The Friendly Confines

The main entrance to Wrigley Field, Sep-2010.

The seating bowl includes distinctive light stanchions installed only in 1988.

The famous manual scoreboard is a backdrop for the almost-as-famous Bleacher Creatures.

Chronological Tour: Stop 30

• Location: Addison and Clark Streets, Chicago, Ill. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 1914 as Weeghman Park
• Additional names: Cubs Park (1920); Wrigley Field (1927)
• Home team: Chicago Feds/Whales, Federal League (1914-15); Chicago Cubs, National League (1916-present); Chicago Tigers, American Professional Football Association (1920); Hammond Pros (1920-26), Chicago Bears (1921-70), Chicago Cardinals (1931-39), National Football League; Chicago Sting, North American Soccer League (1977-84)
• Capacity: 38,884

Rating: 5 baseballs

While the Cubs haven’t been nearly as successful since, with no pennants from 1945 until a memorable run to the title in 2016, Wrigley Field (it assumed that name in the late 1920s, from its owner, chewing gum magnate William Wrigley) stands as a tribute to old-time baseball.

The park features two decks, along with a sizable outfield bleacher said to hold the Cubs’ biggest fans, who invariably throw visiting players’ home run balls back onto the field. The scoreboard, expanded several times along with the major leagues, still features manually-posted innings for each game. Beyond the bleacher, fans stand on Waveland and Sheffield avenues, ready to retrieve home-run balls that clear the stadium.

Like many parks, Wrigley was ready to receive lights in the early 1940s. Erection stopped because of the second World War, however, and afterward residents of the neighborhood known as Wrigleyville conspired to keep lights out of the facility until 8-Aug-1988. Almost predictably, the first scheduled night game at the park was rained out. Today, Wrigley hosts 24 night games a year.

In 2015, the bleacher area was upgraded; the actual bleachers were shored up after about 80 years, and video boards were installed in the outfield. The bullpens were also moved under the bleachers, off the field where they were in the above photo. Some have said that this detracts from the park’s charm, but it didn’t bother me on my 2018 return trip to “the Friendly Confines”.