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The Wrigley Marquee Is Once Again Red

It was fun while it lasted.

Last week, the famous marquee at Wrigley Field was painted green, to evoke the color that it was during the 1930s, the decade that was being commemorated as part of the Wrigley Field 100th-anniversary celebrations. It had been painted its now-iconic red color in 1965, and has been so ever since (except when it was painted purple for the Northwestern football game in 2010).

The painting lasted a week. I wasn't able to go by the park today, but our intrepid photographer David Sameshima was there this afternoon and sent me a number of photos of the marquee being restored to its traditional red, along with one of the marquee in green (they had painted the bottom portion, the "Celebrating 100 Years" addition, last week after I was there). I say "restored," not "repainted," because in fact what the workers were doing was peeling the green paint off and revealing the red underneath. They did repaint the trim, originally white but painted gold for a week, back to the white that goes along with the red.

Honestly? I think I'd have left it green. That's the color it was when the Cubs were winning pennants in the 1930s, and I think it looks classier that way. Plus, think of all the new merchandise the Cubs could sell if they kept it green!

Let the record show that the Cubs were 3-2 with the marquee in green during the 2014 season. They're 7-11 at home with the marquee in red. Case closed, I'd say.