Say it ain't so; Cubs cut grounds crew hours because of ACA?

There are a number of reasons I have turned away over the years from being an avid fan of my hometown Chicago Cubs baseball team.

First there was the Cubs' heartbreaking collapse in the home stretch of the 1969 National League pennant race, when they were overtaken by the Miracle Mets. Then there was the gutwrenching 1984 playoff loss to the San Diego Padres after first baseman Leon Durham let a grounder trickle between his legs. Finally there was the suicide-inducing loss to the Florida Marlins in the 2003 playoff finals after a Cubs fan interfered with left fielder Moises Alou's effort to catch a Marlins' pop foul. The Cubs had been within five outs of what looked like a sure game victory that would have taken them to their first World Series since 1945.

These setbacks were enough to sour me on the Cubs, since I’m not a lover of perennial losers. But now there’s an even more egregious turnoff. The Cubs, owned by the billionaire Ricketts family, may be cutting the hours of their grounds crew staff to keep them under 130 hours a month and thus avoid having to offer them health insurance as required under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Last Tuesday night, a national television audience saw an obviously understaffed grounds crew struggle to unroll the infield tarp after a sudden heavy rainstorm hit during a Cubs home game at Wrigley Field against the San Francisco Giants. The Sun-Times reported that numerous sources with direct knowledge said the problem was caused by the Cubs’ staffing reorganization designed to keep the team’s seasonal grounds crew workers under the healthcare reform law’s 130-hour monthly threshold at which employers either must provide health coverage or pay a penalty.

The newspaper’s sources said 10 crew members were sent home early Tuesday night with little if any input from field supervisors. A Cubs spokesman said crew members were sent home because the weather forecast called for clear weather, contradicting several weather forecasts.

An unnamed official from a rival team criticized the Cubs’ cost-cutting in such a critical area, especially given that the Cubs rank among the five highest-revenue teams in Major League Baseball —even while they are at the bottom of the National League Central Division standings. “Cheap,” one official of a rival team said in describing the Cubs’ alleged effort to avoid providing health coverage.

The Cubs long have been called “lovable losers.” Not so much after this revelation.

Follow Harris Meyer on Twitter: @MHHmeyer