Personalized pavers that once lined Clark and Addison streets near Wrigley Field, home of Chicago Cubs, have been found around Pontiac, purportedly coming from the nearby landfill. The bricks had been billed as “permanent fixtures” by the Cubs organization when they began selling them in 2006.

Over the last couple weeks, rumors had circulated around Pontiac about residents being in possession of such pavers, having received them from an unknown party or parties possibly working as a driver or drivers for Republic Services, which runs routes from Chicago to Pontiac and dumps waste from the metropolis at the local landfill.

Calls to the Republic Services operation near the landfill were redirected several times, first to an operation in Crestwood, then to an operation in Chicago, which led to a voicemail of an unknown person within the Chicago Cubs organization. A message left on the voicemail was not immediately returned.

The Chicago Cubs began selling the pavers near the holiday season in 2006, inviting fans to purchase brick pavers on which they could engrave personalized messages, up to a maximum of three lines and 15 characters per line. Prices varied, but were typically around $160.

The Ricketts family, led by Tom Ricketts, won their bid for the Cubs in January 2009 and purchased the franchise from the Tribune Company, and began a renovation project in September 2014.

However, one of the criticisms of the renovations concerned a lack of transparency regarding the fate of the pavers. Miles Zaremski, a blogger for the Huffington Post’s Chicago web edition, questioned the Cubs in June 2014 and their future plans for renovation and how that would impact the personalized pavers fans purchased.

“This writer phoned the front office on two separate occasions and asked the question, what does the Ricketts family plan on doing with those brick pavers as part of the renovation plans?” Zaremski wrote. “The answer I received both times was the same: WE DON’T KNOW.

“I then asked, what about those of us whose bricks were purchased at the very start and as a consequence have received a favorable spot … like at the front entrance? Again, the answer was, WE DON’T KNOW.”

Carrie Muskat, MLB.com blogger for the Chicago Cubs, reposted a letter sent out to fans in November who had purchased such pavers and may have wondered about their status.

“We are taking great care to preserve and protect your paver as work continues in and around the ballpark,” the Wrigley Field Paver Program letter said. “As part of this process, your paver may need to be moved and will not be accessible during this offseason. We will provide you with an update closer to Opening Day.”

On March 31 of this year, Cubs Vice President of Communications and Community Affairs Julian Green and Cubs Vice President of Ballpark Operations Carl Rice held a press conference and read prepared statements concerning issues surrounding the renovations. They declined to field questions from the media.

“While some Wrigley Field personalized pavers have already been removed on the ongoing construction, there are also some that have remained in the same location and will be accessible during the 2015 season,” Rice said. “It was determined the best long-term solution and location for the pavers is outside the Budweiser Bleachers on Sheffield and Waveland.

“Our plan is to replace and relocate all personalized pavers following the 2015 season. We anticipate the new pavers will be in place by Opening Day 2016. The original pavers will not be available for distribution and we will communicate specific locations once the design lays are finalized with those personalized pavers.”

An investigation of a name engraved on one of the pavers found locally led to contact with Suzanne Terrell of southern Louisiana. She and her family had purchased a paver to honor her deceased father, Philip Hoke, a native of Chicago.

Terrell recalled having received a letter from the Cubs organization about the replacement of the pavers, yet also recalled that the letter had stated that the original pavers would be kept in storage. She no longer possessed the letter and could not cite it verbatim, however.

Terrell also questioned why the organization had not sought a different method of disposal, such as destruction or storage, if the Cubs could not return the original bricks to the purchasers.

Contact with the Chicago Cubs media department led to an email belonging to Green being offered for clarification. An email message sent to Green was not immediately returned.



