NSBB at the 2005 Convention

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I promised that I would come back bearing gifts and I have done so. First of all, I have a bunch of pictures of the planned expansion of wrigley and of Jason Dubois, Jon Leicester, Oneri Fleita, and John Stockstill. Secondly, I will have an audio of the down on the farm section. I brought my microcassette recorder with me and the quality sounds pretty good on the speaker that it has. I actually taped the management section first but forgot to bring a second tape with me. Since Jon took notes from the management section he told me to record the down on the farm section.

 

About Carlos, my friend and I got to the line about 5 minutes before they closed it off. I didn't actually meet him, though, because I left line to get an 8x10 picture for him to sign and was not allowed back in by the ushers. Still, the autograph was plenty for me. I'll take a picture of it and put it with the pics from the management section and of the prospects. Carlos was signing autographs and taking pictures with people for an hour and twenty to forty minutes. I was quite impressed that he showed up and that he stayed for that long. He certainly made my weeked.

I'm glad you got his autograph. I was surprised that he was still signing when I walked by at 12:00 (he started at maybe 11:10). That was nice of him. Apparently, he actually did arrive Saturday morning but wasn't at his autograph session for some reason.

 

I posted a thread about his gum here:

 

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I'll post my report in a little bit. I will say that I also got Dubois' autograph on my pass while I was looking for information on the Carlos line. After he signed on stage, he just stood around at signed for more people. Nice guy.

Also, my el rides took only 60 minutes each way. I was pleasantly surprised.

 

Did you mention the BandWGN to him, Jon? I was expecting a little plug.

[burnt out cubbie fan]

hmm...if anybody knows anything about recording stuff over the microphone in windows let me know either by pm or over aim. I talked to Jon about it but for some reason it isn't working.

Make sure in the program you're using that the recording source is set to "microphone" or whatever jack the microphone is plugged into (such as "line in"). Also, open up the Windows volume controls and make sure that source isn't muted.

After I tinkered around with the settings for a while, I figured out what the problem was. It is recording right now and should be ready in about an hour. Unfortunately it will only be mono due to the way that the recorder works and the fact that I don't know how to do some sort of virtual stereo.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Wow, that's awesome, burnt.

[Jon]

I didn't oversleep this time (despite not being able to fall asleep until 1:00 once again after going to bed at 11:00) and the el was running very smoothly at 7:00 AM, so I got down to the room at about 8:30 after buying a croisant and a blueberry muffin at the Starbucks about 100 feet away ($5.50!?!). I sat next to Mark and Rich in the third row. Serena later joined us and Tony and his friend got there right at 9:00 and sat in the row right behind us. So here are my notes on the Business session:

 

McGuire showed the crowd never before seen (publicly) pictures and artists renditions of the bleacher expansion proposal and the 3 additional rows of seats between the first base dugout and the visitor's bullpen. These were actual photos taken from the press box and it seems to blend in pretty well. It really only looks like 1.5 or 2 rows are on the field, but there are indeed 3 additional rows over there (I'll get to the ticket info in a little bit).

 

They also showed us pictures of a cardboard cutout they put up behind home plate for where the rotating sign will be. If you're looking in on TV or from the bleachers, it is indeed off center to the left like the temporary green screens were. McGuire claimed that unless you're in the bleachers, you really aren't going to see it if you're at the games (because of the angle that it's at).

 

I was going to draw a cross-section diagram of the brand new bleacher proposal, but I'll only do that if Burnt's pics don't turn out. McGuire said that most rooftops will be fine. The ones in left and right center will have to build up but they should be okay, as well. They are currently planning on having wheelchair seating in the bleachers in right field (currently where the group section is) and on the batter's eye (at the back of it there's going to be a platform for wheelchair seating). They scrapped the restaurant idea for underneath the batter's eye and are considering making it some sort of skybox. They're unsure at this point, but they're definitely getting rid of the bushes and are going to put up that green glass that was proposed before. The bleacher expansion will also connect the bleachers with the rest of the stadium. Bleacher fans will be able to walk around and will even be able to walk behind the scoreboard (see Burnt's pictures when they're posted). I'll get to the better food in a bit. When the plan gets improved, the expansion will be able to take place in one offseason.

 

As for the the triangle building, it will feature batting cages, player parking, and improved commissaries. There will be be underground walkways for the players (unfortunately, this means no more getting autographs by the parking lot). You must have a ticket to the game to walk around in the building or area in between Wrigley and the building. They're planning on having stuff going on up on the roof and there will be walkways from the roof to the upper deck of Wrigley. They're slowly inching closer to approval. The real holdup is that although the Tribune owns the land, the city is claiming that they still own the road in between Wrigley and what would be the new building. Because of the other issues with the city, they're not going to bother fighting it and instead just pay the city for the land. They're currently negotiating.

 

Maloney: They try to keep the ticket playing field as level as possible

McGuire: They're reducing the number of tickets you can buy online this year (4 max for all games). They'll most likely sell tickets at Wrigley again this year for when they go on sale but because of the construction, it's not a definite.

 

McDonough: He wanted Steve Stone back, don't believe anything you read. Stone, in his opinion, is the best color guy in any sport ever. The situation could have been handled a lot better on both sides. Stone and the Cubs still have a good relationship. They're very happy to have Bob Brennly. They have a very, very good broadcast team in him and Len.

 

Maloney: 3,000-4,000 no-shows a game on most days.

 

McGuire: They would not be pursuing expansion if they didn't think Wrigley would last. The steel is in good shape. He said the critical inspections of the concrete consist of "whacking the hell out of it." They're actively pursuing attractive netting that will fit tightly up against the concrete. The nets will also prevent false claims. They continue to actively monitor the concrete. At some point in the future (more than 10 years out), some concrete will have to be replaced. They're taking a more "aggressive approach with the bleachers." They reinforce the steel every offseason.

McDonough: McGuire works incredibly hard to keep Wrigley going.

 

McDonough: There are still going to be games on WCIU and CLTV. They have been assured that Dish Network will have CSCN by April 1st.

 

McGuire: The blackout restrictions are inteded to protect the TV rights holders. They're going to have to look at the blackout restriction map (the fan asked about the ridiculous blackout zones).

 

McGuire: If you have multiple ticket orders, you can call up the Cubs or tickets.com at a later date to consolidate the purchase in order to pay just one shipping fee.

 

McDonough: They have talked about retiring Fergie's number. Maddux is wearing #31 right now, though. They will revisit the idea down the road. The Cubs do not take retiring numbers lightly. A fan suggested retiring #31 for both Fergie and Greg and McDonough pointed out that when Maddux goes to the HOF, he'll most likely be going as a Brave.

 

Maloney: The luxury dugout seats and the new three rows of seats (which will be slighly less expensive than the ones behind home plate) will go on sale in March. They'll most likely use the same lottery system as last year and will sell them on a game-by-game basis. They will not be sold as season tickets.

 

McGuire: If the Cubs had to shut down Wrigley, they do not have an agreement already in place but the logical choices would be either the Cell or Miller Park. They do not envision having a need to do that, though.

 

McGuire: The current bleacher expansion plan calls for 1,800 new seats. They will think about making more bleacher season tickets available after the expansion.

 

McGuire: Levy Restaurants, who in 2004 had handled the food service for the skyboxes, will take over all concession sales from Aramark.

 

Maloney: They do look on Stubhub.com and eBay for season ticket holders who sell their season tickets and post their account number. They try to figure out who's selling the tickets and they do take action (he didn't specify).

 

Maloney: In terms of season ticket holders not being able to buy addition tickets for the playoffs (at least in the bleachers), their hands are tied because it's MLB's event. The other 29 teams get tickets and they just couldn't offer additional seats to season ticket holders and still meet their agreement with with MLB.

 

McGuire: Taking the names off of the home jerseys was the right move. Players were the reason why they started wearing the alternate blue tops at home. It's now a tradition for the starting pitcher to chose the uniform for every game. If it was up to him, they'd use the pinstripes at home exclusively and mostly just the greys on the road.

 

McDonough: The Enesco promotions are not taking place this year because the company changed management and they just couldn't meet the demand. This year, they're going to have autographed photos of players and even have authentic remakes of the exact glove models that Santo and Banks wore when they played. They'll give away 120 gloves per promotional date.

 

McDonough: They will go forward with the 7th inning stretch guest conductors. 21 former Cubs did it in 2004 and it's a great way to keep them close to the organization. He also said that Harry loved celebrities and because it's an imperfect game and an imperfect team, having imperfect conductors is fitting.

 

 

I obviously didn't go to the Down on the Farm session, but I'm sure Mark will post about that. We may even get the audio of it from Burnt.

 

 

Despite getting very little sleep, I had a great time this weekend. So thank you Mark and I hope you all enjoyed these reports.

[Jon]

Did you mention the BandWGN to him, Jon? I was expecting a little plug.

Unfortunately, no. I did tell him that I'd like to see him start many games in left this season, though.

[UMFan83]

BTW, for those that didn't see Jon or Mark in action, these guys worked extremely hard jotting down all these notes to post for us all. I don't think I saw Jon's face looking up at what was going on too often because of all the notes he was taking, I don't know how he even enjoyed it (:)). So I want to thank Jon and Mark, because that was pretty cool of them.

[J.R.]

Nice job JMD, you fellows have made NSBB the ONLY place to find in-depth reporting on the convention happenings.

 

Aramark is the pits, no tears will be shed over their departure. I'm glad to see that the expansion plans are still on the burner. I'm very much a traditionalist, but the fact is the day TPTB stop trying to improve Wrigley is the day we'll know her days are numbered.

[burnt out cubbie fan]

I thought that all of the plans for the improvements looked extremely good to be honest. I am one of those people that doesn't like to see Wrigley changed but I would not be against the changes (bleacher and past the dugout) if they were done like the drawings showed them. The brick with ivey along the outside bleacher wall would look dope.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

I thought that all of the plans for the improvements looked extremely good to be honest. I am one of those people that doesn't like to see Wrigley changed but I would not be against the changes (bleacher and past the dugout) if they were done like the drawings showed them. The brick with ivey along the outside bleacher wall would look dope.

 

That's good to hear. I'm a traditionalist and if a fellow traditionalist likes the remodeling plans, I'd be pleased.

[J.R.]

I thought that all of the plans for the improvements looked extremely good to be honest. I am one of those people that doesn't like to see Wrigley changed but I would not be against the changes (bleacher and past the dugout) if they were done like the drawings showed them. The brick with ivey along the outside bleacher wall would look dope.

 

Did anyone ask why similar improvements aren't slated for the third base side? I imagine they'red be no place to put the tarp ...

[Cubman15]

Hello Fellow Cub fans. In case some of you don't know me, I'm a long time member of Cubs.com. I still recognize many of your names from the old board and its nice to see that Tim has started a site that everyone can discuss the Cubbies in a troll free environment.

 

Now that I have the introductions (and "re-introductions") out of the way, I'll let you know a little about my experience today.....

 

My friend knows a guy that works for the Cubs marketing department and was pretty much in charge of this weekends festivities, so we were able to get in for free. We got to the Hilton about 20 minutes before things began. It was great to see all of the Cub fans there, even though Sunday was basically a day to wind down from the rest of the weekend.

 

The first thing we wanted to do was get a couple of autographs, so we went and did so. It took about 30 minutes to get Jason Dubois autograph. He had a smile on his face as he signed the memorabilia, but wasn't too talkative, so I wished him luck on the upcoming season and moved on.

 

We went to one of the rooms with the open discussion, apparently this one was one public relations/advertising/promotions. A couple of people whined about the Mother's Day figurines no longer being available (or at least my understanding). One gentleman pretty much begged them to stop the 7th Inning Stretch Guets, to which he got a good round of applause from the crowd. When one of the guys on the panel explained the concept behind it (not sure who he was), the other half of the room applauded him. All in all it seemed split down the middle about the 7th Inning Stretch Guest Composers.

 

At 10:30, they began discussions on the Cubs minor league system, something I was looking forward to. I was actually sitting in the 4th row, about two rows behind someone wearing a NSBB t-shirt! I wanted to introduce myself, but never got the chance as my friend received a phone call from his buddy that was in charge of the event, telling us that Carlos Zambrano snuck into the building and would be signing autographs pretty soon. Dave Otto, Jon Leicester, Jason Dubois, Oneiri Fleita(sp?), and stockstill were there answering questions. I actually got to ask the very first question of the day, about Feliz Pie, so that was very cool. (I'll start another post with some of my notes from "Down on the Farm")

 

At about 10:50 or so, I snuck out of the discussion to go and get Zambrano's autograph, since it was a surprise appearance. On my way out of the discussion, I actually passed Jim Hendry and got his autograph. He was very nice, shook hands with me, and just seemed like an overall good guy. Once in line, it took about 45 minutes to get Carlos' autograph. When I got up there, he seemed like he was getting a little tired of signing, so I wished him good luck and told him to say hi to Jim Edmonds again for me. He kind of laughed at that one.

 

Overall, it was a fun experience today. I realize that this was the slowest day of the three, but I'm sure I'll be going to many conventions in the future.

[Jon]

I thought that all of the plans for the improvements looked extremely good to be honest. I am one of those people that doesn't like to see Wrigley changed but I would not be against the changes (bleacher and past the dugout) if they were done like the drawings showed them. The brick with ivey along the outside bleacher wall would look dope.

 

That's good to hear. I'm a traditionalist and if a fellow traditionalist likes the remodeling plans, I'd be pleased.

They were good looking plans. I'll be sad to see the Family Section turn into bleacher seating, but it should be okay.

 

Oh, I did have fun, Tony. I wasn't writing too much.

[Jon]

I thought that all of the plans for the improvements looked extremely good to be honest. I am one of those people that doesn't like to see Wrigley changed but I would not be against the changes (bleacher and past the dugout) if they were done like the drawings showed them. The brick with ivey along the outside bleacher wall would look dope.

 

Did anyone ask why similar improvements aren't slated for the third base side? I imagine they'red be no place to put the tarp ...

Yeah, it's most likely the tarp. I can't think of anywhere else they could put it and still be able to cover the field quickly once a game is delayed due to rain. Plus, they already had those two rows of folding chairs on the field on the first base side from the '98 playoffs.

[burnt out cubbie fan]

I thought that all of the plans for the improvements looked extremely good to be honest. I am one of those people that doesn't like to see Wrigley changed but I would not be against the changes (bleacher and past the dugout) if they were done like the drawings showed them. The brick with ivey along the outside bleacher wall would look dope.

 

Did anyone ask why similar improvements aren't slated for the third base side? I imagine they'red be no place to put the tarp ...

I assumed that they were for both side of the field...

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Did you mention the BandWGN to him, Jon? I was expecting a little plug.

Unfortunately, no. I did tell him that I'd like to see him start many games in left this season, though.

 

Slacker. :lol:

[Cubman15]

I was at the cubs convention today and had a chance to sit in the 4th row during the "Down on the Farm" discussion. Seated just two rows in front of me was a man and his wife wearing, you guessed it, NSBB t-shirts. I wanted to say hi after the discussion, but snuck out earlier than expected when I heard about Carlos Zambrano's sneak appearance.

 

I was lucky enough to ask the very first question, so I asked what Oneiri could tell me about Felix Pie. Basically he said that the cubs plan on being very patient with him, since he's so young and they want to develop him the right way. Pie will be starting in AA this year at the age of 20. He was part of the Carribean World Series last year and has played on championships in several minor league stops including: Mesa, Boise, Lansing, and Daytona. When I asked about Pie, Fleita seemed very happy that I brought him up and overall, the cubs people were very high on him.

 

Luke Hagerty~~Was lost in the Rule 5 Draft this season. Stockstill said that you can't protect everyone, and since the decisions have to be made in Novemeber, you unfortuinately lose some good young talent. The Cubs didn't protect Hagerty for several reasons; 1) He had only pitched 70 IP in the last two years 2) his surgery didn't go as well as had been hoped for 3) they believe that he will probably make his way back to the cubs this year anyway.

 

Nic Jackson~~Was not on the 40 man roster this year. The cubs are still optimistic for him, but his injuries have been a big cause for concern for the organization. He will be invited to Spring Training this year.

 

Grady Little~~Will serve as the Cubs catching instructor for the minor leagues this year. The Cubs are very excited to have him on in that capacity.

 

Jon Leicester~~Actually played 3B and pitched in college. He said his third base career went into the dumps because he couldn't hit the braud side of a barn! LOL

 

Ryan Harvey~~Drafted in 2003 (?) is still 4-5 years away, but has a ton of potential and a very potent bat.

 

Sorry for the short report, but I had to cut out of the discussion a little early to go and get Zambrano's autograph since he's one of my favorite players. The gentleman that was there with the NSBB t-shirt seemed to have a notebook full of stuff, so I'm sure you'll be getting a detailed report from him shortly.

[J.R.]

It's so cool to see how far this organization has come, not just in recent times but over the years since the Trib took over. In the early '60s, it was routine to see the whole upper deck closed down Marlins-style ... fans in those days would have laughed in your face if you talked of a Cubs Convention drawing thousands in the dearth of winter, or of a future need for park expansion.

[E.J.]

I'm assuming the gentleman you saw with the NSBB shirt was JonMDavis who's a moderator on this site. He's posted his experience in this Thread along with others who went to the Convention. Also, welcome to NSBB!!!

[UMFan83]

I thought that all of the plans for the improvements looked extremely good to be honest. I am one of those people that doesn't like to see Wrigley changed but I would not be against the changes (bleacher and past the dugout) if they were done like the drawings showed them. The brick with ivey along the outside bleacher wall would look dope.

 

Did anyone ask why similar improvements aren't slated for the third base side? I imagine they'red be no place to put the tarp ...

Yeah, it's most likely the tarp. I can't think of anywhere else they could put it and still be able to cover the field quickly once a game is delayed due to rain. Plus, they already had those two rows of folding chairs on the field on the first base side from the '98 playoffs.

 

I think basically this was the main reasoning for the decision to put new seats there.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Thanks for the report and welcome to NSBB, Cubman15! I think the mods might move this thread to the Events forum where others have already posted their experiences at the convention. You should check out the link Willis posted. The guy with the notebook (my guess is JonMDavis too) posted his notes in the Convention thread already.

[burnt out cubbie fan]

the recording of the audio is done. The sound quality is pretty good. I decreased the quality to 24 kbs so that an hour of audio is only 11 mb and it sounds about the same as before. Jon is going to post it on his website but you can also get it from me over aim if you wish to do so. I will now decrease the size of my pictures since they are currently 1.3 mb apiece and 2048x1536. :)

[UMFan83]

Also, I propose that when people ask questions next year, they identify themselves as "first/last name from NSBB.com" We need to get out name out there for all to see! The shirts really did help from Jon and Mark

[Jon]

Also, I propose that when people ask questions next year, they identify themselves as "first/last name from NSBB.com" We need to get out name out there for all to see! The shirts really did help from Jon and Mark

I actually got a few comments from people walking by, but they already new about the site or were members (I didn't catch any names).

 

http://www.jonmdavis.net/cubs/downonthefarm2005p1.mp3

 

http://www.jonmdavis.net/cubs/downonthefarm2005p2.mp3

Edited January 23, 2005 by Jon

[Roast]

Also, I propose that when people ask questions next year, they identify themselves as "first/last name from NSBB.com" We need to get out name out there for all to see! The shirts really did help from Jon and Mark

I actually got a few comments from people walking by, but they already new about the site or were members (I didn't catch any names).

 

http://www.jonmdavis.net/cubs/downonthefarmp1.mp3

 

http://www.jonmdavis.net/cubs/downonthefarmp2.mp3

 

Your links dont work, jon.

[burnt out cubbie fan]

I was going to post the audio but Jon beat me to it. They are 32 minutes long and about 5.5mb apiece.

 

The pictures of the drawings, players I saw, and my two autographs that I got can be found here (33 pictures in total):

pictures

 

Some of the pictures may be blurry. As I said earlier in the thread, it is next to impossible to take clear pictures in that place. The lighting was absolutely horrible, especially during the management report slide show where the lights were dimmed and they were flying through the pictures.

 

note: the pictures may take a couple hours to be posted on the page.

second edit: if you click on the picture you get an enlarged view. You can then click on view full size to see them in the 2048x1536 original size.

Edited January 23, 2005 by burnt out cubbie fan