Bears chairman George McCaskey got quite the warmup for training camp — he spent three days at Wrigley Field umpiring games played by the Savannah Bananas.
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.
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.
Split, the Bananas mascot, posed for a photo with McCaskey and said the chairman replaced his yellow football with a Bears one.
Bears owner George McCaskey didn’t like my green and yellow football… so we threw that one away and he gifted me this one.
…and yes he’s an umpire in today’s game. #dabears pic.twitter.com/8dYxIsm6AY
— Split (@kingofpotassium) July 25, 2026
McCaskey told the Bears web site this week that he marveled at the yellow-clad crowd while on the field.
“Everybody’s happy, everybody’s smiling, everybody’s having a good time,” he said. “And I thought, ‘How lucky am I? I’m not cool enough for this.'”