Abolish the Wrigley Field Basket

It's been there since 1970, but it has outlived its use.

The Wrigley Field “basket” has been the subject of ire for pitchers and fans of both home and away teams in Chicago for decades, but the last two days have produced two game-changing home runs in a high-leverage, early-season series between two of the National League’s top teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the home team Cubs. It is highly likely neither of these hits would have been home runs if it wasn’t for the basket. In fact, neither hit would have been a home run in any of the other 29 ballparks in the league. They also were both hit by the home-team Cubs, which is of course why I am writing this, as I was prompted to think, honestly for the first time, ‘why is there a basket around the outfield wall in Wrigley?’.

The year is 1970, May to be exact. Eight months earlier, in September 1969, the Cubs were in the midst of a hot race for the National League East Pennant. This was the first year in which there were multiple divisions in the American and National Leagues and therefore the first season a “pennant race” didn’t mean a race for a spot in the World Series. Nonetheless, Cubs fans took this race very seriously, even though they would ultimately fall short. Before the dream of ending - at that point - an almost quarter century playoff, and a full 60-year WS drought, the “Bleacher Bums”, as they call them, made a habit of rushing onto the field over the outfield walls.