Dirt Cheap: Cubs’ Lack of Green Now Extends to Wrigley Field Grass

Things have really gotten out of hand at Wrigley, where the Cubs’ spendthrift ways have now led to the removal of all the grass. It’s probably because Tom Ricketts doesn’t want to shell out a few extra bucks to maintain it for the last few weeks before winter closes its icy grip around the city. Either that or the sod was beat to hell following a football game that took place after a full baseball season and multiple concerts.

They've taken the Field out of Wrigley Field! pic.twitter.com/9JAkNmC4cL

— Wrigley Aerials (@WrigleyAerials) November 30, 2021

This is pretty much an annual occurrence at the corner of Clark and Addison — check out our updates from 2017, 2018, 2019 — with sod being removed each fall and replaced again in the spring. Just imagine how much more arduous it would be to try to maintain adequate playing conditions after everything mentioned above mixed with a polar vortex that turns the ground into veritable permafrost until at least mid-April. Yikes.

The real fun comes when they have to replace the sod, which sometimes doesn’t happen until right before the Cubs are ready to open their home slate. If you haven’t been around for our previous sod-related posts and you haven’t yet seen how the emerald playing surface is harvested, I’ve included a pair of educational videos below. As goofy as it sounds, this stuff is borderline entrancing.

This first one is visually stunning at points and the music would make a great nighttime background, while the second is much noisier and more visceral. Think of it like Kyle Hendricks being followed by Rod Beck.

Now we sit back and wait for someone to angrily decry my stupid clickbait instead of just rolling with the joke.