Wrigley Field Needs to Die

Ah, Wrigley Field. It's one of the oldest, most beloved parks in baseball... And Rich Cohen wants to destroy it—and yes, he means utterly, with whatever explosives necessary. "That pile of quaintness has to go," he writes in the Wall Street Journal. "Then the ground itself must be salted," and maybe covered with a housing project or "Stalinist monolith." Why? Because before the Cubs moved to Wrigley, they were a powerhouse. Now they're the Cubs.

That's not a coincidence, either. "The park is schizo," Cohen complains, swinging from hitter's park to pitcher's as the wind changes, making it nigh-impossible to optimize a team for the place. It's also too idyllic and beloved—it means the owners needn't field a winning team to fill it. A new stadium would change all that, and dull the memories of decades of futility. "When a house is haunted you don't put in a new scoreboard, add ivy, get better food or bigger beers—you move!" Click for Cohen's full column. (More Wrigley Field stories.)