Renovating Wrigley Field

Chicago’s Wrigley Field is the second oldest ballpark in major league baseball. Named from the founder of --what else?-- Wrigley’s Chewing Gum, Wrigley Field has housed the Chicago Cubs since 1916. During almost 100 years, Wrigley Field has been one of thee best places in America to watch and play baseball. That is, until a few years ago… when one of America’s most famous ballparks began to struggle.

During recent years, Wrigley Field has been used for loud and rowdy concerts which have damaged the entire field. In addition, the summer of 2007 brought with it a fungus that proved disastrous for the turf. This, combined with the field’s old, ineffective drainage system, turned Wrigley Field into a less than perfect place to play a game of baseball. The uneven surface caused weird hops in the ball, and a pronounced hump in the field made it appear that the outfielders were floating above the field-- a decidedly strange sight.

But one of the oldest, most prestigious ballparks in the world can’t go on uncared-for and practically unusable. To solve Wrigley Field’s problems and return it to its former glory, the ballpark had to turn to the competition. Roger Bossard is one of the best groundskeepers in the world-- but he also works for the Cubs’ rivals, the Chicago White Sox. Still, passion for your work is passion for your work, and Bossard agreed to come across town to renovate Wrigley Field.

But… how did Bossard do it? The first order of business, of course, was to even out the surface of the field and eliminate the “crown” that made players appear to float a few strange inches off of the ground. With bulldozer and backhoes at work, Bossard cleared 9,000 tons of dirt from the field.

Next, of course, was turf-- good turf is one of the most important elements of a ballparlk, and Wrigley’s turf has been decimated by fungus. And while Bossard starting off with some great new sod for Wrigley Field was an important step, it might not have been his most important. The last key step was installing a state of the art drainage system. Bossard’s drainage system used pipes nestled in the gravel underneath the turf. Any water coming down on Wrigley Field will be swept directly into Chicago’s sewer system, keeping the field dry and keeping playing going,

The renovations of Wrigley Field were complete in November, and one of America’s most famous ballparks is again one of her best. Want to read more about Wrigley Field and how “the Sodfather” Roger Bossard transformed it into an incredible place to play baseball? Visit the Smithsonian Magazine website at the following link: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/