Wrigley Field (ˈrɪɡli) is a
baseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
stadiumA modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
,
IllinoisIllinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
that has served as the home ballpark of the
Chicago CubsThe Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
since 1916. It was built in 1914 as
Weeghman Park for the Chicago
Federal LeagueThe Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that operated as a "third major league", in competition with the established National and American Leagues, from to...
baseball team, the
Chicago WhalesThe Chicago Whales were a professional baseball team based in Chicago. They played in the Federal League, a short-lived "third Major League", in 1914 and 1915. They originally lacked a formal nickname, and were known simply as the "Chicago Federals" to distinguish them from the Chicago Cubs and...
. It was called
Cubs Park between 1920 and 1926 before being renamed for then Cubs team owner and chewing gum magnate, William Wrigley, Jr.. Between 1921 and 1970, it was also the home of the
Chicago BearsThe Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
of the
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
. In addition, it hosted the second annual
National Hockey League Winter ClassicThe NHL Winter Classic is an annual event held by the National Hockey League on New Year's Day where regular-season games are played outdoors, in areas hosted by NHL teams. Though largely derived from the Heritage Classic outdoor game held in Edmonton in 2003, the Winter Classic has so far only...
on January 1, 2009.
Located in the community area of
LakeviewLake View, or Lakeview, is one of the 77 community area of the Chicago, Illinois, located in the city's North Side. It is bordered by West Diversey Parkway on the south, West Irving Park Road on the north, North Ravenswood Avenue on the west, and the shore of Lake Michigan on the east...
, Wrigley Field sits on an irregular block bounded by
ClarkClark Street is a north-south street in Chicago, Illinois that runs close to the shore of Lake Michigan from the northern city boundary with Evanston, to 2200 South in the city street numbering system...
(west) and
AddisonAddison Street is a major east west street on the north side of Chicago. It is most associated with Wrigley Field, located at 1060 West Addison Street, which is the home of the Chicago Cubs.- Chicago communities :From east to west:...
(south) Streets and Waveland (north) and Sheffield (east) Avenues. The area surrounding the ballpark contains residential streets, in addition to bars, restaurants and other establishments and is called Wrigleyville. The ballpark's mailing address is 1060 W.
Addison StreetAddison Street is a major east west street on the north side of Chicago. It is most associated with Wrigley Field, located at 1060 West Addison Street, which is the home of the Chicago Cubs.- Chicago communities :From east to west:...
.
Wrigley Field is nicknamed
The Friendly Confines, a phrase popularized by "Mr. Cub", Hall of Famer
Ernie BanksErnest "Ernie" Banks , nicknamed "Mr. Cub", is a former Major League Baseball shortstop and first baseman. He played his entire 19-year baseball career with the Chicago Cubs . He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977.-High school years:Banks was a letterman and standout in football,...
. The current capacity is 41,160, making Wrigley Field the 10th-smallest actively used ballpark. It is the oldest National League ballpark and the second oldest active major league ballpark (after
Fenway ParkFenway Park is a baseball park near Kenmore Square in Boston, Massachusetts. Located at 4 Yawkey Way, it has served as the home ballpark of the Boston Red Sox baseball club since it opened in 1912, and is the oldest Major League Baseball stadium currently in use. It is one of two "classic"...
on April 20, 1912), and the only remaining
Federal LeagueThe Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that operated as a "third major league", in competition with the established National and American Leagues, from to...
park. Wrigley is known for its ivy covered brick outfield wall, the unusual wind patterns off Lake Michigan, the iconic red marquee over the main entrance, the hand turned scoreboard, and for being the last major league park to get lights.
History
The park was built in six weeks in 1914 at a cost of about $250,000 ($5.3 million in 2011 dollars) by the Chicago lunchroom magnate
Charles WeeghmanCharles H. Weeghman was one of the founders of the short-lived major league baseball organization called the Federal League . He had made a fortune in an early type of fast-food franchises in the Chicago area.Weeghman worked for Charlie King as a waiter for $10 a week...
, who owned the Federal League Whales. (The club signed a 55-year lease to use the park for approximately $18,000 per year.) It was designed by the architect
Zachary Taylor DavisZachary Taylor Davis was the architect of several major Chicago buildings, including St. Ambrose Old Comiskey Park , Wrigley Field , Mount Carmel High School , and St...
(who four years earlier had designed
Comiskey ParkComiskey Park was the ballpark in which the Chicago White Sox played from 1910 to 1990. It was built by Charles Comiskey after a design by Zachary Taylor Davis, and was the site of four World Series and more than 6,000 major league games...
for the
Chicago White SoxThe Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
), incorporating the new "fireproof" building codes recently enacted by the city. According to some sources, when it opened for the 1914 Federal League season, Weeghman Park had a
seating capacitySeating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
of 14,000. According to another source, the original seating capacity was 20,000.
In late 1915 the Federal League folded. The resourceful Weeghman formed a syndicate including the chewing gum manufacturer
William Wrigley Jr.William Wrigley Jr. was a U.S. chewing gum industrialist. He was founder and eponym of the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company in 1891. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
to buy the Chicago Cubs from Charles P. Taft for about $500,000. Weeghman immediately moved the Cubs from the dilapidated West Side Grounds to his two-year-old park. In 1918 Wrigley acquired the controlling interest in the club. In November 1926, he renamed the park "Wrigley Field."
In 1927 an upper deck was added, and in 1937,
Bill VeeckWilliam Louis Veeck, Jr. , also known as "Sport Shirt Bill", was a native of Chicago, Illinois, and a franchise owner and promoter in Major League Baseball. He was best known for his publicity stunts to raise attendance. Veeck was at various times the owner of the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis...
, the son of the club president, planted ivy vines against the outfield walls.
Although Wrigley Field has been the home of the Cubs since 1916, it has yet to see the Cubs win a World Series, even though it has hosted several (1929, 1932, 1935, 1938, and 1945, the last time the Cubs appeared in a World Series), the last World Series win by the Cubs (1908) happened while the Cubs called West Side Park home.
Features
Wrigley Field follows the jewel box design of ballparks that was popular in the early part of the 20th century. The two recessed wall areas, or "
wells," located both in left, and right field, give those areas a little more length than if the wall were to follow the contour from center field, it is also in those wells, when cross winds are blowing, that balls have a habit of bouncing in all sorts of interesting directions, there is also a long net running the entire length of the outfield wall, about two foot from the top, the primary use is to keep fans from falling out of the bleacher area and onto the field of play, which is about seven to ten feet below the top of the wall. Called "
The basket," by players and fans alike, the rules of the field state that any ball landing within the netting is ruled a home run, making the distance to hit a home run in Wrigley Field actually shorter than the location of the outfield wall.
Ivy-covered outfield walls
The ballpark is famous for its outfield walls which are covered by
ivyIvy, plural ivies is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and across central-southern Asia east to Japan and Taiwan.-Description:On level ground they...
. In the first weeks of the baseball season, the ivy has not leafed out, and all that is visible are the vines on which it grows. However, as the baseball season progresses further into spring, the ivy grows thick and green, disguising the hard brick surface of the outfield wall.
Many times a ball has been lost in the ivy when hit towards the outfield fences. An outfielder will signal that a ball is lost by raising his hands. When this occurs, the umpires will call time and rule the play a ground-rule double. If instead the outfielder opts to try to find the ball in the ivy, the ball remains live and any baserunners may advance. Although the ivy appears to "pad" the bricks, it is of little practical use as padding. There have been occasions of fielders being injured when slamming into the wall while pursuing a fly ball.
The ivy that covers the outfield wall is a combination of Boston Ivy and Japanese Bittersweet, which can endure the harsh Chicago winters better than its English cousin. The ivy was planted in 1937 by the Cubs General Manager
Bill VeeckWilliam Louis Veeck, Jr. , also known as "Sport Shirt Bill", was a native of Chicago, Illinois, and a franchise owner and promoter in Major League Baseball. He was best known for his publicity stunts to raise attendance. Veeck was at various times the owner of the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis...
, as part of Cubs owner P.K. Wrigley's beautification plan for the bleachers, which had been rebuilt during the 1937 season. Veeck reportedly got the idea of ivy on the walls from Donnie Bush Stadium in Indianapolis.
Wrigley is now the only professional ballpark with an ivy covered outfield wall. Several now-demolished ballparks featured ivy in the playing area, including
Forbes FieldForbes Field was a baseball park in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1909 to 1971. It was the third home of the Pittsburgh Pirates Major League Baseball team, and the first home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the city's National Football League franchise...
,
Wrigley Field's namesakeWrigley Field was a ballpark in Los Angeles, California which served as host to minor league baseball teams in the region for over 30 years, and was the home park for the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League as well as a current major league team, the later Los Angeles Angels, in their...
in
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, and Bush Stadium in Indianapolis. Bush Stadium still stands, however, hasn't hosted baseball in 15 years. After the Indianapolis Indians moved to Victory Field, a race track took its place and the race track owners stripped the ivy off of the walls.
OmahaOmaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
's Rosenblatt Stadium, the former home of the
College World SeriesThe College World Series or CWS is an annual baseball tournament held in Omaha, Nebraska that is the culmination of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, which determines the NCAA Division I college baseball champion. The eight teams are split into two, four-team, double-elimination brackets,...
as well as minor league baseball, had an ivy-covered brick wall that was replaced with a padded wall. Some ballparks feature ivy on out-of-play walls, especially as a covering for the
batter's eyeThe batter's eye or batter's eye screen is a solid-colored, usually dark area beyond the center field wall of a baseball stadium, that is the visual backdrop directly in the line of sight of a baseball batter, while facing the pitcher and awaiting a pitch. This dark surface allows the batter to see...
behind the center field fence.
Dimensions
The distances from home plate to various points in the outfield have remained essentially unchanged since the bleachers were remodeled during the 1937 season. They were originally marked by wooden numbers cut from plywood, painted white, and placed in gaps where the ivy was not allowed to grow. Since the early 1980s, the numbers have been painted directly on the bricks, in yellow. Although the power-alley dimensions are relatively cozy, the foul lines are currently the deepest in the major leagues.
It is 355 feet (108.2 m) to the notch in the wall just beyond the left field foul pole. The point where the bleacher wall begins to curve inward in left-center field, one of the two "wells", is an unmarked 357 feet (108.8 m). The front part of the left-center "well" is the closest point in the outfield, about 350 feet. The marked left-center field distance is 368 feet (112.2 m). It is closer to true center field than its right-center counterpart is. True center field is unmarked and is about 390 feet. The center field marker, which is to the right of true center field and in the middle of the quarter-circle defining the center field area, is 400 feet (121.9 m). That is the deepest point in the outfield. Right-center field is 368 feet (112.2 m). The notch of the right-center "well" is an unmarked 363 feet (110.6 m). The right field foul line is 353 feet (107.6 m). The backstop is listed in media sources as 60.5 feet (18.4 m) behind home plate. Although that distance is standard, the relatively small foul ground area in general gives an advantage to batters.
Rooftop seats
Old-time ballparks were often surrounded by buildings that afforded a "freebie" look at the game for enterprising souls. In most venues, the clubs took steps to either extend the stands around, or to build
spite fenceA spite fence is an overly tall fence, structure in the nature of a fence, or a row of trees, bushes, or hedges, constructed or planted between adjacent lots by a property owner who is annoyed with or wishes to annoy a neighbor, or who wishes to completely obstruct the view between lots. The fence...
s to block the view. Perhaps the most notorious of these was the one at Shibe Park in
PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, which caused a rift between the residents and the team that never healed. The Cubs themselves had built a high fence along the outfield at
West Side ParkWest Side Park was the name used for two different baseball parks that formerly stood in Chicago, Illinois. They were both home fields of the team now known as the Chicago Cubs of the National League. Both parks witnessed championship baseball...
, to hide the field from flats whose back porches were right next to the outer fence of the ballpark.
But at Wrigley it was different. The flat rooftops of the apartment buildings across Waveland and Sheffield, which pre-date the ballpark, were often populated with a reasonable number of fans having cookouts while enjoying the game for free. The Cubs tolerated it quietly until the 1990s, when some owners of those apartments began building little bleacher sections, and charging people to watch the games. That was a whole different ball game, and the Cubs management became very vocal in expressing their displeasure, threatening legal action. In 2003 they went so far as to line the screens that top the outer walls with opaque strips, to block the best exterior sight lines. That was the closest thing to a spite fence that Wrigley had seen. Therefore the bleachers are sometimes called "The Spiteless Fence" as well as "The Ivy Wall".
This led to meetings and to a peaceful settlement among the various parties. The building owners agreed to share a portion of their proceeds with the Cubs, and the Cubs obtained permission from the city to expand the ballpark's own bleachers out over the sidewalks and do some additional construction on the open area of the property to the west, bordered by Clark and Waveland, and to close the remnant of Seminary Avenue that also existed on the property. The rooftop seats are now effectively part of the ballpark's seating area, although they are not included in the seating capacity figure.
Some of the rooftops have become legendary in their own right. The Lakeview Baseball Club, which sits across Sheffield Avenue (right-field) from the stadium displays a sign that reads, "Eamus Catuli!" (roughly Latin for "Let's Go Cubs!"—
catuli translating to "whelps", the nearest Latin equivalent), flanked by a counter indicating the Cubs' long legacy of futility. The counter is labeled "AC," for "Anno Catuli," or "In the Year of the Cubs." The first two digits indicate the number of years since the Cubs' last division championship as of the end of the previous season (
2008The Chicago Cubs' 2008 season was the 136th season for the Chicago Cubs. It is considered one of their most impressive regular seasons in the entire history of the franchise. Despite 97 regular season wins—the most since 1945—they failed to make it past the first round of the playoffs, losing 3-0...
), the next two digits indicate the number of years since the Cubs won the National League Pennant (
1945The Chicago Cubs season was a season in American baseball. The team won the National League pennant with a record of 98-56, 3 games ahead of the second-place St. Louis Cardinals. The team went on to the 1945 World Series, which they lost to the Detroit Tigers in seven games...
), and the last three digits indicate the number of years since their last
World SeriesThe World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
win .
Today, Wrigley rooftops have become a unique alternative venue to watch baseball games. Many rooftop venues feature bleachers, open bar, specialty food items, and a unique game-day atmosphere, although the quality of the view can vary depending on the specific rooftop location.
Seating capacity
- 14,000 (1914)
- 15,000 (1915-1922)
- 20,000 (1923-1928)
- 38,396 (1927)
- 40,000 (1928-1937)
- 38,396 (1938)
- 38,000 (1939-1940)
- 38,396 (1941-1948)
- 38,690 (1949-1950)
- 36,755 (1951-1964)
- 36,644 (1965-1971)
- 37,702 (1972)
- 37,741 (1973-1981)
- 37,272 (1982-1985)
- 38,040 (1986)
- 38,143 (1987-1988)
- 39,600 (1989)
- 38,710 (1990-1993)
- 38,765 (1994-1996)
- 38,884 (1997)
- 38,902 (1998-2005)
- 41,118 (2006)
- 41,160 (2007-2008)
- 41,210 (2009-2010)
- 41,159 (2011-present)
Unusual wind patterns
In April and May the wind often comes off
Lake MichiganLake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
(less than a mile to the east), which means a northeast wind "blowing in" to knock down potential home runs and turn them into outs. In the summer, however, or on any warm and breezy day, the wind often comes from the south and the southwest, which means the wind is "blowing out" and has the potential to turn normally harmless fly balls into home runs. A third variety is the cross-wind, which typically runs from the left field corner to the right field corner and causes all sorts of interesting havoc. Depending on the direction of the wind, Wrigley can either be one of the friendliest parks in the major leagues for pitchers or among the worst. This makes Wrigley one of the most unpredictable parks in the Major Leagues.
Many Cubs fans check their nearest flag before heading to the park on game days for an indication of what the game might be like; this is less of a factor for night games, however, because the wind does not blow as hard after the sun goes down.
With the wind blowing
in, pitchers can dominate, and no-hitters have been tossed from time to time, though none recently; the last two occurred near the beginning and the end of the 1972 season, by
Burt HootonBurt Carlton Hooton , nicknamed "Happy" , is a coach and former right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball...
and
Milt PappasMilton Steven "Milt" Pappas is a former professional baseball pitcher...
respectively. In the seventh inning of
Ken HoltzmanKenneth Dale Holtzman is a left-handed former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played most of his career for the Chicago Cubs and Oakland Athletics...
's first no-hitter, on August 19, 1969, Hank Aaron of the
Atlanta BravesThe Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
hammered one that looked like it was headed for Waveland, but the wind caught it just enough for left fielder Billy Williams to leap up and snare it in "the basket".
With the wind blowing
out, some true tape-measure home runs have been hit by well-muscled batters.
Sammy SosaSamuel Peralta "Sammy" Sosa is a Dominican former professional baseball right fielder. Sosa played with four Major League Baseball teams over his career which spanned from 1989-2007....
and
Dave "Kong" KingmanDavid Arthur Kingman , nicknamed "Kong" and "Sky King", is a former Major League Baseball left fielder, first baseman, third baseman, and designated hitter. The towering 6' 6" Kingman was one of the most feared sluggers of the 1970s and 1980s...
broke windows in the apartment buildings across Waveland Ave. several times.
Glenallen HillGlenallen Hill is a former outfielder in Major League Baseball who played for 13 seasons. Hill played with the Toronto Blue Jays , Cleveland Indians , Chicago Cubs San Francisco Giants , Seattle Mariners , New York Yankees , and Anaheim Angels...
put one on a rooftop. Batters have occasionally slugged it into, or to the side of, the first row or two of the "upper deck" of the center field bleachers. Sosa hit the roof of the center field camera booth on the fly during the
NLCS-Game 1:Tuesday, October 7, 2003 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, IllinoisThe Marlins took Game 1 of the series, coming back from an early 4–0 deficit. They scored five runs in the third on three home runs from Juan Encarnacion, rookie Miguel Cabrera, and Ivan "Pudge" Rodríguez. In the sixth inning,...
against the Florida Marlins, some 450 feet away.
But the longest blast was probably hit by Dave Kingman on a very windy day in 1976 while with the Mets. According to local legend, that day, Kingman launched a bomb that landed on the third porch roof on the east (center field) side of Kenmore Avenue, some 550 feet away.
No batter has ever hit the center field scoreboard, however it has been hit by a different kind of ball: a golf ball, hit by
Sam SneadSamuel Jackson Snead was an American professional golfer who was one of the top players in the world for most of four decades. Snead won a record 82 PGA Tour events including seven majors. He failed to win a U.S...
, using a two iron.
No matter the weather, many fans congregate during batting practice and games on Waveland Avenue, behind left field, and Sheffield Avenue, behind right field, for a chance to catch a home run ball.
Hand turned scoreboard
Along with
Fenway ParkFenway Park is a baseball park near Kenmore Square in Boston, Massachusetts. Located at 4 Yawkey Way, it has served as the home ballpark of the Boston Red Sox baseball club since it opened in 1912, and is the oldest Major League Baseball stadium currently in use. It is one of two "classic"...
, Wrigley is one of the last parks to maintain a hand turned scoreboard. Unlike the home of the Red Sox, the scoreboard at Wrigley is mounted above the center field bleachers, rather than at ground level, making it harder to hit during play. No players have hit the current scoreboard, although several have come close. The scoreboard was installed in 1937, when Bill Veeck installed the new bleachers. The scoreboard has remained in place ever since, and has only seen minor modifications. The clock was added in 1941, a fifth row of scores was added to each side in 1961 and later a sixth. A set of light stands facing onto the scoreboard was added in 1988 with the introduction of night games. An electronic message board was also added below the scoreboard.
The scoreboard is still manually operated, with scores coming in through a computer (a
ticker tapeTicker tape was the earliest digital electronic communications medium, transmitting stock price information over telegraph lines, in use between around 1870 through 1970...
machine was used in the past); a number turner watches the score changes closely, and updates scores by manually replacing the numbers from within the scoreboard. The scoreboard is made out of sheet steel. The numbers that are placed into the inning windows are steel, painted forest green, and numbered with white numerals. The box for the game playing at Wrigley uses yellow numerals for the current inning. The clock, which sits at the top center of the scoreboard, has never lost time in its 69-year existence. The entrance to the scoreboard is a trap-door on the bottom. On the reverse of the scoreboard, visible from the
CTAChicago Transit Authority, also known as CTA, is the operator of mass transit within the City of Chicago, Illinois and some of its surrounding suburbs....
elevated trains is a blue pennant, with the words "
Chicago Cubs", in white outlined in red neon. The scoreboard was extensively rehabilitated for the 2010 season.
In 2010, the Cubs toyed with the idea of adding a
JumbotronA JumboTron is a large-screen television using technology developed by Sony, typically used in sports stadiums and concert venues to show close-up shots of the event. Although JumboTron is a registered trademark owned by the Sony Corporation, the word jumbotron is often used by the public as a...
to the stadium, but the presence of the hand turned scoreboard (which cannot be moved due to the park's landmark status, which also prohibits even simple facelifts such as adding two more games on the National and one more on the American side to reflect 16 and 14 teams, respectively, in the leagues; the 12-game, 24-team scoreboard reflects MLB from 1969 to 1976, so up to three games (2 NL, 1 AL) each day cannot be posted) has hampered efforts to do so. Most Cubs players support the addition of a Jumbotron, but it is unknown whether the team will proceed with plans to add one.
Main entry marquee
Directly over the main entrance to the stadium stands the most familiar icon of the exterior of the ballpark, a large red,
art decoArt deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
style
marqueeA marquee is most commonly a structure placed over the entrance to a hotel or theatre. It has signage stating either the name of the establishment or, in the case of theatres, the play or movie and the artist appearing at that venue...
, painted in white letters to read "
Wrigley Field, Home of Chicago Cubs". The marquee was installed circa 1934. The sign was blue until the 1960s, and originally used changeable letters similar to the scoreboard to announce upcoming games. It originally read "Home of "The Cubs" but was changed to "Home of Chicago Cubs" by 1939. This was also changed during football season to reflect the Chicago Bears. In 1982, the two line announcement board was replaced with an electronic message board and a backlit advertising panel was added below (this is now solid red). The marquee utilizes red neon lights at night, showing the familiar "
Wrigley Field" in red, as the rest of the sign is in darkness. The marquee is so iconic with the park, that the owners of the park, both past, and present, have used the marquee in some way as the park's trademark of sorts, even the CTA platform that services Wrigley Field (the CTA Addison St. station,) has an image of the marquee painted on a wall announcing the destination, rather than simply marking it with black block letters The marquee was painted purple to accommodate the Northwestern Wildcats who played as the home team against the University of Illinois in football in November 2010.
Lights
Wrigley Field was a hold-out against night games, not installing lights until 1988 after baseball officials refused to allow Wrigley to host any post-season games without lights. Before then, all games at Wrigley were played during the day. Night games are still limited in number by agreement with the city council. In 1942, then-owner P.K. Wrigley had planned to install lights, but instead, the lights and stands were scrapped for the war effort. The first night game was scheduled for August 8, 1988, against the
Philadelphia PhilliesThe Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
, however, the game was rained out after 3½ innings. The first official night game at Wrigley was held the following day, August 9. The
All-American Girls Professional Baseball LeagueThe All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was a women's professional baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954. During the league's history, over 600 women played ball.-History:...
's first All-Star Game during the 1943 midseason, was played under temporary lights at Wrigley Field, between two teams composed of
South Bend Blue SoxThe South Bend Blue Sox were a women's professional baseball team who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League...
and
Rockford PeachesThe Rockford Peaches were a team in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League playing out of Rockford, Illinois for the entire existence of the league from 1943 to 1954....
players versus
Kenosha CometsBased in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the Kenosha Comets were a women's professional baseball team that played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The team played their home games at Kenosha's Lake Front Stadium, but later moved to Simmons Field.The Kenosha Comets were one...
and
Racine BellesThe Racine Belles were one of the original teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League playing from through out of Racine, Wisconsin. The team played its home games at Horlick Field.-History:...
players. It was also the first night game ever played in the historic ballpark (July 1, 1943).
Baseball
Weeghman Park's first tenant was the
Federal LeagueThe Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that operated as a "third major league", in competition with the established National and American Leagues, from to...
team, the
Chicago WhalesThe Chicago Whales were a professional baseball team based in Chicago. They played in the Federal League, a short-lived "third Major League", in 1914 and 1915. They originally lacked a formal nickname, and were known simply as the "Chicago Federals" to distinguish them from the Chicago Cubs and...
, from 1914 to 1916.
Weeghman Park / Cubs Park / Wrigley Field has served as the home baseball park for
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
's Chicago Cubs franchise since 1916.
Football
The
Chicago BearsThe Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
of the
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
played at Wrigley Field from 1921 to 1970 before relocating to
Soldier FieldSoldier Field is located on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in the Near South Side. It is home to the NFL's Chicago Bears...
. The team had transferred from Decatur, and retained the name "Staleys" for the 1921 season. They renamed themselves the "Bears" in order to identify with the baseball team, a common practice in the NFL in those days. Wrigley Field once held the record for the most NFL games played in a single stadium with 365 regular season NFL games, but this record was surpassed in September 2003 by
Giants StadiumGiants Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium, located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Maximum seating capacity was 80,242. The building itself was 230.5 m long, 180.5 m wide and 44 m high from service level to the top of the seating bowl and 54 m high to...
in
New JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, thanks to its dual-occupancy by the
New York GiantsThe New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
and
New York JetsThe New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
.The game played between the Jets and
Miami DolphinsThe 2003 Miami Dolphins season was the team's 38th as a member of the National Football League. The Dolphins improved upon their previous season's output of 9–7, instead winning 10 games. This marked the second consecutive winning season for the team, however, they failed to clinch a playoff berth...
on September 14, 2003 was the 366th regular season NFL game at Giants Stadium breaking Wrigley's regular season record. The 50 seasons the Bears spent at Wrigley Field had been an NFL record until 2006 when
Lambeau FieldLambeau Field is an outdoor football stadium in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the home of the NFL's Green Bay Packers. Opened in 1957 as City Stadium, it replaced the original City Stadium as the Packers' home field...
duplicated this feat by hosting the Packers for the 50th season, and broke it in
2007The 2007 NFL season was the 88th regular season of the National Football League.Regular-season play was held from September 6 to December 30....
.
Initially the Bears worked with the stands that were there. Eventually they acquired a large, portable bleacher section that spanned the right and center field areas and covered most of the existing bleacher seating and part of the right field corner seating. This "East Stand" raised Wrigley's football capacity to about 46,000, or a net gain of perhaps 9,000 seats over normal capacity. After the Bears left, this structure would live on for several years as the "North Stand" at
Soldier FieldSoldier Field is located on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in the Near South Side. It is home to the NFL's Chicago Bears...
, until it was replaced by permanent seating.
The football field ran north-to-south, i.e. from left field to the foul side of first base. The remodeling of the bleachers made for a very tight fit for the gridiron. In fact, the corner of the south end zone was literally in the visiting baseball team's dugout, which was filled with pads for safety, and required a special ground rule that sliced off that corner of the end zone. One corner of the north end line ran just inches short of the left field wall. There is a legend that
Bronko NagurskiBronislau "Bronko" Nagurski was a Canadian-born American football player. He was also a successful professional wrestler, recognized as a multiple-time world heavyweight champion.-Youth and collegiate career:...
, the great Bears fullback, steamrolled through the line, head down, and ran all the way through that end zone, smacking his leather-helmeted head on the bricks. He went back to the bench and told Coach "Papa Bear"
George HalasGeorge Stanley Halas, Sr. , nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was a player, coach, owner and pioneer in professional American football. He was the iconic longtime leader of the NFL's Chicago Bears...
, "That last guy gave me quite a lick!" That kind of incident prompted the Bears to hang some padding in front of the wall.
The Bears are second only to the
Green Bay PackersThe Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
in total NFL championships, and all but one of those (their only
Super BowlThe Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
championship) came during their tenure at Wrigley. After a half-century, they found themselves compelled to move, because the NFL wanted every one of its stadiums to seat at least 50,000 as a result of the AFL–NFL merger. The Bears had one experimental game at Dyche Stadium (now Ryan Field) on the
Northwestern UniversityNorthwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
campus in 1970, but otherwise continued at Wrigley until their transfer to the lakefront ended their five-decades run on the north side. One remnant of the Bears' time at Wrigley was uncovered during the off-season 2007–2008 rebuilding of the playing field: the foundations for the goal posts.
The
Northwestern WildcatsThe Northwestern Wildcats football team, representing Northwestern University, is a NCAA Division I team and member of the Big Ten Conference, with evidence of organization in 1876...
and the
Illinois Fighting IlliniThe Illinois Fighting Illini are a major college football program, representing the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. They compete in NCAA Division I-A and the Big Ten Conference.-Current staff:-All-time win/loss/tie record:*563-513-51...
played a
college footballCollege football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
game at Wrigley Field on November 20, 2010. It was the first football game at Wrigley Field since 1970 and the first collegiate football game at Wrigley Field since 1938 when
DePaul UniversityDePaul University is a private institution of higher education and research in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul...
played its regular games at Wrigley. The field used an east-west field configuration (home plate to right field). In order to keep the playing field at regulation size, the safety clearances for each end zone to the walls in the field were considerably less than normal. In particular, the east (right field) end zone came under scrutiny as its end zone was wedged extremely close to the right field wall (as close as one foot in some areas), forcing the goal posts to be hung from the right field wall in order to fit. Despite extra padding provided in these locations, it was decided that all offensive plays for both teams play to the west end zone, where there was more safety clearance. The east end zone could still be used on defensive and special teams touchdowns, as well as defensive safeties; and, in fact, there was one interception run back for an eastbound touchdown.
Other events
The
Chicago StingThe Chicago Sting was an American professional soccer team based in Chicago, Illinois. The Sting played in the North American Soccer League from 1975 to 1984 and in the Major Indoor Soccer League from in the 1982-83 season and again from 1984 to 1988...
of the
North American Soccer League (NASL)North American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:...
used Wrigley, along with
Comiskey ParkComiskey Park was the ballpark in which the Chicago White Sox played from 1910 to 1990. It was built by Charles Comiskey after a design by Zachary Taylor Davis, and was the site of four World Series and more than 6,000 major league games...
, for their home matches during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Sting hosted the San Diego Sockers on August 25, 1979 at Wrigley when the Bears were using Soldier Field. Unlike the Bears' football gridiron layout, the soccer pitch ran east-to-west, from right field to the foul territory on the third-base side.
On January 1, 2009, the
National Hockey LeagueThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
played its
2009 Winter ClassicThe 2009 NHL Winter Classic, also known as the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic 2009, was a specially staged National Hockey League regular-season game played outdoors on January 1, 2009 at 12:36 p.m. CST at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois...
in The Friendly Confines pitting two "
Original SixThe Original Six is a term for the group of six teams that composed the National Hockey League for the 25 seasons between the 1942–43 season and the 1967 NHL Expansion. These six teams are the Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and the...
" teams - the host
Chicago BlackhawksThe Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They have won four Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926, most recently coming in 2009-10...
and the visiting
Detroit Red WingsThe Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York...
- in an outdoor
ice hockeyIce hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
game. The rink ran across the field from first base to third base with second base being covered by roughly the center of the rink. According to espn.com, the attendance for this game was 40,818. The Red Wings won 6–4.
In recent years Wrigley Field has been opened on a limited basis to popular concerts, not without some controversy. Artists and groups to play Wrigley Field have included
Jimmy BuffettJames William "Jimmy" Buffett is a singer-songwriter, author, entrepreneur, and film producer. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffett's musical hits include "Margaritaville" , and "Come Monday"...
(2005),
The PoliceThe Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland...
(2007),
Elton JohnSir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
and
Billy JoelWilliam Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
(2009),
Rascal FlattsRascal Flatts is an American country music band that originated in Columbus, Ohio, United States of America. Since its inception, Rascal Flatts has been composed of three members: Gary LeVox , Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney...
(2009), the
Dave Matthews BandDave Matthews Band, sometimes shortened to DMB, is a U.S. rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1991. The founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer/backing vocalist Carter Beauford and saxophonist LeRoi Moore. Boyd Tinsley was...
(2010),
Paul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
(2011), and
Roger WatersGeorge Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
(2012). Local neighborhood groups have expressed concerns about the impact of concert crowds and noise on the surrounding residential neighborhood, particularly in 2009 when three concerts were added to the schedule, one conflicting with an annual neighborhood festival.
Corporate sponsorship
Wrigley Field shares its name with the
Wrigley CompanyThe William Wrigley Jr. Company is a company headquartered in the Wrigley Building in Near North Side, Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded on April 1, 1891, originally selling products such as soap and baking powder. In 1892, William Wrigley, Jr., the company's founder, began packaging...
, as the park was named for its then-owner,
William Wrigley Jr.William Wrigley Jr. was a U.S. chewing gum industrialist. He was founder and eponym of the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company in 1891. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
, the CEO of the Wrigley Company. As early as the 1920s, before the park became officially known as Wrigley Field, the scoreboard was topped by the elf-like "
DoublemintDoublemint is a flavor of chewing gum made by the Wrigley Company. It was launched in the United States in 1914, and has had variable market share since that time....
Twins", posed as a pitcher and a batter. There were also ads painted on the bare right field wall early in the ballpark's history, prior to the 1923 remodeling which put bleachers there. After that, the Doublemint elves were the only visible in-park advertising. The elves were removed permanently in 1937 when the bleachers and scoreboard were rebuilt. It would be about 45 years before in-park advertising would reappear.
Wrigley Field has been a notable exception to the recent trend of selling
corporate naming rightsIn the private sector, naming rights are a financial transaction whereby a corporation or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, typically for a defined period of time. For properties like a multi-purpose arena, performing arts venue or an athletic field, the term ranges from three...
to sporting venues. The
Tribune CompanyThe Tribune Company is a large American multimedia corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with ten daily newspapers and commuter tabloids including Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida...
, who owned the park from 1981 to 2009, chose not to rename the ballpark, utilizing other ways to bring corporate sponsorship into the ballpark.
During the mid-1980s,
Anheuser-BuschAnheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. , is an American brewing company. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and 18 in other countries. It was, until December 2009, also one of America's largest theme park operators; operating ten theme parks across the United States through the...
placed
BudweiserBudweiser is a 5.0% abv American-style lager introduced in 1876 by Adolphus Busch and one of the highest selling beers in the United States. It is made with up to 30% rice in addition to hops and barley malt. Budweiser is produced in various breweries located around the world...
and
Bud LightBudweiser is a 5.0% abv American-style lager introduced in 1876 by Adolphus Busch and one of the highest selling beers in the United States. It is made with up to 30% rice in addition to hops and barley malt. Budweiser is produced in various breweries located around the world...
advertisements beneath the center field scoreboard. Bud Light became the sponsor of the rebuilt bleachers in 2006.
In the early 2000s, following the trend of many ballparks, a green-screen
chroma keyChroma key compositing is a technique for compositing two images together. A color range in the top layer is made transparent, revealing another image behind. The chroma keying technique is commonly used in video production and post-production...
board was installed behind home plate, in the line of sight of the center field TV camera, to allow electronic "rotating" advertisements visible only to the TV audiences. By 2006, the board was set up to allow advertisements to be both physical and electronic (thus they can be seen in both live and replay shots).
In 2007, the first on-field advertising appeared since the park's early days. Sporting goods firm
Under ArmourUnder Armour is an American sports clothing and accessories company. The company is a supplier of a wide range of sportswear and casual apparel mainly focusing on hi-tech sportswear for professional athletes...
placed its logo on the double-doors between the ivy on the outfield wall, in left-center and right-center fields. Advertisements were also placed in the dugouts, originally for Sears department stores, then
Walter E. SmitheWalter E. Smithe is a furniture company based in Itasca, Illinois. The company makes, sells, and repairs furniture, specializing in custom upholstery, and operates thirteen showrooms throughout the Chicago metropolitan area. It was founded by Walter E. Smithe and Bill Shanahan in 1945 and is...
furniture and now
State FarmState farm can refer to:*Sovkhoz, a type of state-owned farm in the Soviet Union*Volkseigenes Gut, a type of state-owned farm in East Germany*Państwowe Gospodarstwo Rolne, a type of state-owned farm in People's Republic of Poland...
insurance.
Corporate sponsorship has not been limited to the park itself. Wrigley Field is famous for its view of the neighborhood buildings across Waveland and Sheffield Avenues. In addition to spectators standing or sitting on the apartment roofs, corporate sponsors have frequently taken advantage of those locations as well. In the earliest days of Weeghman Park, one building across Sheffield Avenue advertised a local hangout known as Bismarck Gardens (later called the Marigold Gardens after
World War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
). That same building has since advertised for the Torco Oil Company,
Southwest AirlinesSouthwest Airlines Co. is an American low-cost airline based in Dallas, Texas. Southwest is the largest airline in the United States, based upon domestic passengers carried,...
, and the
Miller Brewing CompanyThe Miller Brewing Company is an American beer brewing company owned by the United Kingdom-based SABMiller. Its regional headquarters are located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the company has brewing facilities in Albany, Georgia; Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin; Eden, North Carolina; Fort Worth, Texas;...
.
A building across from deep right-center field was topped by a neon sign for
Baby RuthBaby Ruth is an American candy bar made of peanuts, caramel and chocolate-flavored nougat covered in chocolate.In 1921, the Curtiss Candy Company refashioned its Kandy Kake into the Baby Ruth. The bar was a staple of the Chicago-based company for some seven decades. Curtiss was purchased by Nabisco...
candy beginning in the mid-1930s and running for some 40 years. That placement by the Chicago-based
Curtiss Candy CompanyThe Curtiss Candy Company was founded in 1916 by Otto Schnering near Chicago, Illinois. Wanting a more "American sounding" name , Schnering named his company using his mother's maiden name....
, coincidentally positioned in the line of sight of "Babe Ruth's called shot", proved fortuitous when games began to be televised in the 1940s—the sign was also in the line of sight of the ground level camera behind and to the left of home plate. The aging sign was eventually removed in the early 1970s.
Another long-standing venue for a sign is the sloping roof of a building behind left-center field. Unsuitable for the bleachers that now decorate many of those buildings, that building's angling roof has been painted in the form of a large billboard since at least the 1940s. In recent years it has borne a bright-red Budweiser sign and, beginning in 2009, an advertisement for Horseshoe Casino. Other buildings have carried signs sponsoring beers, such as Old Style (when it was a Cubs broadcasting sponsor) and Miller; and also
WGN-TVWGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
, which has telecast Cubs games since April 1948.
For 2008 and 2009, the Cubs worked out an agreement with the
Chicago Board Options ExchangeThe Chicago Board Options Exchange , located at 400 South LaSalle Street in Chicago, is the largest U.S. options exchange with annual trading volume that hovered around one billion contracts at the end of 2007...
to allow the CBOE to auction some 70 box seat season tickets and award naming rights to them.
For the 2009 season, The Chicago Cubs announced that the renovated restaurant space in the southeast corner of Wrigley Field, formerly known as the Friendly Confines Cafe, will now be known as the Captain Morgan Club.
On October 27, 2009,
Thomas S. RickettsThomas S. "Tom" Ricketts is chairman of the Chicago Cubs, and the chief executive officer of Incapital LLC, a Chicago investment bank that packages corporate bonds for retail investors. He is also a director of TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation as well as the son of Ameritrade founder J. Joseph...
officially took over 95% ownership of the
Chicago CubsThe Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
, Wrigley Field and 20% ownership of Comcast SportsNet Chicago. The Tribune will retain 5% ownership. Ricketts, however, has expressed no interest in selling the naming rights to Wrigley Field, preferring that it retain the name it has used since 1926.
"White flag time at Wrigley!"
The term
"White flag time at Wrigley!" means the Cubs have won. The ritual of raising flags after a game is decades-old, but the saying itself only began in the 1990s, as coined by
Chip Caray.
Beginning in the days of P.K. Wrigley and the 1937 bleacher/scoreboard reconstruction, a flag with either a "W" or an "L" has flown from atop the scoreboard masthead, indicating the day's result. In case of a doubleheader that is split, both flags are flown.
Past Cubs media guides show that the original flags were blue with a white "W" and white with a blue "L", the latter coincidentally suggesting "surrender". In 1978, blue and white lights were mounted atop the scoreboard, to further denote wins and losses.
The flags were replaced in the early 1980s, and the color schemes were reversed with the "win flag" being white with a blue W, and the "loss flag" the opposite. In 1982, the retired number of Ernie Banks was flying on a foul pole, as white with blue numbers, in 1987, the retired number of Billy Williams joined Banks, the two flags were positioned from the foul poles, Banks from left field, and Williams from right field. Later on, other numbers joined: Ron Santo, Ryne Sandberg, Ferguson Jenkins and Greg Maddux, with Jenkins and Maddux both using the same number (31).
Keeping with tradition, fans are known to bring win flags to home and away games, and displaying them after a Cubs win. Flags are also sold at the ballpark. On April 24, 2008 the Cubs flew an extra white flag displaying "10,000" in blue, along with the win flag, as the 10,000th win in team history was achieved on the road the previous night. Along side the tradition of the "W" and "L" flags, the song "Go Cubs Go" is sung after each home win.
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
The traditional singing of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field began when Hall of Fame announcer
Harry CarayHarry Caray, born Harry Christopher Carabina, was an American baseball broadcaster on radio and television. He covered four Major League Baseball teams, beginning with a long tenure calling the games of the St...
arrived in 1982 (he had sung it the preceding 7 years when he was the Chicago White Sox announcer), and has remained a staple at Wrigley Field during the Seventh Inning Stretch ever since. Today, former players, other sports stars, actors, and other famous people are invited to come and sing during the Seventh Inning Stretch in place of Caray, who passed away in 1998, among some of the most well-known, are former Cubs second baseman
Ryne SandbergRyne Dee Sandberg , nicknamed "Ryno" is a former Major League Baseball second baseman. During a 16-year baseball career, he played from 1981–1994 and 1996–97, spending nearly his entire career with the Chicago Cubs. He was named after relief pitcher Ryne Duren, and is recognized as one of the best...
, former pitcher
Mike KrukowMichael Edward "Mike" Krukow is a former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball. He is currently a television color commentator for the San Francisco Giants.-Early life:...
, former longtime Cubs first baseman
Mark Grace, former
Houston RocketsThe Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before being...
star
Tracy McGradyTracy Lamar McGrady, Jr., is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Detroit Pistons.Entering the league after graduating from high school, McGrady eventually became a seven-time All-Star. He led the league in scoring in 2003 and 2004. He has also played for the Toronto...
, actor/comedians
Bill MurrayWilliam James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...
and
Jay LenoJames Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
, NASCAR driver
Jeff GordonJeffery Michael "Jeff" Gordon is a professional NASCAR driver. He is the driver of the #24 Drive to End Hunger/DuPont/Pepsi Chevrolet Impala. He is a four-time Sprint Cup Series champion and a three-time Daytona 500 winner. He is third on the all-time wins list, with 85 career wins, and has the...
, singers
Ozzy OsbourneJohn Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
and
Eddie VedderEddie Vedder is an American musician and singer-songwriter who is best known for being the lead singer and one of three guitarists of the alternative rock band Pearl Jam. He is widely considered a cultural icon of alternative rock.He is also involved in soundtrack work and contributes to albums...
, and actors
Tom ArnoldThomas Dwaine "Tom" Arnold is an American actor and comedian. He has appeared in many films, perhaps most notably True Lies . He was the host of The Best Damn Sports Show Period for four years.-Early life:...
and
James BelushiJames Adam "Jim" Belushi is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is the younger brother of comic actor John Belushi.-Early life:Belushi was born in Chicago...
.
Accessibility and transportation
The
Red LineThe northern terminus of the Red Line is Howard Street in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago , on the City Limits farthest north. The Red Line extends southeasterly on an elevated embankment structure about a half-mile west of the lakefront to Touhy Avenue then turns south along Glenwood...
stop at
AddisonAddison is a Chicago, Illinois station of the Chicago Transit Authority elevated train line popularly called the Chicago 'L'. It is located in the Wrigleyville enclave of the Lakeview neighborhood at 940 West Addison Street with city block coordinates at 3600 North at 940 West...
is less than one block east of Wrigley Field. The stadium was originally built for proximity to the train tracks. At the conclusion of games, the scoreboard operator raises to the top of the center field scoreboard either a white flag with a blue "W" to signify a Cubs victory or a blue flag with a white "L" for a loss. This is done not only to allow passengers on the nearby "L" trains to see the outcome of the game, but also anyone passing by the park can now know the results of that day's game. Interestingly, the basic flag color was once the exact opposite of the colors used today (the rationale being that white is the traditional color for
surrenderSurrender is when soldiers, nations or other combatants stop fighting and eventually become prisoners of war, either as individuals or when ordered to by their officers. A white flag is a common symbol of surrender, as is the gesture of raising one's hands empty and open above one's head.When the...
). In addition to rail service, the CTA provides several bus routes which service Wrigley. CTA bus routes #22 Clark, #152 Addison and #154 Wrigley Field Express all provide access to the ballpark. Pace also operates the #282 Schaumburg-Wrigley Field Express from Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg and the #779 Yorktown-Wrigley Field Express from Yorktown Shopping Center in Lombard. Biking to the field is also a popular alternative. As Halsted, Addison, and Clark streets all have designated biking lanes, getting to the field via bicycle is a great way to avoid hectic traffic before and after games. Bikers need not worry about their bike during the game, because Wrigley Field offers a complimentary bike check program. Cyclists may check their bikes up to 2 hours before games at the bike racks off of Waveland Ave, and may pick up their bikes up to one hour after games end.
Parking in the area remains scarce, but that does not seem to bother fans who want to come to this baseball Mecca, which has drawn more than 3 million fans every year since 2004, averaging to a near-sellout every day of the season, even with many weekday afternoon games. The little parking that
is available around the park can go for as much as $100 per space. To partially alleviate this problem, the Cubs sponsor a parking shuttle service from the nearby DeVry University campus at Addison and Western as part of their agreement with local neighborhood groups.
Commemorative stamps
In 2001, a series of commemorative postage stamps on the subject of baseball parks was issued by the U.S. Postal Service. Most of them were engravings taken from old colorized postcards, including the illustration of Wrigley Field. In the case of Wrigley, the famous scoreboard was sliced off, presumably to hide the original postcard's banner containing the park's name. It may also be observed that the original black-and-white aerial photo, presumably from the 1945 World Series, was taken from nearly the identical spot as the photo of the 1935 Series, allowing a comparison before and after the 1937 alterations to the bleachers. The stamp and its sources also provide a rare look at the center field bleachers filled with spectators, a practice which was later discontinued due to the risk to batters, who might lose the flight of a pitch amidst the white shirts. This led to the development of
darker backgroundsThe batter's eye or batter's eye screen is a solid-colored, usually dark area beyond the center field wall of a baseball stadium, that is the visual backdrop directly in the line of sight of a baseball batter, while facing the pitcher and awaiting a pitch. This dark surface allows the batter to see...
to the pitchers mounds.
Sources
- A Day at the Park, by William Hartel
- Ballparks of North America, by Michael Benson
- Cubs Journal, by John Snyder
- Green Cathedrals, by Philip J. Lowry
- Wrigley Field: The Unauthorized Biography, by Stuart Shea
- Top 10 Ballparks of 2008 by Devin Pratt
External links