Inside Wrigley Field

If there’s a more fun place in America to watch baseball, or any sport, than Wrigley Field, please tell me.  Yes, I’ve been to quite a few NFL games, but it’s hard to compare an NFL game experience to a Major League Baseball game.  Baseball has 81 home games.   Football has eight or nine, so every Sunday is a major event and a major production.  Baseball is (almost) every day, so it’s hard to match the intensity of an NFL tailgate.  To me, it’s an apples to oranges comparison, plus this site is about baseball!

Just ask anyone’s opinion: of all 30 ballparks, Wrigley Field may be the most iconic of them all.   Opinions vary, of course, but Wrigley offers something that no other park really does: everything!  There are 29 baseball cities, then there’s Wrigley. 

How do I best describe this?  Get to Wrigleyville and you start feeling the vibe from blocks away.   There are all kinds of merchandise, there’s food, there’s drink and of course there’s the Cubby Bear!  Legendary spot!  There’s Engine 78.  There’s the McDonalds.  There’s Waveland and Sheffield.  There’s Clark and Addison.  There are sportsbooks.  There are statues of Cubs greats, like Banks, Sandberg, Santo, Fergie, Billy and voices like Harry.  There are the rooftops.  There’s ice cream, there are donuts, there are hotels.  You name it, Wrigley pretty much has it! 

Go see Harry’s statue, then stop into Murphy’s Bleachers for a beer.  The place is epic and has stories for days! 

Walk along Clark Street and hit Slugger’s, Old Crow, Deuces and Diamonds (or whatever it’s called this month), the Tin Roof and anywhere else you feel like going.  You want food?   It’s there.  You want to have a good time and get hammered? Knock yourself out.  You have a family and want to enjoy the experience?  You can do that, too! 

The marquee is unforgettable.   Walk out of the Cubby Bear and BANG!  There it is!   There are flags flying all over the place!  There are more pictures taken here than perhaps any other singular spot in Major League Baseball….and you haven’t even walked INTO the stadium yet! 

Once you get in, prepare to feel the history immediately.  Look around and take it all in.   Don’t take pictures right away.  Check out the iconic scoreboard.  There is nothing else like it!  Look up at the press box and think of how many stars and A-listers have sung “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” in that booth.  Check out the famous ivy!  The man who takes care of it is known as “Quick Rick”!  Why?  He’s the guy that runs the balls, strikes and outs on that iconic scoreboard, and there’s no one quicker in the history of baseball than Quick Rick.  Great guy, too!  He’s been doing it a very long time and loves the game as much as you and I do.  

If you ever have the chance to see a weekend day game there, do it!  The town is rocking hours before the first pitch is thrown, and the vibe carries on until well after the final out is recorded!  The experience is like no other.   

What about the bleachers?  That in itself is its own experience, so much so that opposing TV reporters need permission to even do a funny hit from out there!  THAT is how precious those bleachers are to the Cubs.  I am convinced they are the most famous bleachers in America!  I mean, once of the most epic movie scenes ever took place in those bleachers!  For the young kids unfamiliar, search it!  It’s famous with us “boomers”, and it’s four decades old now!  How did we all get so old, so fast?!

Wrigley underwent major renovations over the decades.  First, lights were added in 1988.   Then in 2014, a multi-year renovation began in phases.   The tiniest visiting clubhouse in baseball was made a little bigger.   It’s still one of the smallest, but is it WAY better than what it was!   The dugouts were redone.  Batting cages were moved to down below the visitor’s dugout from under the bleachers.   The bullpens were no longer in the field of play.  Visiting pitchers are now housed under the bleachers, no longer subject to the constant heckling that happens after a few beers from fans sitting close by.  It’s hard to retrofit renovations to a ballpark jammed into a few city blocks!   People literally live across the street from Wrigley friggin’ Field!  I’ll never get over this!  It’s one of the wildest things you’ll see while cruising Major League Baseball!

Wrigley has been open since 1914, so it’s hard to remember all the big moments that happened there, but there are some big ones.  The Bartman Game, of course, stands out to those of us around a certain age.   No Cubs fan can ever forget that one!  Kerry Wood once fanned 20 Astros there.  Clark the Cub was born in 2014 and has elevated the game experience, as long as he’s wearing pants! (some of you may get that reference to one of the funnest pranks ever played in the history of pranks!).  Sammy Sosa and his 1998 home run barrage will never be forgotten, regardless of the circumstances surrounding it.  You’ve got Greg Maddux, Billy Williams, Ryan Sandberg, Ron Santo and a great voice like Harry Caray who called the action in his own special way!

We could go on and on and on with this….but just get there and see it for yourself! 

Wrigley Field, nestled in the Wrigleyville area of Chicago, opened in 1914 and is the second-oldest ballpark in baseball.  The lights came on in 1988, after 74 years of nothing but day games.  The video boards arrived in 2015.  

Reyolds Wrap! – Interesting use of a sponsor for your infield tarp!

Welcome to the Friendly Confines – Made famous by Cubs legend Ernie Banks, “The Friendly Confines” is written on the roof of the visitor’s dugout.

The Wrigley Rooftops – The Wrigley Rooftops run along Waveland (left field) and Sheffield (right field) Avenues and provide one of the most unique ways to watch a Major League Baseball game.  They are some of the most stylish properties that exist in America.  

The Fire Station and Players Parking Lot – Chicago Fire Department Engine 78 is located a home run away down the left field line on Waveland Avenue, right next to the players parking lot.  It was designated a Chicago Landmark in 2003.

The Iconic Scoreboard – Built in 1937, this iconic,  original scoreboard remains intact. The score-by-innings and the pitchers’ numbers are changed by hand.   The balls and strikes are handled in the press box by Rick Fuhs, known as “Quick Rick”, who is the fastest in the game!  If you blink, you’ll miss a ball or a strike being changed! 

The Bleachers – There may not be a more famous set of bleachers, with due respect to Yankees fans, than Wrigley Field.  Both the bleachers and scoreboard were constructed in 1937.  Famous homers were hit there, movies have been filmed there, the Blue W flies there and yes, plenty of day beers have been consumed there as well. 

Take Me Out to the Ballgame! – Hard to argue the most famous, and perhaps intimidating, version of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” happens at Wrigley Field.  In the event the invited guest/singer forgets the words, they can look down and see this sheet!

The Home Radio Booth – The view from the back of the Cubs radio booth at Wrigley Field.  All-time greats such as Jack Brickhouse, Vince Lloyd, Harry Caray, Ron Santo and Lou Boudreau have graced this booth over the centuries.  The radio team of the 2010’s and 2020’s of Pat Hughes, Ron Coomer and Zach Zaidman continues the tradition of famous Cubs radio announcers.

Clark The Cub’s Sneakers - These shoes belong to Alex Collins, the first-ever to don the “Clark the Cub” costume.  Collins is the first-ever Clark the Cub, beginning in the 2014 season. 

Cubs Legends Flags Flying! – Flags fly high atop the left field foul pole honoring Cubs legends Ernie Banks, Ron Santo and Fergie Jenkins.  

Video Boards at Wrigley! – Wrigley Field went 101 years without video boards until 2015, when The 1060 Project, which also included upgraded player facilities, premier clubs, expanded concessions and an upper-level outdoor concourse among other things, was completed. 

The Marquee – Located on the corner of Clark and Addison Streets, the famous Marquee greets fans as they leave the Cubby Bear and walk into the game, or in this case, after a night game as they leave Wrigley and go back to the Cubby Bear!  Built in 1934, the Marquee is perhaps the most iconic representation of one of the most iconic parks in baseball history! 

Wrigley’s Famous Organ – Wrigley Field was the first ballpark to ever have an organist.  It was April 26th, 1941 when Ray Nelson (some have said “Roy”, who knows?) played the organ as fans walked into the game between the Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals.  The Cards on by a 6-2 score that day.  The longest-serving organist in Wrigley Field history of Gary Pressy, who retired after 33 years on the keys.  Pressy worked from 1987 until retiring after the 2019 season.  He worked 2,687 straight games!!  Previous organists at Wrigley include Frank Pellico (who also does Chicago Blackhawks games), Vance Fothergill, John Henzl, Ed Vodlicka and Bruce Miles.  The current organists are John Benedeck and Josh Landhoff. 

The 2016 World Series Champion Cubs had these jewels on their bases during the 2017 season, as evidenced by this photo taken August 28th, 2017 before a Cubs/Pirates game. 

The Press Box from the Outside – The cool press box at Wrigley was relocated to the upper deck in 1989 to make room for private boxes, which replaced the old press box on the mezzanine level.

A Convenient Mini Board -  For those fans in the lower bowl that are unable to see the main scoreboard in centerfield that has balls and strikes, this convenient scoreboard ensures fans know what’s happening on every pitch.  

OPENING DAY AT WRIGLEY – Opening Day at Wrigley is cool.  Opening Day at Wrigley from the visiting dugout during our national anthem is even cooler!