Wrigley Field

Known as The Friendly Confines, Wrigley Field, the home of the Chicago Cubs is a baseball fan’s field of dreams.

 

Originally known as Weeghman Park, Wrigley Field was built in 1914 at Clark and Addison streets and is the nation’s second oldest park — just behind Boston’s Fenway, which opened in 1912.

 

The park seats 41,160 and is located in a bustling residential neighborhood known as Wrigleyville, where surrounding apartment buildings have converted their rooftop decks into mini grandstands offering views of the ball field.

 

The stadium is also known for its ivy-covered outfield wall  — a touch that prompts announcers to often yell “and that ball is lost somewhere in the vines!”  The original ivy vines were planted in September, 1937.

 

One of the best ways to experience Wrigley Field is to take a tour offered by the Chicago Cubs. The tour takes you where a game won’t — into the dugout, into the locker room, on the field. See the inside of the original scoreboard that is still changed by hand. Kick home plate!

 

A visit to Wrigley also gives devout baseball fans a chance to see where the alleged cursed Cubs play ball. Where did the curse arise? Some say it involved a goat.

 

In 1945 the owner of Billy Goat Tavern was asked to leave a World Series game at Wrigley because he had brought with him his pet goat. Upon exiting, the tavern owner is said to have yelled, “Them Cubs, they aren’t going to win no more.”

- by Lori Rotenberk , Chicago Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

Lori Rotenberk

Lori Rotenberk graduated from Drake University and is a Chicago-based journalist whose work has appeared in The Boston Globe, Newsweek and various magazines. She worked as a staff reporter on The Chicago Sun-Times, the suburban section of The Chicago Tribune and The Des Moines Register. In addition, she has studied fiction writing in adult education at the University of Chicago.