September 6, 2011
Wrigley Field (Capacity: 41,160)
Chicago, IL
Chicago Cubs vs Cincinnati Reds
Final Score: 2 – 4 (13 innings)
.
On a windy, late summer week, we spent four days touring the city of Chicago. With a population of 2.5 million, this is the third largest city in the U.S. and it is located in the northeast corner of Illinois, right on the shores of Lake Michigan. Chicago is an amazing place to visit and we spent a lot of time marveling at the architecturally stunning skyline while sightseeing. One of Chicago’s six major (MLB, NHL, NFL, NBA, MLS) professional teams are the Chicago Cubs. The team has a remarkable history as the franchise started in 1870 before becoming the Cubs in 1903. They won the World Series in 1907 and 1908, but that was the last time and they haven’t even been back since 1945. For the last 96 years, the Cubs have played at Wrigley Field, an icon in the stadium world. Wrigley began as Weeghman Park when it debuted in 1914. The ballpark is not only historically wonderful, but the game day experience remains a terrific step back into a different era of baseball.
Prestige Ranking: 5 out of 5
Location
Chicago has so much to do and when in the right areas, it feels like a cleaner version of New York City. Our time here involved visits to a lot of the popular places such as the John Hancock Observatory, Millennium Park, Willis Tower, Navy Pier, Lincoln Park Zoo, Museum Campus and a boat tour on the Chicago River. Much of this can be found around The Loop (essentially the downtown part of Chicago). Depending on the mode of transportation, that is 15-30 minutes from Wrigley Field, which is on the North Side of Chicago. The neighborhood is Wrigleyville and it is something that makes the ballpark unique. It is very rare to find a major league stadium in an area surrounded by mostly housing and that is the case with Wrigley. High-rise apartments are more common closer to the lake, while tightly clustered single-family homes are inland nearer to the stadium. Several residential buildings along Sheffield and Waveland Ave have bleachers on their roofs, allowing for fans to watch the game from outside the ballpark (for a price of course). These started becoming popular and built up in the 1980s. There are a ton of bars and restaurants along Clark Street and these are a must before the game as it is part of the allure of Wrigley. We went to Goose Island thanks to a recommendation and that was an excellent choice amongst a dozen other greats like the Cubby Bear, Irish Oak and Murphy’s.
Location Ranking: 9.5 out of 10
Accessibility / Parking
Because of the location, there is virtually no parking. There’s hardly enough for residents, let alone 40,000 people. If you absolutely must drive, you can park at nearby DeVry University and then take a Cubs shuttle bus. Be prepared for traffic. The main mode of transportation is Chicago’s subway/elevated train system, known as “The El”. Even though the mass transit system is pretty good, it generally means extra time for most individuals. Taking the Red Line to the Addison station will put you right at Wrigley. This is a 15-minute ride from downtown and coming in is hassle free. Leaving on the hand is another story as everyone is posturing to get a train and the station gets super crowded. The Red Line runs north-south, so for anyone in the western suburbs (a lot of folks), they likely need to take The El into the Loop and then transfer to the Red Line.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 2.5 out of 8
Exterior
The exterior looks a lot newer than the age of the park as from the front it consists of white paneling and green berms. It’s not the most stately of ballparks from the outside with a generally plain look. Of course, what strikes you immediately is the iconic, red marquee that says “Wrigley Field – Home of Chicago Cubs”. Occasional Cubs murals decorate parts of the front and there are many flags flying on the building (just like the inside). Walking around Wrigley, the exterior starts to open up where some of the walkways to the concourse are visible. The back of the ballpark is much different in that it is shorter and mostly made of brick. Part of the outfield bleachers extends out over Waveland Ave. Directly in the back of the stadium is a Chicago Cubs script logo on the back of the scoreboard.
Exterior Ranking: 6.5 out of 10
Concourse
Most of the covered concourse is on the first level at Wrigley and they are tight and small as one would expect from a ballpark built in 1914. It is modernized a bit with TVs and lots of advertising on the walls, however there is a nice amount of decoration here with player posters hanging down. A very tiny team store is squeezed into the area, along with a few other merchandise stands. To get to the upper deck, a series of ramps are needed as the second level does not have it’s own concourse. That certainly hurts access and flow. Behind home plate in the upper deck is the lone open spot for those seated in this deck as a small outdoor area includes food stands and a beautiful view of Wrigleyville. In one of the lower concourse corners is the Captain Morgan’s Club, a nice bar/restaurant that is open to all people, even those without a ticket and accessible from the outside and inside.
Concourse Ranking: 2 out of 5
Food
It’s best if you eat in Wrigleyville as the stadium has typical ballpark food with only a few extra specialties. It was nice to see Chicago-style dogs (Vienna beef with mustard, relish, onions, tomatoes, pickle and celery salt) available in the park. Other types of dogs can also be found. Another city specialty is Italian beef. Several beers can be found, but Wrigley is Old Style, a Pabst product that you will hear vendors continuously sell up and down the aisles during the game. Not helping is a report released the day after our visit that indicated 57.1% percent of the stands had food violations with 20 of them being critical and three had to shut down. Nasty!
Food Ranking: 4.5 out of 8
Interior
Inside the Friendly Confines, is an old ballpark that has gotten better with age. There are two decks at Wrigley, and much of the seating is in the gently-sloped first level. Green seats are certainly newer, helping with width. The leg room is still a bit tight. This lower deck extends from foul pole to foul pole and is angled inwards nicely at the corners. There are two walkways that separate the first level seating into 10s, 100s and 200s. The 200 section is unique in that a lot of it is covered by the upper deck and if you’re really far back, fans are only able to see the grass with fly balls completely obstructed. It goes without saying that these are poor seats and there are a good handful of them. In these areas, TV screens and digital scoreboards hang down from the ceiling to assist. Exposed beams are everywhere adding to both the nostalgia of this ballpark and the poor sightlines in these sections. Behind these seats is another walkway and there are ramps that lead you to the upper deck. I liked these seats the best as they have a great, close perspective and are split into 400s and 500s by a walkway. Many of the seats are covered by a roof. Behind home plate in the upper deck is the press box and between the two decks of seating, are mezzanine suites, neatly tucked away from view (there is a club at the end of the suites). This by far is the closest upper deck in baseball in terms of proximity to the field. In the outfield, are the famed bleachers and there is an extra few sets of bleachers higher up beyond the batters eye in Center. I didn’t like how these inaccessible to those that didn’t have a ticket. Looking outside of the ballpark, you can see the bleachers on top of those buildings on Waveland and Sheffield and then the rest of the view is comprised of the high-rises towards the Lakeshore.
Interior Ranking: 11 out of 14
Scoreboard
Just a little right of centerfield is the large, green, manual scoreboard. It’s a staple of this old ballpark: plain and ad-free with workers filling the numbers of line scores in the National League on the left and the American League on the right. In the middle are some digitization with ball/strike/out info, but its cleverly done so it blends in. The numbers of the umpires are curiously up here two. I understand and love the nostalgia of Wrigley’s scoreboard, but at the risk of being a Debbie Downer, I just don’t like how the Cubs game information is buried and blended into the lower left. There’s also no space on there for errors. A couple of digital boards on the wall at the bottom of the upper deck help out with that. There is no video screen in the ballpark.
Scoreboard Ranking: 2 out of 4
Displays
Four statues at each gate are a real nice touch as they honor Harry Caray, Ron Santo, Billy Williams and Ernie Banks. Wrigley Field does an excellent job of honoring its past with flags around the stadium, though it’s not always clear what they represent. On top of the roof over the main seating bowl are many flags with years denoting World Series, League and Division Championships. However, I can’t figure out the red, white and blue color scheme in that some of the same accomplishments have different colored flags. A display in the concourse, defines each flag’s accomplishment, but it still doesn’t explain the odd color scheme. Anyway, the concourse also features honors with a nice and simple Wall of Fame, honoring accomplished Cubs of all types. Back in the ballpark, on top of the foul poles are the retired numbers of Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Ryne Sandberg, Ferguson Jenkins and Greg Maddux. Over centerfield and above the scoreboard are the flags of each team in the National League, organized by current division standings. Lastly and most importantly, high atop the scoreboard, a white flag with a blue W is flown after a win. However, lately the blue flag with the white L has been up more times than not.
Displays Ranking: 4 out of 6
Cost
With public transportation being the easiest way to go, it is quite cheap (around $5) to just use the El for getting to Wrigley. Those that attempt parking are not only met with challenges, but also high costs as lots average $20 – $30. Unfortunately, the Cubs have adopted that annoying tiered pricing where there are five different levels based on day, time of year and opponent. The middle “Gold Level” features many seats between $43 and $55. Bleachers are surprisingly pricey at this level ($42) with the reserved bleachers at $70. Those prices don’t include the 12% Amusement tax (or the “We’re Wrigley Field and you Should be Honored to be here” tax). Tickets aren’t at Boston/New York level, but they are the third highest average in the league. The program was $5 and concessions weren’t all that much higher than what you find at the Minor League level ($6.25 for a cheeseburger, $7 for a large draft beer).
Cost Ranking: 4.5 out of 8
Fan Support
With WGN being available on cable in the 80s and 90s, it made the Cubs a national brand. This is especially true since many of their games were played during the day and you would have school kids off for the summer watching baseball and becoming a fan. Combine this with a fairly large fan base across a good chunk of Northern Illinois, Iowa and Indiana and you have one of the top supported teams in the country. Now of course, Chicago also has the White Sox, but they are a much smaller segment focused on the South Side of the city. A lot of times, Cubs fans at the game can come off as more passive (this is not the Red Sox), but trust me there is a dedicated base there.
Fan Support Ranking: 8 out of 8
Atmosphere
Wrigley’s atmosphere is unparalleled as the ballpark recreates a different era. I never heard a note of pop music as instead, the wonderful organ is played for musical entertainment. Between inning contests are also absent as the game speaks for itself. It’s quite pleasant to attend a game like this. In the 7th inning, Harry Caray’s tradition of singing “Take me out to the ballgame” is carried on by a wide-range of known people or celebrities, but nobody could do it quite like him. In terms of the crowd noise/buzz/atmosphere, I did not get the full sampling of this. We attended an early September weeknight game with the Cubs 25 games back of first place and the ballpark half-full. They came alive in the 9th when Chicago tied it as many stood, cheered and chanted Let’s Go Cubbies. Other than that, there was no excitement from the crowd and nothing that made it different than a Diamondbacks game during innings 1-8 (to their part, the Cubs played awful with just one hit). Outside of the subdued crowd, the atmosphere was incredible due to the aforementioned uniqueness. Wrigley certainly can be exciting and loud when the Cubs play well. The fans are numerous, dedicated and passionate when it comes to their team, though like any other team, the ballpark won’t be packed when the team is losing.
Atmosphere Ranking: 12 out of 14
Other Stuff
One of the many traditions at Wrigley Field is the frequency of day games. Lights weren’t installed until 1988 and the team continues to host many afternoon starts…When the wind blows in off the Lake here, it is very difficult to get a home run (we were observers of that in our game)…As everyone knows, the outfield walls are covered in ivy….The Bleacher Bum Band adds some festive music as you walk around the ballpark….After the game, fans sing “Go Cubs Go” as that white “W” flag gets raised.
Game
In the game, Cincinnati’s Mike Leake dominated the hapless Cubs as they only had one hit through eight innings with Leake throwing less than 80 pitches. The Reds built a 2-0 lead in the sixth with help from Joey Votto’s double. In the bottom of the 9th with two outs, Starlin Castro legged out an infield single. What happened next was completely out of the blue as recent call-up Brian LeHair hit a home run to right field, tying the game. It looked like the Cubs would win it in the 10th as Tyler Colvin’s single moved runners to second and third, but Jeremy Baker grounded into a double play. The game would continue to the 13th, when Votto hit another double, pushing in a run. They scored one more to take a 4-2 lead and the Cubs went down quietly in the bottom of the 13th.
Stadium and Arena Visits 
