"We love baseball" Wrigley ballhawks stay on during pandemic

CHICAGO (AP) — Standing on a corner on Waveland Avenue, Moe Mullins has seen them come and go.

Sosa and McGwire. The Sandberg Game. Pujols. Young and old men alike. Summers full of blue skies, and a neighborhood changed forever.

“You know, life is a big circle,” Mullins says.

Like a baseball.

While Major League Baseball is beginning this season without fans in its stadiums, the famed ballhawks of Wrigley Field remain at their post amid the coronavirus pandemic. The banter is free and easy, like a street-side barbershop full of old friends, and pretty much everyone is fair game.

It's the same as it has been for decades, only with protective masks and — when there isn't a ball soaring over the fence — appropriate social distancing.

“We're baseball sickos. I mean we all are. We love baseball,” says Ken Keefer, 62, who lives at the corner of Waveland and North Kenmore Avenue — practically in the outfield of the historic ballpark.

“People are just jonesing for something like this. I mean they're just dying for some, I don't know if normalcy is the right word, but kind of back to what it used to be.”

The coronavirus robbed Keefer and company of more than half the season. There were no balls to chase in Wrigleyville this spring. Once the Cubs started practicing again, the ballhawks returned.

But any sizable gathering around Wrigley could put their favorite hobby in jeopardy once again.

The Cubs closed the park area at Gallagher Way during their first homestand and didn't show any games on their giant videoboard outside the ballpark in an effort to discourage crowds. They had no noticeable problems during their opening series against Milwaukee, but the city is monitoring the area around each major league ballpark in Chicago.

“We were concerned about...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/We-love-baseball-Wrigley-ballhawks-stay-on-15449157.php