Bears boss George McCaskey umpired for Savannah Bananas at Wrigley Field
<p><a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears" target="_blank" >Bears</a> chairman George McCaskey got quite the warmup for training camp — he spent three days at Wrigley Field umpiring games played by the <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/arts-and-culture/2026/07/25/savannah-bananas-wrigley-field-chicago" target="_blank" >Savannah Bananas</a>.</p><p>McCaskey, who is an umpire and referee for youth and high school sports, was asked to umpire the baseline for three sold-out games against the Firefighters. The Bananas play a high-energy style of baseball that, among other things, rewards outs made by trick plays and counts balls caught by fans as outs.</p><p>Cubs legends Kerry Wood, David Ross and Ben Zobrist made appearances on the field, too — the same way the Bananas brought out former White Sox players to play last year at Rate Field.
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<p><a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears" target="_blank" >Bears</a> chairman George McCaskey got quite the warmup for training camp — he spent three days at Wrigley Field umpiring games played by the <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/arts-and-culture/2026/07/25/savannah-bananas-wrigley-field-chicago" target="_blank" >Savannah Bananas</a>.</p><p>McCaskey, who is an umpire and referee for youth and high school sports, was asked to umpire the baseline for three sold-out games against the Firefighters. The Bananas play a high-energy style of baseball that, among other things, rewards outs made by trick plays and counts balls caught by fans as outs.</p><p>Cubs legends Kerry Wood, David Ross and Ben Zobrist made appearances on the field, too — the same way the Bananas brought out former White Sox players to play last year at Rate Field. McCaskey was featured briefly on the Bananas' broadcast.</p><p>Split, the Bananas mascot, posed for a photo with McCaskey and said the chairman replaced his yellow football with a Bears one.</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center><div class="Enhancement-item"> <div class="ExternalContent-wrapper" > <div class="TweetUrl"> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bears owner George McCaskey didn’t like my green and yellow football… so we threw that one away and he gifted me this one. <br><br>…and yes he’s an umpire in today’s game.
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- <p><a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears" target="_blank" >Bears</a> chairman George McCaskey got quite the warmup for training camp — he spent three days at Wrigley Field umpiring games played by the <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/arts-and-culture/2026/07/25/savannah-bananas-wrigley-field-chicago" target="_blank" >Savannah Bananas</a>.</p><p>McCaskey, who is an umpire and referee for youth and high school sports, was asked to umpire the baseline for three sold-out games against the Firefighters. The Bananas play a high-energy style of baseball that, among other things, rewards outs made by trick plays and counts balls caught by fans as outs.</p><p>Cubs legends Kerry Wood, David Ross and Ben Zobrist made appearances on the field, too — the same way the Bananas brought out former White Sox players to play last year at Rate Field.
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Bears boss George McCaskey umpired for Savannah Bananas at Wrigley Field
Sources1TypeCoverageChicago Sun-Times