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Venerated Venues: The Friendly Confines
When it comes to sports, I am first and foremost a baseball fan. I’ve been to Old Comiskey Park, Fulton County Stadium, “The Murph” (and later to Petco), Camden Yards, RFK Stadium (and later to Nationals Park). I’ll go wherever baseball is played (when I have the money) and enjoy myself and the surroundings, but for me, none of these parks can hold a candle to a game at Wrigley Field.
Growing up in the era of the superstation, it was easy to catch the Cubs or the Braves from any house that had cable, any time a game was played. (Then came the blackout era and MLB.TV, and all of that largely went away, but that’s a soapbox for another day). Wrigley was a place I saw only on TV, despite being Chicago-born and a Cubs fan since early childhood. Venturing to that mecca to catch a game was an item at the top of the proverbial bucket list, one that I was finally able to fulfill on September 1, 2003.
For my birthday that summer, my wife had given me two tickets to the Labor Day showdown between the Cubs and the Cardinals at Wrigley Field. Imagine: a lifelong Cub fan on his first trip to the Friendly Confines, to see one of the best rivalries in baseball (not to mention the Cubs actually having a good team that year). As they say, a dream come true.
The forecast was gloomy, and on the drive from just south of the city to the Howard parking deck on the north side (where we would get on the L for the ride down to the ballpark), we dealt with a steady, miserable rain. While it seemed that the chances for a rainout were pretty high, nothing was going to stop me from at least walking through that venerable old stadium and gazing out at the field and the ivy.
The game was scheduled for a 1:20 start, but the rains poured, and the tarp remained on the field. We were fortunate, though, as our seats were high enough down the right-field line as to have some shelter under the upper deck. We sat next to plenty of friendly Cardinals fans (they do exist!), and just had a delightful time and great conversation. In fact, those hours seemed to pass by fairly quickly, and Cards and Cubs fans alike seemed to just enjoy being there. Cheers would erupt from everywhere each time the rain let up, followed by groans when the relentlessly gray skies opened up anew. Still, the feeling was so electric, the fans locked in their seats or taking cover under the stands, that you just knew that before the day was over there would be baseball. And sometime after 5:30, after a four-plus-hour delay, the call came over the PA — this game would be played. Indeed, the sheer joy of hearing those words “There will be baseball” was a euphoric experience shared by fans of both teams.
I don’t remember the play by play, although I do remember a hit down the left field line by Ramon Martinez that broke a close game wide open. Remember, this was back in the days when Mark Prior was a phenom, Moises Alou was raking, and Sammy Sosa was still in good graces. That game, Prior was on fire and successfully shut down the impressive Albert Pujols for most of the game. I watched Sammy do his trademark run to the fans in the right field bleachers. And while I will always prefer day baseball, make no mistake — in person, Wrigley Field is stunningly beautiful at night. By the end of the game, that beautiful old scoreboard displayed the final score of 7-0 and the W flag was raised on high.
In the end, we spent over seven hours on this hallowed ground, ate two deliciously unhealthy meals, and witnessed some great baseball. And to top it off, by the end of the five-game series that started on that Labor Day, the Cubs had moved ahead of the Cardinals in the standings and within a half-game of the division-leading Astros. The Cubs would go on to win the division and come within five outs of the NL pennant before the inevitable, infamous collapse to the Florida Marlins in the 2003 NLCS.
That gloriously rainy day shines as brightly as the sun in my memory. Cubs-Cardinals, Cubs win, seven hours at that wonderful ballpark … it was almost heaven on earth for me. What a great day that was.
I went back with my kids some nine years later for a day game against the Pirates, before the new video boards and recent construction around Wrigleyville. I haven’t been back since, although my heart and hopes were certainly there as the 2016 season came to a thrilling close. I don’t know when, but I have no doubt that someday I will once again make that pilgrimage to the Friendly Confines. I suspect, however, that it will never quite compare to that first magical journey to that hallowed place on the corner of Clark and Addison.
Published in Group Writing
I loved it, Jim.
Great story.
When I was 7, my dad took me to see Ernie Banks play at Wrigley Field! So many memories in later years too. Harry Caray singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game off-key with the fans joining in, so much fan loyalty. I’ve been to Comiskey Park too.
Yankee Stadium
Not the new one or the renovated one, the original: The House Ruth Built. My dad took me to the men’s room and I raced back to tell my brother, “You gotta see this. You have to pee on the wall!”
Oddly enough, for two summers I worked 3 blocks away from Wrigley and never went.
Nicely written. I especially like the understated, blame-free reference to that Marlins game. I hope to get to Wrigley one day.
Nice post.
Growing up, I was a real baseball stadium junkie (and a moderate baseball junkie). Your post got me thinking about the parks I always wanted to visit but still haven’t (or never will), since Wrigley is way up there.
Oddly enough, I always really wanted to visit the Astrodome even though everyone seemed to complain about how dismal a place it was. Something about watching baseball in such a cramped space with those horrible lights appealed to me. Sadly, that’s one bucket list item that will have to go unmet.
Over the ivy-covered walls, you could see the houses and two-flats across the street where people would sit on the roof watching the game.
Oh, and I met Joe Pepitone at a club once!
Y’all got Me to reminiscing….
The Rangers’ original park, Arlington Stadium, was basically a AAA park. Aluminum bleacher seats.. Aluminum! In TEXAS!! Damn were those hot. The old story goes: the center field score board with the score, innings, hits, runs, outs… also had the temperature. The man operating it, when it was say 101 degrees, would add about 5 degrees to psych out the opposing team that would see it.
Arlington Stadium Men’s room had about a 30 foot long trough into which one would do Their business. I never could go in there.
I got to go when I was a lil’ kid. I thought it was the greatest thing ever. The Eighth Wonder of the World. I was in the same place the Bad News Bears played! Good times.
Sorry, this comment refers back to last month’s Group Writing theme:
The last time I was at Wrigley ~10 years ago, the same style troughs were being used.
When I was five I saw Sandy Koufax beat the Cubs rookie Kenny Holtzman in a 2-1 pitchers dual.
Since I was only five(and a goy)I had no idea of the significance of the occasion.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-sandy-koufax-ken-holtzman-1966-flashback-perspec-0918-jm-20160914-column.html
That’s where I took my kids to see their first baseball game. And we sat on those aluminum bleacher seats. The Men’s room, well that was just a trip down memory lane. And a step up from the gasthaus in Germany where the trough was literally the outside of the back wall.
I am going to miss Globe Life Park. Many years of family baseball memories. Especially being there when the Rangers won their first pennant.
Lovely post, and wonderful memories, thanks. Since you mentioned the Pirates, Mr. She would probably give you a run for your money when it comes to the “than which there is no other” ranking of baseball parks. In his mind, nothing will ever compare to Forbes Field.
Amen, Brotha.
It’s a beautiful Park. You can still go after The Rangers move… to watch the XFL Dallas team.
It was your turn.
I had a chance to get to the Park in Arlington some years back while on travel for business, but couldn’t make it happen. Never got the chance to see a game at the Astrodome. Business travel is what put me in position to see the Padres at both parks, as well as the Orioles and the Nationals (proximity to BWI).
I went when I was 8. Ernie, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, Glenn Beckert, Don Kessinger … I think Fergie Jenkins pitched that day. Mom probably took me. She would take us kids on Ladies Day, when she could get in for half price.
I went when I could through college and briefly after. I sat in the bleachers next to Bill Veeck, one-time owner of the Cleveland Indians and two-time owner of the White Sox. He invented the exploding scoreboard, player names on the backs of uniforms, and (no foolin’) Harry Carray singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” to the crowd. He had a wooden leg due to cancer; he used the wooden one to stub out his cigarettes.
Bill Veeck had many innovations:
Some noble,
Some fun,
Others memorably forgettable,
You don’t quite get how Veeck’s promotion schemes worked.
Veeck asked Carray to sing “Take Me Out to the Ballpark.” Carray was already doing so, in the booth with the mike shut off. Carray refused. “Harry, I have you on tape. You’re doing it. The question is whether you’re doing it live or not.” Harry could have kicked up a fuss, but he knew that if he did, that would have ended up being what Veeck told the newspapers, radio stations, and TV stations. Bill was not to be denied his publicity.
Oh, and it was a huge hit …
(Even the shorts worked, if you think of it like that.)
The shorts possibly worked in that it helped draw attention to a last place team (64-97), but the innovation of baseball teams wearing shorts obviously began and ended with the 1976 White Sox two game shorts experiment.
And none of those could hold a candle to Disco Demolition Night.
Ten Cent BEER Night.
Ron Santo opened a pizza place in my town after he retired.
When he owned the Indians, he hired Max Patkin, the Clown Prince of Baseball as a coach. I think he put him into the first base coaching box.
The American League front office had an apoplexy. The fans loved it.
He had expanded and put one in Schaumburg when I moved back to Illinois. It was pretty good.
I just googled and saw there was also one in Rockford!
Wrigley would be great if the Cubs didn’t play there. I refuse to go.
Stadiums I’ve been to:
Milwaukee County.
Miller Park.
New Comisky
HHH dome (Minneapolis)
Dodger Stadium
Kingdome
PacBell Park (SF)
Fenway
Camden Yards
Coors Field
PNC Park
Riverside Stadium (Cincinnati, after they tore a section out to start construction of Great American Ballpark).
GAB
Kaufman field (KC)
Old Busch stadium
It’s weird seeing Fulton County stadium in the same sentence as venerated stadiums. Im not sure there is anyone who remembers old FulCo fondly… and the teams that played there even less so.
Watch Bull Durham for the church – ball park link.