Wrigley Field: What's in a Name?

This decision, one most certainly made for his own financial gain, is sure to upset baseball purists nationwide. Wrigley Field, named for one-time owner and chewing gum guru William Wrigley Jr., was build in 1914 and is one of the few venues in professional sports which hasn't sold itself to multi-million dollar establishments—Staples, Bank of America, Gillette, Pepsi, Petco, U.S. Cellular, just to name a few.

Renaming a sports venue, while now common place, does not work for Wrigley Field. Selling the naming rights to the park, no matter what the new name ends up being, is akin to renaming the White House; the Washington, Jefferson, or Lincoln monuments; or Mount Rushmore. It is just un-American. Losing the name Wrigley is in turn losing a bit of American history, and more specifically Cubs lore.

That being said, businesses and organizations from all facets of the economy will shortly be lining up with blank checks ready to plaster their logo, signs, and banners all over the walls of the stadium that, up until now, have been only adorned with ivy.

Even if Zell does follow suit and sells the naming rights to Wrigley Field to the highest bidder—which will indeed happen—it will take much more than a silly corporate name to convince die-hard Cubs fans to abandon the team. After all, this is a bunch who through think and thin, through the Banks, Sandberg, Grace, and Sosa eras have stood by their lovable losers.

Maybe Dempster is right—this could perhaps finally be the year, as we have heard Cubs fan say come every April.

After all what better way to usher out the Wrigley name than to celebrate a World Series title in the friendly confines in the place we used to call Wrigley Field?

And maybe, just maybe, the Wrigleyville faithful will come to embrace what we will soon be calling Harpo Field, or Microsoft Stadium, or even Gates Park.

But don't count on it. Cubs fans know better than that.