The Toyota sign was quietly put up at Wrigley Field today. (Nancy Stone / Tribune) Staff report
A day after the Cubs got the go-ahead from the City Council to install a controversial, illuminated Toyota sign behind the left-fielder bleachers at Wrigley Field, up went the sign.
As you can see from this photo, the sign appears every bit of the proposed 360-square-foot dimensions.
By the way, follow @pwsullivan on Twitter.
The sign needs to go. It would be nice if someone held up a sucks sign under the Toyota sign. I think I'll go buy a more reliable car, like a Ford or Chevy.
I think I'll buy another Toyota today.
Show Toyota how much you like the sign. Bring rotten fruit and vegatables, rocks, mud, balls, diapers, what ever and decorate this sign with your thoughts...
Cubs fans should be happy that sign might give the Cubs more spending power. Maybe they'll wake up one day and spend all the extra $ on a stadium they can actually win in. LOL
Wrigley Field was not a sponsored name. Wrigley owned the field and the Cubs at the time. It had nothing to do with a commercial corporate sponsorship whatsoever.
You all are so upset with corporate advertising, yet you all are in love with "Wrigley Field", where the very name itself, represents the first baseball stadium to be sponsored.
From the posts on here its clear there is a certain population of troglodyte that would advocate demolishing a Roman coliseum for a "shiny & new" stadium complete with "Jumbotron". (Oh, yes, I'm aware of the slightly incongruous comparison, but if you stop spluttering for a moment you'll see the similarity).
The Cubs may suck year in and year out, but that only speaks to the fact that Wrigley Field is an outstanding venue for a fun afternoon in the city. "The Cell" is an antiseptic corporate bowl built for the "consumption" of "entertainment". Wrigley is an icon that has, by virtue of time and experience, become more than just vehicle for the consumption of entertainment brought to you by one more soulless corporation.
For those who see Wrigley as just another stadium, I offer you Oscar Wilde: "The [troglodyte]knows the price of everything, the value of nothing."
Does anyone really care? A lousy baseball team full of lazy laggards with long-term contracts and a total disdain for the fans and their own self-respect. The best thing Cub "fans" can do is boycott this team and the management that put it together and tolerates its incompetent play. I am sick of them allllllll!
The only thing I want from the new owners is a winning team. How you get it and pay for it is your business. Right on Darius!!!
this better lower ticket prices, especially the overpriced bleacher seats... thanks Toyota.
The least they could have done if they wanted to ruin the friendly confines with a sign would have been to use an AMERICAN company.
Oh no, more desecration of the so-called shrine! Wrigley Field is nothing more than a crumbling, foul smelling dump that you lemmings have been brainwashed into believing in some type of mecca. What is so historic about it, anyway? That's it has seen more crappy baseball than anyplace else and that it's a haven for losers? Yeah, that's really something to be proud of .....
There's no stopping a Toyota, especially after the pedal gets stuck.
"I have no problem with it. Revenue streams are the lifeblood of any organization and if it blocks the rooftops, that's just a bonus as far as I'm concerned."
Why do you or anybody else care about blocking the rooftops or have any spite to those owners. The neighborhood was there before the park if you didn't know. They also pay the Cubs for their buisness even though I think the Cubs are on shaky legal ground to do so. If you don't like their buisness then advocate them not engaging in it but to want to dump crap on Wrigley because you don't like the rooftop owners makes no sense.
Be that the owners are against the sign for the "right" or wrong reasons the fact is they are on the right side of the issue regardless of their motivation.
"Big stupid ugly worthless sign. Toyota sucks why would the Cubs want them as a sponsor."
um... pot. kettle. black. you get it.
ok, now lets put up a bunch more and by the team a decent workout and training center, hire better coaches and scouts throughout the system, freeze ticket prices and win a damn world series.
Yuck.
The sign? No big deal.
A worthless old man who only pitches his closer every fifth day and expects him to be sharp? Losing is a big deal.
Fire the bum.
Rocky cleaned house. And won!
And you, Ricketts?
Hey, I got a great idea for a new tradition to celebrate our new sign.... every time the opposing team scores a run, we toss our beers at the sign to try and short it out.
Everybody sing along: "Hey Chicago whaddaya say, the Toyoda sign's coming down today!"
I now want my jumbotron ! Right now!
Does anyone really care? A lousy baseball team full of lazy laggards with long-term contracts and a total disdain for the fans and their own self-respect. The best thing Cub
"fans" can do is boycott this team and the management that put it together and tolerates its incompetent play. I am sick of them allllllll!
theDeal,
Where's your proof that the Cubs PR firm is behind these pro-sign posts? Your post is idiotic and stupid.
The sign does not ruin the Wrigley "experience". The team hasn't won a title since 1908 and you have fans complaining about a Toyota sign at Wrigley?
Typical Chicago meatballs.
Looks like Wrigley Field has joined Mayor Daley in thatthey have both "Jumped The Shark"
XX
Save yourself lots of $, as well as the aggravation that comes with a losing team, traffic, warm beer, cold food, and just don't go to Wrigley. There are far better ways to enjoy life.
SUCKERS!!!
These posts are paid posts, and I hope every cubs fan understands that. The Cubs hire PR firms who guerrilla market their point of view and part of that effort is to post on message boards. Some of the pro sign people are legit, but, most are not, and the forced recurring themes makes the difference quite obvious.
i thought that the cubs supported Chevy? I'm pretty sure that Pat and Ron say thats what they drive.
Can we expect a Wrigley sign at Toyota Park?
What a bunch of whiners! It's a business, people! The more revenue, the more money to put a better team on the field. The Toyota sign is there to stay - this team and its management are not. I'm sure there'll be many changes with the new ownership in place. And BTW, there have been many different signs on the buildings around Wrigley for decades. Remember the old Baby Ruth sign out in right center? Now the Cubs will get 100% of the revenue, and that's fair, as they pay 100% of the expenses.
Jefferson, that's some funny sheite.
Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and TOYOTA??
WTF Man??
As a life-long Cubs fan I say, who cares? I say tear down the whole damn ball park if it means we'll win a World Series. I don't understand the attachment to bricks and mortar.
Cubs seems more concerned about putting a sign for the money instead of trying to put up a pennant or World Series Championship Flag.Looks like you got what you really wanted!
Let the disappointment,misery and suffering continue.Hell will definitely have to freeze over for sure for the Cubs to win a world series let alone get to the world series.
Brah, this totally going to mess up my view for scoping chicks.
Oh goody! They got the sign up just in time for me to see it at Fridays game! I hope my in laws got seats that are opposite the sign. I don't want to look up and see that treason while I'm trying to see Americas favorite past time.
One word: disgusting.
Okay. A lot of other words come to mind, too. Many feared that this would happen after the Ricketts bought the team, and they were right.
Tacky, tacky, tacky. A reminder that America's greatest days are behind us.
As you can see from this photo taken by Tribune Cubs beat reporter Paul Sullivan, the sign appears every bit of the proposed 360-square-foot dimensions.
Actually, probably not. Most people, including myself, have a hard time with such perception. Error see a how big a three-light traffic signal is when it is standing on the ground?
What a shame, another ugly sign to look at. Wrigley Field is a landmark and should not be used this way. If the new owners need the money, maybe they should not have bought it.
Should have been a Hoover Vacuum ad, because we all know the Cubs suck!
This is good news. How can anyone argue with a winner? In order to keep this fine team together and profitable, this kind of thing is an absolute necessity.
I like it - and since when are Americans adverse to bringing in extra money? It's beautiful capitalism at work. Get over it.
@ Jim Richards: What three major sponsors have the White Sox lost that you speak of? The Sox have GM/Chevy as a sponsor and the "BP Cup" is for both teams. BP also promotes drawings for $500 gas cards at Comiskey. Good luck with BP and Toyota being sponsors next year, because they'll both be in lawsuits up to their eyeballs.
@ Jim Richards: What three major sponsors have the White Sox lost that you speak of? The Sox have GM/Chevy as a sponsor and the "BP Cup" is for both teams. BP also promotes drawings for $500 gas cards at Comiskey. Good luck with BP and Toyota being sponsors next year, because they'll both be in lawsuits up to their eyeballs.
This is an awful, awful move. Why can't the Cubs just put a good team onto the field? Then you get that revenue stream through ticket sales, concessions, and merchandise. How much money do you think the Hawks are earning from merchandise right now?
We really need John McDonough back. He knows how to run an organization. Sheesh.
Fukudome will like it. BONZAI!!
First that ugly UnderArmor ad on the outfield door now this stupid Toyota sign. That's it corporate aholes keep trashing Wrigley Field.
It looks soooo south side.
I have no problem with it. Revenue streams are the lifeblood of any organization and if it blocks the rooftops, that's just a bonus as far as I'm concerned.
Freak'n hideous. The Hawks bring home a championship and the Cubs desecrate Wrigley Field with shlock.
One team "gets it" finally and one team looses touch. What a role reversal in the matter of a few short years.
Well that didn't take long. I guess requesting City Council approval was just a matter of formality.
I don't like the fact of the sign going up. But I agree with anything which would piss off the roof-top owners.
as a white sox fan, I commend the ricketts family for putting up the sign.
logos/sponsorship have been apart of baseball for 100 years.
money doesn't grow on trees.
next step should be creating a tv network like the redsox.
Did Toyota pay off all those lawsuits yet?
First Toyota, then the BP sponsorship of the Crosstown Classic. Haven't companies learned yet that the Cubs are cursed and touching them will rub that curse off on them, too?
So as the Sox lose 3 majors sponsors in the last 3 weeks the Cubs are gaining? You really suck Kenny, you are absolutely killing our team.
Big stupid ugly worthless sign. Toyota sucks why would the Cubs want them as a sponsor.
More stuff for the Cubs-twats to complain about.