Friendlier Confines: Cubs Planning To Move Wall Behind Home Plate, Add 56 Box Seats

The Cubs yesterday announced that they are “planning to add 56 seats behind home plate by moving the brick wall three feet closer to the field,” according to Danny Ecker of CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS. The meeting agenda for the permit review committee of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, which meets tomorrow, shows the proposed renovation would “disassemble part of the current wall and salvage all the brick and stone cap to be incorporated into a new wall behind home plate.” Since the wall “falls under the guidelines of the stadium's 2004 landmark designation, the project must get a thumbs-up from the committee before the Cubs can get to work” (CHICAGOBUSINESS.com, 10/2). In Chicago, Paul Sullivan reports the “prime club box seats could cost $200 or more, depending on the game.” The Cubs “added three rows behind home plate before the 2004 season, lowering the height of the wall and moving it 10 feet closer than it had been for decades, to about 50 feet behind the plate” (CHICAGOTRIBUNE.com, 10/3).