773- 404-CUBS
www.ballparks.com/baseball/national/wrigle.htm
It’s internationally famous as Wrigley Field. Chicagoans
refer to it familiarly as The Friendly Confines. You can call it
Cubs Park, but did you know it started its career under the
moniker Weeghman Park? Or that, for a brief, embarrassing moment
in 1915, Wrigley was known as Whales Park?
Located at 1060 W. Addison Street at Clark Avenue, Wrigley
was designed in 1914 by Zachary Taylor Davis, and opened April
23rd of that year under the direction of then-owner Charlie
Weeghman for his team, the Chicago Federals. After the Federals’
league failed, an early incarnation of the Cubs organization
took it over in 1916. It was renamed Wrigley Field in 1926, in
honor of owner William Wrigley Jr., of the chewing gum Wrigleys.
It’s the oldest surviving National League ballpark. Zachary
Davis also designed the late, lamented Old Comiskey, now
replaced by a spanking new structure on the city’s south side.
Wrigley, however exhibits the twin virtues of historic
significance and longevity. For the moment, it seems to be safe.
On a soft summer day, before the weather gets too hot, (or,
perversely, too cold) a cup of beer and a seat in Wrigley Field
can make you feel like you’ve died and gone to heaven. Gazing
over the stands to the rooftops outside the park, you can wave
to the fans who’ve set up their lawn chairs and barbecues from
their privileged perches.
Wrigleyville, the neighborhood surrounding the park, is full
of the expected sports bars and burger joints, but also the
unexpected. Cabaret Metro, the city’s foremost rock venue, is
right up Clark, and there’s a lovely residential street one
block north named Alta Vista Terrace that looks like a little
piece of London in hailing distance of the park. There are some
fine bookstores in the neighborhood, as well as some cosy
neighborhood bars. They won’t all admit it, and there’s a
lot of grousing about parking and ungentlemanly behavior, but
many Wrigleyville residents moved to the neighborhood just so
they could walk to the park on a summer afternoon. The Cubs may
be the National Leagues’ losingest team, but they have the
most devoted fans. Steppenwolf Theater alums Joe Mantegna and
Dennis Franz developed the theatrical tribute to Cubs fans in
"Bleacher Bums," a play based on a group of real-life
fans that heckled, cheered, and harassed the Cubs from 1966 into
the late ‘70s. "Bleacher Bums" defined the passion
and perversity of those die-hards for whom hope springs eternal,
and their decendants live on today. The definitive Wrigley Field
anthem (aside from "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" as
sung by the late Harry Caray) is folksinger Steve Goodman’s
"A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request."
Tickets may be ordered at (773) 404-CUBS
Trivia and the not-so-trivial can be found at an informative
website at
http://www.ballparks.com/baseball/national/wrigle.htm
