The Cincinnati Reds come to town today to face the Cubs, and the big story going in is the return of Dusty Baker to Wrigley Field. A lot is made of whether he’ll get boos and what reception, in general, he deserves. As you may recall, he departed after the disastrous 2006 season, when the Cubs lost 96 games under his command.
But he also famously took the Cubs to within five outs of the World Series in 2003, and then turned around and won more games in 2004, but missed the playoffs. He became the first Cubs manager to bring the Cubs back-to-back winning seasons since Leo Durocher in 1971-2.
In any case, I have mixed feelings about Dusty’s tenure with the Cubs. On one hand, I think he did great things for the Cubs. He brought excitement and cultivated a lot of young players who are now important parts of the Cubs or other teams. I never questioned his resolve to win, either.
But what I liked least about his reign, unlike most fans, is that he oversaw what happened on the field to cause demand for tickets to go through the roof. Even in 2003, it was easy for me to go to any game I wanted. Sure the Cubs were a good draw, but you could get tickets to most any game (some required more planning than others), and even the popular games weren’t sold out the first weekend they were on sale.
Now people line up twice if they want tickets on the first day of sales: first to get a wristband and second to convert that wristband to tickets. Naturally, with such extreme demand, ticket prices have skyrocketed. And now, if I want to go to a game, I have to plan carefully. Yes, several losing seasons cooled demand, but it is still a way more popular ticket than it used to be. And prices keep on going up, more and more advertising is inside the park, even within the playing field, and the culture of Cubs fans feels a bit different, a bit more business-like.
If Dusty hadn’t taken the team so close to the promised land in 2003, the commercialization of Wrigley probably wouldn’t be where it is at today. I don’t really begrudge Dusty for anything, but I am left saying…
…thanks, and no thanks, Dusty.
