The “Friendly Confines”of Wrigley Field, as Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, described his home ballpark, may be the most beautiful of all baseball settings. Couched in urban Chicago, IL on the corner of N. Clark and W. Addison Streets; Wrigley sits in the grasp of Lake Michigan breezes and within eyesight of the Lake Shore Drive skyline.
Built in 1912 and originally named Weegham Park, professional baseball has been played at the same old yard since 1914, the second oldest ballpark in the Major Leagues only Boston’s Fenway Park is more aged – by two years. In 1916 the first National League game featuring the Cubs was played. The Wrigley family bought the team from Charles H. Weegham in 1920 and Weegham Park became Cubs Park, and was renamed Wrigley Field six years later, in honor of owner William Wrigley, Jr.
After alterations and renovations, Wrigley has grown in seating capacity from 14,000 to 41,118 customers; and hundreds more watch from the apartment building rooftops outside the park on the Avenues of Waveland (left field) and Sheffield (right field.)
Although the rooftop seats have always existed and building owners charged nominally for the view, rooftop seating today is a substantial business. Private companies reached partnership agreements with the Cubs in 2003 and 2004; they operate their businesses and share revenue with the Cubs. Tickets for a rooftop view of a game are more expensive than the best seats inside the ballpark, but food and beverages are included, and the experience is as unique as any in sports.
A drawback to the rooftops is fans often don’t have a complete view of outfielders below them not bouncing off the unforgiving, ivy covered, outfield brick walls of Wrigley. The rich colored ivy, first planted in 1937 by direction of then team owner Bill Veeck, is a trademark; as are the sun burnt bleachers, and seemingly reach-out-and-touch-someone closeness of field level box seats.
Wrigley’s scoreboard, installed the same year the ivy began growing, is fundamentally the same as always and is primarily manually operated. The wire “basket,” brimming the outfield wall since 1970, catches home run balls, and “W” or “L” flags hanging from the left field foul pole signal wins and losses to the Cub community after every game.
Around the block from the money-making roofs are numerous bars, restaurants and Cub product retail shops aligning Clark and Addison; the economic hub fringes a dense residential area and is an integral part
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