MESA, Ariz. — David Warren walked the sunny left field concourse at Sloan Park on Tuesday fully masked up and very aware that a deadly virus continues to kill Americans even as vaccinations appear to be slowing the COVID-19 pandemic.
It didn’t stop him from traveling from his West Loop home to catch his Cubs in spring training this week.
And after hearing Monday’s news that Chicago will allow fans to return to both of the city’s ballparks on Cubs and White Sox Opening Days — at 20-percent capacity — it also didn’t stop Warren from envisioning returning to his annual summer ritual of attending 10 to 20 games at Wrigley Field.
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“I’m excited,” he said. “As long as everybody’s taking the necessary precautions, I think it’s good for everybody’s psyche to get out there and see some baseball, some good old-fashioned American sports, and enjoy Wrigley Field.”
It’s that “necessary precautions” part that is key — to Warren, the city and the team. The fans who can secure tickets, with tenured season-ticket holders getting highest priority, may buy tickets in pods, and safety requirements will be enforced.
MORE: How fans can win the chance to buy Cubs tickets at Wrigley
But the Cubs won’t struggle to sell their allotment of tickets — and may not even notice any reluctance of fans to take them out to the (reduced) crowd again — if fans interviewed Tuesday in Arizona (perhaps obviously) and Chicago were any indication.
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“Oh, yeah, no doubt,” Joe Kurtyka of the city’s Northwest Side said of lining up right away to return to Wrigley, where he and his wife Stacey typically attended maybe eight or nine games a year before COVID-19 kept fans shut out of ballparks last year. “With all the safety protocols that are in place, with the masking and just having 20 percent capacity, I would have no problem going back to Wrigley.”
Said Stacey Kurtyka, who attended Tuesday’s spring game with husband Joe: “Everybody would love to have some normalcy and see baseball again.”
Not that fans were dismissive of risk.
“There’s definitely concerns,” Arty Chaet, 24, said Tuesday from Wrigleyville, where he lives just three blocks from the ballpark. “Obviously, it’s a very serious issue. But I think the proper requirements are going to be in place for it to be as safe as it can be when they do reopen.”
Chaet pointed out that other sports have had fans return successfully.
“It seems like there haven’t been any stories about people catching it or major outbreaks happening at games,” said Chaet, who’s already working with friends on plans for getting tickets.
“We miss it,” said Joliet’s Marilynn Juricic, who attended Tuesday’s game in Arizona with husband of 48 years, Terry Juricic — and who said she’s already looking into regular-season tickets for Wrigley and some of the road ballparks where they enjoy watching the Cubs play.
They also have been vaccinated, Marilynn said.
And that figures to only increase more fans’ confidence as vaccinations become more widely distributed in the next two or three months — and, if downward trends of the virus continue, increasing numbers of fans are allowed in the ballparks.
“I suppose we all do [have concerns] to some extent,” Patrick Reynolds said Tuesday in Wrigleyville. “But it’s definitely not a deterrent.”
Not compared to the excitement of returning to ballparks, of returning to some sense of normal, maybe even to traditions.
“I’m extremely excited to go back because this is like our thing,” said Bolingbrook’s Cassidy Peterson, an Illinois State student who was at Tuesday’s game in Arizona with her dad, Geoff Peterson.
That excitement almost seemed to outweigh the risk with some fans.
“I don’t think it outweighs it,” Warren said. “But I think as long as everyone’s taking the necessary precautions, no one’s being negligent, then I think everyone can come out, have a good time and stay safe.”
Contributing from Chicago: Tim Stebbins