(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The last time Chicago’s North Side hosted baseball’s All-Star festivities, Cubs Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg won the Home Run Derby — with three homers.
It’s been 34 years, and counting, and despite all the ballpark improvements the Cubs have made over the last decade, there is still at least one major change needed before MLB comes back.
“Active streets around Wrigley Field [are] very difficult, from a security perspective, from the league’s judgment,” Cubs Business Operations Head Crane Kenney said on WBBM-sister station 670 the Score over the weekend. “The league assessed every ballpark for risks for terrorism through an automobile, and we were in one of the bottom rungs there.”
Kenney said the Cubs met with three high-ranking city officials last week and that there is an emerging plan to surround Wrigley with bollards — small posts that could stop dangerous traffic, thereby allowing the streets and Wrigleyville’s bars and restaurants to stay open.
The 2024 All-Star game will be hosted by the Texas Rangers at their new ballpark in Arlington, and the 2026 mid-summer classic will be played in Philadelphia to commemorate the United States’ 250th year of independence.
When it comes to 2025 and 2027, though, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said over the summer of 2023 that he’s eyeing stadiums that haven’t recently hosted an All-Star Game.
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