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Twenty years ago… 8/8/88… was the first night game at Wrigley Field. It actually wasn’t the first official night game, because it was rained out, proving of course that God didn’t want night games at Wrigley Field.

Interesting side note, the Conrad Clan was actually at the game on 8/7/88 and somewhere we have a picture of my brother and I at Wrigley with the still unused lights in the background.

For those who may have thought that it was a travesty that Wrigley added lights, Cubs.com has a great timeline of the effort to get lights added to the ballpark. I had always thought that the Wrigley family wanted to add them in the winter of 1941, but canceled the plans when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entered WWII. It turns out that they were trying all along between then and when they sold the team.

The Cubs ownership saga continues. Now it is beginning to look like the new owner… whomever that ends up being… will also be the proud owner of Wrigley Field. Today the Tribune Company rejected the ISFA’s proposal to buy the park:

Tribune Co. on Tuesday rejected the latest proposal from the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority to acquire Wrigley Field, saying that the new undisclosed offer was not workable from a team standpoint.

“Any transaction transferring ownership of Wrigley Field to the public must satisfy the interests of Tribune, the Cubs and the public. While we appreciate the creativity of the latest ISFA proposal, it does not work from Tribune’s or the Cubs’ perspective,” said Crane Kenney, Cubs Chairman.

Here’s why this is bad news. One of the things that made the ISFA’s proposal appealing from a fan’s prospective is that the ISFA would be focused exclusively on running the ballpark… therefore they could devote money and manpower to fixing up the ballpark that no team owner, including the massive Tribune Company could.

Whoever ends up buying the Cubs/Wrigley Field will probably pay somewhere close to $1 billion for the whole package… there isn’t one ownership group out there that could then turn around and sink an additional $400 million into fixing up the ballpark. In other words, if the Cubs and Wrigley Field have the owner, you can simply forget about any sort of renovation project.

Here’s the other bad news… apparently the Cubs will soon be the proud owner of center fielder Jim Edmonds:

Edmonds, who turns 38 on June 27, hit .178 with a .265 on-base percentage for the Padres, and the general consensus seems to be that he’s well past his prime. The longtime Cardinals star hit 29 home runs in 2005 but fought leg injuries the last two seasons before being traded to the Padres last winter after San Diego failed to sign Kosuke Fukudome.

General manager Jim Hendry could not comment, but sources in the Cubs organization insist he will jump at the chance to sign Edmonds if he’s available.

I hate Jim Edmonds with the fire of a thousand suns. His batting average was actually lower than Felix Pie and he has no upside. I realize that the Cubs are looking for a left handed bat with some power, but does it have to be Jim Edmonds?