GatewayRedbirds.com

Last year did me in. I went to I think 5 games there last year, whereas in past years I would go 1 every 2/3 years. That just ruined it for me. Don't get me wrong ... I still love going to games there. My oldest son and me seem like we have a new tradition starting - catching a night game and then going to a day game the next day. We are doing that again this April, and I can't wait. It's just that now if given the choice, I would take a game at B3 over Wrigley any day. B3 is just a better place to watch a baseball game, and I would not have said that 5 years ago.

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"Boy, that was exciting. I always say it ain't over til it's over, but that one should've been over a while ago." ~ Yogi Berra

Picked up tickets to the home opener against the Cubs in St. Louis. Can't wait to see the Cub fans get to see the Cards raise yet another championship banner. Got me thinking about the "rivalry" and all this talk about Wrigley Field in this thread.

Here's my Cubbie hatred facts of the day...

-Since Busch III opened in 2006, the Cardinals have played 18 home postseason games in their new ballpark going 12-6 in those 18 games.

-Since 1939, the Cubs have played exactly 18 home games at Wrigley Field going 6-12 in that stretch.

-All time, the Cubs are 7-20 in postseason games played at Wrigley Field. (The Cubs didn't host postseason games at Wrigley until 1929, playing the 1918 World Series at Comiskey Park and previous postseasons were played at West Side Field.)

Friendly Confines, eh? Bottom line: I hope the Cubs never replace Wrigley Field and never seriously renovate it. There's some serious mojo in that place. Makes me wonder if it's built on ancient native american burial grounds or something.

Just amazing to think that the Cardinals played more postseason games at Busch III than the Cubs have had at Wrigley in the last 72 years and have won more postseason games in the last 6 years than Cubs had in the last 82 years.

It really is great being a Cardinal fan. I can't imagine the ongoing horror of rooting for the Cubs for generation after generation.

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The Chicago Cubs: be-LIE-ving since 1908

"Do I want to be in STL forever? Of course. People from other teams want to play in STL and they are jealous that we're in STL because the fans are unbelievable. So why would you want to leave a place like STL to go somewhere else and make 3 OR 4 MORE MILLION A YEAR? IT'S NOT ABOUT MONEY. IALREADY GOT MY MONEY. IT'S ABOUT WINNING, THAT'S IT." Albert Pujols (February 15th, 2009)

Forgot to mention that I agree with the thesis above, that the Cubs would not be thinking about renovations of that scale if they did not think it would pay off for them in the end.

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"This is a heavyweight bout indeed."--John Rooney, Oct. 27, 2011

At some point fairly soon, they probably have to do something substantial and structural with WF to make it safe for years to come. And at that point, you might as well go whole hog and add luxury boxes, which are the probably the best option for generating new revenues inside the stadium (seating seems pretty close to being maxed out). All the retail stuff can help, but that's also an 81-day proposition (I imagine they will find some more uses for the stadium during non-baseball periods).

I have my doubts about the $250M price tag, because we all know that construction cost overruns are pretty much standard (I don't recall what the original price tag for BIII was). Keep in mind that the Soldier Field renovation cost a fortune, and I don't think the circumstances are too dissimilar with WF if you are talking about rebuilding the entire upper level, which would likely be the case with luxury suites.

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Silence is golden.

Surely they are similar. There would be a poopstorm of epic proportions if they actually proposed razing Wrigley. Keep the location, keep the shell and the outfield wall with the ivy, gut the rest of it.

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"This is a heavyweight bout indeed."--John Rooney, Oct. 27, 2011

Yup - even old Yankee Stadium had to have that done back in the 70's or 80's.

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Your friendly neighborhood bigot since 2012.

The playing field and outfield walls are the only things that should be kept. The idea that teams still put the bullpens in foul territory is laughable. Not good for outfielders running to catch foul balls and have to worry about tripping over the pitcher mounds.

Gutting and rebuilding it would cost more than razing it and building a new one.

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Silence is golden.

I'm sure it would. It would also be much, much easier from a PR perspective.

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"This is a heavyweight bout indeed."--John Rooney, Oct. 27, 2011

If you keep the outfield walls as-is, where do you put the bullpens? I'm sure they could figure something out.

I agree though. They just need to keep the ivy outfield walls, the CF scoreboard and the famous sign on the outside of the place. Other than that they should be able to do what they want.

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