— -- CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs just can't win. Even on their stadium's birthday.
No, that's not exactly breaking news for the famously luckless franchise.
First, the Cubs put together an emblematic bullpen meltdown to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Wrigley Field on Wednesday.
Then, they got roasted for throwing away a decadent, uneaten birthday cake created for the park.
For the well-planned, highly marketed birthday celebration for Wrigley, the Cubs commissioned a 400-pound cake replica of the park from Carlo's Bakery of "Cake Boss" fame in Hoboken, N.J.
Amid great fanfare, the cake was showcased at Wrigley and then taken to the Field Museum for a charity event. But a Reddit user photographed the cake being hauled out of the museum and left in a dumpster. The Chicago Tribune's RedEye publication posted pictures and links Thursday morning.
When reached Thursday morning, Cubs spokesperson Julian Green hadn't yet heard of the story. He later issued the following statement:
"The Chicago Cubs are disappointed in how our Wrigley Field display cake was disposed of by the Field Museum following our successful charity event last night. The team made a decision not to serve the edible portion after the cake was on display outside Wrigley Field for most of the day. Though the cake was mostly made up of non-edible material, it certainly does not excuse how a celebratory display cake artfully created by Buddy Valastro and Carlo's Bakery was handled."
A voicemail to Carlo's Bakery was not immediately returned.
The casual dumping of the cake reminded many of a previous dumpster incident last fall. While reporters waited for news that Dale Sveum was fired as Cubs manager on Sept. 30, an ESPN Chicago reporter found giant condolence cards signed by fans after the death of Ron Santo in the dumpster outside of Wrigley. The pictures quickly went viral and the Cubs apologized for the accidental disposing of the items in plain view of reporters.
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