday's game, Pittsburgh manager Jim Tracy said: "The outfield is horrendous to play on, the worst I've ever seen. It's not a major league-caliber outfield."

The only real way to fix the problem is to remake the field. But team President John McDonough says that decision has yet to be made, though the commissioner's office could insist.

"The decision will be made immediately after the season," McDonough said. "It's important for us to have our players and visiting players play on a very good, professional major-league field."

Bossard has built most of the new fields in baseball, including those in Milwaukee and St. Louis. He has given an estimate of $1.2 million for the work, which would take most of the winter.

"If we started after Nov. 1, it would be very trying, very touchy, to get it done" before the 2008 season begins, Bossard has said.

Trouble is, the World Series could end as late as Nov. 1.

Bossard's plan would lower the crowned field by up to 16 inches and would allow the Cubs to add two rows of prime seats.

"If we do not rebuild the field [this winter], I'm sure we will do a major resodding," McGuire said.

The sale of the team complicates the matter but would not necessarily prevent it, according to sources.

The Cubs have only Sunday's game against the Pirates left in the regular season, but they could host a one-game tiebreaker Oct. 1. By then, the ballpark at least should have some new sod.

"If they want to make it better, that's good," left fielder Alfonso Soriano said. "Sometimes when [batters] hit a ground ball, you have to be careful.

"The last couple of weeks, the ball has been [coming] fast. At the beginning of the season, the ball was very slow."

Said outfielder Matt Murton: "The grounds crew works as hard as they can, but it's beat up."

dvandyck@tribune.com