An emergency meeting was called by Cubs management after the infield at Wrigley flooded this week due to heavy rain. It appeared the Cubs grounds crew was incapable of handling the situation correctly.
“We realized we needed help. Our grounds crew failed in keeping the rain off the infield this week. There are no two ways about it. Additionally, MLB told us in no uncertain terms will this be tolerated again. That new commissioner guy was pissed. We decided to call Perma-Seal,” explained Cubs President Theo Epstein.
“We knew this day would come. I was telling Tony [Perma-Seal technician], you watch the phone’s gonna ring,” said Perma-Seal rep Tom Surma. “It’s like we tell all our clients, you can’t deal with amateurs. Theo called on Thursday and we discussed a bundled price. We can work package deals.”
“Tom brought me into the basement for an estimate,” said Epstein. “Not only was the infield in bad shape but the sump pump wasn’t firing correctly. Then he showed me the cracks in the right field wall under the ivy. You should’ve seen the crawl spaces. I was beyond embarrassed. Tom [Ricketts] isn’t gonna like the bill, but we decided to go for a payment plan.”
Chicago beat writer Paul Sullivan learned that the payment plan is for five years with an opt out clause after three. The first three years are at 0%. If the grounds crew is elected to an All-Star game by 2017, Perma-Seal will get the remaining two years guaranteed at an escalated interest rate. If the field floods again the deal is voidable and Perma-Seal has to take on the remainder of the Edwin Jackson contract.
