Advertisement

In need of rehab? Go to WrigleyWrigley...

Share
Times Staff Writer

In need of rehab? Go to Wrigley

Wrigley Field may be turning into the frosty confines.

Taking their tradition of throwing the ball back after the opposing team hits a homer to a whole different level, fans pelted the field with 15 or so batting-practice balls Wednesday after Cincinnati’s Adam Dunn homered.

Two days later, a fan’s drink from the bleachers nearly doused Pittsburgh center fielder Nate McLouth as he chased down a ball that the Cubs’ Kosuke Fukudome had hit for a triple.

Fans also have been spotted wearing T-shirts bearing a racist image that had been sold at a souvenir trailer on Addison Street until Cubs officials confronted the vendor and halted their production.

Advertisement

The shirts featured the cartoon Cubs bear face but with slanted eyes and oversized Harry Caray-style glasses. The image was accompanied by the words “Horry Kow!” scrawled in cartoonish Japanese script, apparently a reference to the Cubs signing Fukudome to a four-year contract last December.

Noting that the supposedly fan-friendly stadium is “much closer to a raucous beer garden filled with just enough jerks to spoil the reputation of a much larger percentage of good fans,” Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times came up with a suggestion for the stadium’s proposed naming-rights deal: Betty Ford Clinic at Wrigley Field.

Trivia time

Andruw Jones on Saturday hit his first homer as a Dodger, a solo shot off Atlanta’s Chuck James in the second inning at Turner Field. When and where did the longtime Braves center fielder hit his first major league homer?

Dogging it

The Kansas City T-Bones have scrapped plans to hold a Michael Vick “Welcome to the Neighborhood Night” on May 28 that was scheduled to feature prison uniforms, spotlights and escape sirens.

Vick, the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback, is serving a 23-month sentence in nearby Leavenworth, Kan., after pleading guilty to federal charges related to dog fighting.

Responding to complaints about the proposed event, officials from the minor league baseball team announced they would focus only on events that promote animal safety and adoptions. The night will now include a dog parade, pregame dog adoptions and entertainment by Rockin’ Ray and the Sky Dogs.

Advertisement

“It was not our intent to be culturally insensitive,” T-bones General Manager Rick Muntean told Associated Press. “We simply wanted to raise awareness for what we think are great causes.”

The hot seat

Stanford Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby has created a fine mess for himself by letting men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson leave for Louisiana State, according to San Francisco Chronicle columnist Ray Ratto.

Not only does Bowlsby need to “dazzle with his next hire,” Ratto wrote, “he also has to hope that Jim Harbaugh’s football team can make beating USC a habit, or that it can win enough games to make beating USC a novelty, or that it can draw enough fans to make the new stadium look like it’s actually been used.

“He needs, in short, to have a lot more things go right in the next six months or so to get off the hook for the Johnson disaster.”

Trivia answer

Jones hit his first major league homer off Pittsburgh’s Denny Neagle on Aug. 16, 1996, at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

And finally

Noting the short college life span of elite freshman basketball players, Ron Agostini of the Modesto Bee wrote that college coaches who sign blue-chip high-school talent should from now on proclaim, “We’ve laid the foundation to what should be an exciting five months.”

Advertisement

--

ben.bolch@latimes.com

Advertisement