Cubs fan ends up in the hospital after Wrigley Field scoreboard malfunction
There are generations of Chicagoans who claimed for years that there was nothing more painful than being a Cubs fan.
For at least one fan, that’s still the case — even after the team’s life-changing World Series win in 2016.
Everyone loves Wrigley Field, but apparently baseball’s second-oldest stadium (built in 1914) doesn’t always love fans in return.
Earlier this week, a 19-year-old fan was struck in the head by a piece of debris that fell from one of the stadium’s best-known features, the famous hand-operated scoreboard.
That scoreboard is in centerfield, high above the bleachers. A pin, used to hold the tiles in place for the inning-by-inning scores, came loose.
As Cubs spokesman Julian Green told the Chicago Tribune, the pin “rolled out of the scoreboard when the (score) tile was being changed.”
Wrigley update; Cubs now say piece of old scoreboard that fell on bucket-headed fan Tuesday was a 6-8-inch metal "pin" that holds the score tiles in place, not an actual score tile.
— Paul Sullivan (@PWSullivan) July 26, 2018
The team, which has used the scoreboard since 1937, said it has never had a similar problem.
The injured fan was taken to the hospital and received five stitches to close the gash in his head. The injury might have been worse, but the fan — for an unknown reason — happened to be wearing a plastic bucket on his head at the time.
Green says the pins are 6-by-8 inches and are used by the crew inside the scoreboard to attach the scoring tiles. He said the club is investigating how the pin got loose.
Structurally, Green insists there is nothing to worry about.
“There are no loose pins, and the scoreboard is secure,” he said.
A Cubs fan could have been seriously injured by a falling scoreboard tile—if he wasn’t wearing a plastic bucket on his head https://t.co/Gv3jcfKy7M
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) July 26, 2018
Oh, but what about the aforementioned bucket?
The fan wasn’t available for comment, but the Tribune speculates there may have been a connection from an extra-inning game three years ago where some Cubs players placed empty bubble gum containers on their heads as “rally caps.” Chicago won the game, and second baseman Starlin Castro ran on the field with his container/cap, and buckets have served as the rally caps of choice for some fans since.
Both police and the Cubs organization say the fan escaped more serious injury because he had a bucket on his head.
It’s not unprecedented for the old park to have some issues.
In 2004, Wrigley had three separate incidents where pieces of concrete fell from the upper deck into the lower grandstand seats. While nobody was injured, the Cubs did install protective netting under the upper deck for fan safety until repairs could be made after the season.
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