Skip to main content

Wrigley Field

On my recent visit to Chicago I attended a Cubs game at Wrigley Field.


Wrigley Field is located in the North Side neighborhood of Chicago and is bounded by the irregular street configuration of; Addison Street, Clarke Street, Waveland Avenue, Sheffield Avenue,  The view above is from Addison and Clarke looking at the main entrance to Wrigley Field.  Below is a close-up view of the "Wrigley Field home of Chicago Cubs" sign.


Wrigley Field is the second oldest Major League Stadium after Fenway Park in Boston.  Wrigley Field opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park and was home to the Chicago Whales of the Federal League.  The Federal League shuttered in 1915 and the Chicago Cubs became the residing Major League Team.  The Chicago Cubs previously played at the second iteration of West Side Park before moving to Wrigley Field.  In 1918 William Wrigley Jr. (of Wrigley Chewing gum) obtained controlling interest of the Chicago Cub and gave Wrigley Field it's modern name in 1926.

Despite recent renovations Wrigley Field still appears similar to how it would have looked in the late 1920s.  The upper deck of Wrigley Field was installed in 1927 and the signature ivy outfield fence was planted in 1937.  Wrigley Field remains the only Major League Stadium without padded outfield walls.


The video board was part of the recent Wrigley Field renovations and was installed in 2015.


Interestingly rooftop viewings of Wrigley Field from nearby buildings is still very much active.  The Chicago Cubs originally attempted to block the roof top viewing areas with a screen in 2003 but began a 17% profit sharing agreement in 2004 which lasts until 2023.  Some of the exterior viewing areas above Sheffield Avenue can be seen in the picture below.


It still seems strange the Cubs won a World Series in 2016 after not winning one for more than a century.


How the Cubs logo appeared in the 1908 season which also happened to be the year they last won a World Series prior to 2016.


It should be noted that the temperature by the time the 7th Inning hit was 34F degrees with 15-20 MPH gusts coming in off of Lake Michigan.  I hadn't attended a Cubs game at Wrigley Field since the late 1990s and felt odd attending in conditions that would have expected more in a Chicago Bears game or at Ryan Field.  The Cubs ultimately lost to the Pirates 5-2.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...

Ghost Town Tuesday; Mannfield, FL and the stairway to Hell

Back in 2015 I went searching the Lecanto Sand Hills for the original Citrus County Seat known as Mannfield.  Unlike Centrailia in Hernando County and Fivay in Pasco County I did find something worth seeing. Mannfield is located in the Lecanto Sand Hill section of Withlacoochee State Forest somewhat east of the intersection of Citrus County Route 491 and Mansfield Road. Mannfield was named after Austin Mann and founded in Hernando County in 1884 before Citrus County Split away.  In 1887 Citrus County was split from northern Hernando County while Pasco County was spun off to the south.  Mannfield was selected as the new Citrus County seat due to it being near the county geographic center.  Reportedly Mannfield had as many as 250 people when it was the County Seat.  The town included various businesses one might include at the time, even a sawmill which was common for the area.  In 1891 Citrus County voted to move it's seat to Inverness which set the s...

The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and temporary Hawaii Route 11

The 1959 Gousha Road map of Hawaii features two largely unknown references in the form of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11.  Both corridors are shown running from the boundary of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park east to Glenwood via Volcano Village.  At the time Hawaii Route 11 was using the so-called "Volcano Road" which was constructed as a modernization of Mamalahoa Highway during 1927-1928.  This blog will examine the two map references and will attempt to determine what they might indicate.  The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11 Hawaii Route 11 is part of Mamalahoa Highway (the Hawaii Belt Road) and is the longest Hawaiian State Route at 121.97 miles.  The highway begins at the mutual junction of Hawaii Route 19 and Hawaii Route 190 in Kailua-Kona.  From Kailua-Kona the routing of Hawaii Route 11 crosses the volcanic landscapes of southern side of the Big Island.  Hawaii Route 11 terminates at Hawaii Route 19/Ka...