Visit to Wrigley Field
by sothball on Jun 28, 2009 4:41 PM PDT
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PrintMrs. Sothball, the junior Ms. Sothball (daughter) and I got to attend a game at Wrigley Field on Sunday 6/21/09. It was a day game between the Cubs and Indians. The Cubs won the game, 6-2. For us, the star of the show was Wrigley Field.
Wrigley Field is one of only 2 baseball stadiums remaining that were built prior to the "automobile age". The other is Fenway Park. As a consequence, these 2 fields have very limited parking facilities, and are surrounded by a mix of residential and commercial buildings. So, you either walk, take the subway (the "El" in Chicago), or park as close as possible. The parking rates are pretty high close to the park. For our game, the asking rate was $30.00. We parked on the street for free about a mile from Wrigley, and then walked to the field. It was actually a great experience. The surrounding area is called "Wrigleyville". There are lots of stores, shops, restaurants, and sports bars…lots of sports bars.
Here are some of photos;
Here’s the view of the main entrance…sort of. It’s below the red "Wrigley Field" sign.
This is the view just inside the main entrance to the right.
Here’s a 4 picture panorama inside the main entrance.
I hadn’t realized how many seats there are on rooftops of adjacent buildings. This photo was taken from the very top corner seat. That’s Sheffield Avenue below. Sheffield intersects with Waveland at the upper left of the photo…where the red car is turning.
This was the view from our seats. The "luxury" box seats were added about 10 years ago. They are directly over our heads. It’s the thin layer of seats directly below the upper deck (seen at upper middle of the photo).
The hand operated scoreboard. This photo was taken at the end of the game, right after the final score was posted. It’s on the lower left side.
Here’s the sign at the front displaying the final score…Wrigley’s version of lighting the halo.
Impressions?
1) If you’ve ever met a Cub fan, they seem more "in love" with their team, almost as though the team is a part of their extended family. I think I understand part of the reason why. Wrigley Field and the surrounding residential neighborhood are tightly interwoven. They are a part of one another, and seem to play off each other.
2) People we met were friendly and curious. I had no problems with anyone, even though I was wearing an Angel cap and shirt. About the only team identity that may have caused problems would have been a White Sox gear.
3) The food was great, and the facilities were adequate. No extended waiting time for food or restrooms.
If you ever have a chance to see a game at Wrigley, take it! You can suspend time in your mind and imagine what it was like seeing a baseball game 75 years ago.
To check out more photos, go to this link (taken the day of the game) and at this link (taken on Monday, 6/22 on a tour of the stadium). There are two pages of photos for each link.
This Fan-Post is authored by an independent fan. Tell us what you think and how you feel.
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Neat!
In the words of Tina Fey, “I want to go there.”
"I've got more action than my man John Woo
And I've got mad hits like I was Rod Carew" - Shure Shot, The Beastie Boys
Do my eyes deceive me?
Or does that rooftop just to the right of the one with the billboard have a “luxory box” under the bleachers?
We don't have a Bullpen. We have a Cowpen. Before we get to call it a Bullpen these guys gotta grow a pair.
There are outdoor and indoor seats at the "rooftops".
I can’t comment on whether they are “luxury seats” or otherwise. We didn’t go up to any of these seats. It is on our radar for the next trip!
On the tour, we were told a couple of interesting notes:
1) On the rooftops, they provide various bar-b-que options and drinks as part of the ticket price. Also, the tickets aren’t cheap…somewhere around $100.00 – $200.00 per seat (I still want to check accuracy).
2) The team and the “rooftoppers” got in a big dispute that was settled legally only 3-4 years ago. The settlement was that a) the “rooftoppers” would pay 17% of their profits to the Cubs and b) the Cubs would promote these seats for games.
I can tell you during the WGN Cubs broadcast, they do promote the rooftop seats (through ads) and the broadcasters somehow work a mention of the seats during the broadcast.
I clicked on the photo and drilled in.
That place has it’s own web site. Pretty amazing.
We don't have a Bullpen. We have a Cowpen. Before we get to call it a Bullpen these guys gotta grow a pair.
The only thing bad about that place
is the size of the players on the field. thats quite a distance to the diamond.
pretty much all those rooftops are corporate owned these days
often used for parties to entertain clients
Get Aybar off this team. Now.
Rooftops
They’re all “luxury” in the sense that they’re all-inclusive. I went to a rooftop event with some of my friends that write for Baseball Prospectus (or did at the time, most of the names are probably familiar), and all of the food, beer, etc. is covered in the price (I think we paid $110). If you look at the third picture down, we were on the rooftop just left of the foul pole. It was a three or four flat, with the top floor actually serving as a bar with a huge floor to ceiling window (you can see them in the picture). It rained that day, and during the delay, you could walk down there to get out of the rain and keep drinking. They are subject to the same rules as in the stadium, in that they can’t serve after the seventh inning*
Price probably depends on the size of the group, the opponent, and the time of the season. I’d never pay that much to see a game, but I figured it was worth it to do it once.
*My first trip to Wrigley was the first time I’d ever been to a game outside of California, which meant it was the first time I’d ever encountered beer vendors. But what surprised me most were the rules around buying beer. I’d always known it to be no more than two beers per customer, and no beers after the seventh. At Wrigley is was four beers per customer, and they sold through the eighth. That was the rule until some fans by the visiting dugout got into a melee with Chad Krueter and the Dodgers. Now the rule is the same as in California, though they still have roving beer vendors.
Little known baseball vendor trivia:
When Angels Stadium first opened, my oldest brother got a gig as a roving soda vendor. He wore this super-heavy plastic backpack thingy that looked like it was part of a NASA space suit. It held the syrups and carbonated water in separate tanks, and was pressurized. If somebody wanted a soda, he reached back with his left hand and pulled out a standard sized soda cup out of a cup-dispensing tube and then, with his right hand, he put a dispensing gun into the cup and pulled the trigger. The pack was chilled, so no ice came with the soda. The dispenser gun was on a woven cable-tube, just like a bartender has today.
I have no knowledge as to whether or not beer vendors did likewise in those early years since I was too young to worry about beer, but it would have only made sense to use the same rig. They stopped using the rig after year 1 or 2 because the weight was just killing the vendors.
We don't have a Bullpen. We have a Cowpen. Before we get to call it a Bullpen these guys gotta grow a pair.
I must have misunderstood that post
because I thought it was Chicago fans involved in a fight with the Dodgers.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
still involved the Dodgers. That's enough for me
I’m very short sighted and cynical when it comes to their fans
Thanks.
I remember hearing something about this while I lived near Oakland. Not too many years later a Rangers pitcher tossed a chair into the stands in Oakland, but we were back here by then.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
Thanks for this......
although I’ll never fully understand why someone would go to a game and wear the colors of a team that isnt playing…….I just find that odd.
Godspeed Nick - RIP - 1986-2009
by norcaliangelsfan on Jun 28, 2009 5:28 PM PDT reply actions
I do it all the time
it’s what I wear to a baseball game. I occasionally get the odd cat call, but generally they understand.
This season just seems jinxed. If it can go wrong, it does
It's like this...
…we are somewhat limited on when we can travel. My wife works for the school district, so – for these baseball trips – we are limited to Spring Break (early April…we made trips to Boston and New York at this time), right after school let’s out in June, or the month of August. We’d love to plan these trips for when the Angels are playing the opposing team, but it doesn’t usually work out that way.
I haven’t had a negative comment from anywhere we’ve travelled about the Angel shirts and caps. People have been more curious than anything.
I understand that...
people seem indifferent when you wear Angels gear in other cities. If anything , you are kind of an anomaly.
This is in sharp contrast to the feeling I get every time I see some schmuck wearing BoSux gear. He/She probably doesnt even car that Im sporting an Angels hat while I seethe and attempt to restrain myself from yelling something about “going back to beantown” or “get back to your yacht and chowda” to them.
Do it for Nick '09
by BryanHarvey'sMoustache on Jun 29, 2009 12:39 AM PDT up reply actions
I don't yell at them
but I understand why my cat hisses when he finds a cat in his yard that doesn’t belong there.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
thanks for the pics, sothball
hubby is from Chicago and as many of you, a diehard Cubbies boy. His uncle (a chef) used to cater one of the rooftops.
We had a really enjoyable time there...
…the food was just outstanding. We didn’t have a meal that was the least bit objectionable. The servings are huge…I mean Claim Jumper scale.
The people we met were generally friendly and helpful. I was really surprised by the drivers. If you’ve ever been to New York, the drivers are nuts. I expected the same. Drivers are mostly laid back and driving close to the speed limit. That was a mild shock. I anticipated more manic drivers.
Wrigley was a real treat. To me, it seemed like a stronger sense of camaraderie. At the end of the game when the fans were singing the “Go Cubs Go” song, it seemed that almost everyone in the stadium was singing…and very few had left early. (In fact, Mrs. Sothball has had the tune stuck in her head!)
I remember going to Chicago for the first time. It was January and during a severe snow storm.
It was nothing like your experience. The people there were basically angry. Pissed to a person. Even the parking attendants were pissed offf. I thought to myself, “They hate living in snow. They hate it. So crap, everybody, friggin’ MOVE already!”
We don't have a Bullpen. We have a Cowpen. Before we get to call it a Bullpen these guys gotta grow a pair.
I lived in Montana for 2 years.
There’s just something about the ice, snow, constant cold weather, and lack of sunlight during the winter that can bring out a lot of grumpiness. After 2 miserable Winters, I understood why people anticipate Spring (besides baseball of course).
The Shining.
We don't have a Bullpen. We have a Cowpen. Before we get to call it a Bullpen these guys gotta grow a pair.
+ 1
from So Cal, lived in the NW for about 4 years with an intervening period of living in NYC through a winter. I know how it is…
Do it for Nick '09
by BryanHarvey'sMoustache on Jun 29, 2009 12:41 AM PDT up reply actions
I lived just south of Oakland for 9 years.
There was a point after about 5 years when I realize that I had forgotten how to smile; it was on a trip to Disneyland and my face felt frozen. I’ve been back in the land of sunshine since 2001 and I’ve almost recovered.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
In the old days
They would work their ass’ off during the Spring, Winter, and Fall. Have a Fest. Then ride out the cold winter months.
But with invention of technology, and progress. They must suffer like the rest of us and work their ass’ off all year long.
That’s why living in good weather sites like SoCal, and better yet here in Hawaii. When the days work is done, you can enjoy the weather. Everyday can be enjoyed like a V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N.
The coolest part of the stadium in my opinion
is that it comes out of Fing nowhere. You are driving in a residential neighborhood with tall apartment buildings, you turn a corner and BAM a baseball stadium, its crazy. No huge surrounding parking lot, its seriously as big as one city block.
Also a lot of seats in that place blow ass, so so many obstructed view seats.
Be careful when getting seats there.
I brought sexy back, but they only gave me store credit....
We learned our lesson on seats at Fenway.
We bought the best seats available. We were right behind a column.
As far as the location of Wrigley, I agree. No stadium will probably EVER be built the same way. Your description is exactly right…residential, apartment, and commercial buildings, and then the park. In all 4 directions. No park or landscape area, no parking, no buffer. It is unique,except for Fenway. Again, it’s why it seems there is more…intimacy (not sure that’s the right word) between fan, team, and ballplayer.
That and the park is tiny.
*Ade-Rock 34*
by TheTypingFiend on Jun 28, 2009 9:10 PM PDT up reply actions
I think the game was against Marlins...
…but yeah, Steve Bartman would provoke a lot of disgust in the Cubby faithful.
I think an Angel fan would elicit a similar reaction for such a bone-headed move.
It was against the Marlins
but the Cardinals are the Cubs’ longtime rivals. Like wearing an A’s Jersey to an Angels’ game. Though I went to the Memorial Day game against the White Sox and saw a guy with the gall to wear a Pierzynski jersey in Anaheim. Talk about wanting to punch someone….
This is where I grew up
Great to see someone else go there for the first time and “get” Wrigley.
"When they signed Fukudome, I knew they were trying to get me fired". - Ron Santo, January, 2008
Dude, get a job and stay home like the rest of us.
Seriously though, every fan(s) should see Wrigley.
Who rode on the handle bars, you or the wife?
Angel Pitching, Angel Defense - get past that.
Very good post, soth
Thanks. I’ve been to Wrigley just once, several years ago on the 4th of July, and the Cubs beat the Phillies in extras. Stupid me, I didn’t bring a camera.
Don't call me Desmond
Mr opiejeanne retires in December
and visiting other ballparks is one of the things we’d really like to do.
Again, thanks for posting this.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
When I retire, one of my goals is to do a summer tour of MLB.
All cities, all stadiums, all teams, ASG and World Series. With that under my belt, I might follow it up with some Minor League Tour in a subsequent year.
We don't have a Bullpen. We have a Cowpen. Before we get to call it a Bullpen these guys gotta grow a pair.
That would be fun
but I don’t think we can afford to do that in a single year. I think we’d have to spread it out a bit and we have already been to Oakland, Seattle and Kansas City, and my husband has been to the new SF stadium (is it AT&T? I hate corporate naming of stadia) so I can skip that one.
I lived just south of Oakland for 9 years and went to a lot of As games and during that time I learned new reasons to hate the Giants, and especially their fans. (The Dodgers were my first baseball love in 1958, so you’ll understand that I already hated the Gi’nts.)
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
Some Giant fans are jerks, some were freindly...
…their stadium is a great park for a ballgame…unless the fog rolls in. Then, you’d better have cold weather gear. Brrrrr.
I agree about the some fans:
some are jerks and some are not. We saw a lot of the jerks at the A’s games. I had trouble deciding which group was worse behaved or more clueless, the SF fans or the Raiders fans. The coliseum was already a poor baseball stadium, but we lived there when the Raiders came back and witnessed the changes made to accommodate them, which further degraded the park.
We lived there while La Russa was the manager and Walter Haas was the owner, and both were beloved by the community. I will forever kick myself that we never could get any of the seats when La Russa got his ballplayers to dance in it at “A’s Night at the Nutcracker”. It was a Humane Society fundraiser every Christmas, and that night sold out immediately.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
Jose Canseco in tights...
…you must have a much higher pain threshold than me. His threshold must be high too, that that really would be “Nut-cracker”.
That posted before I was done, doggone it.
The ballplayers wouldn’t agree to do it if they had to wear tights. Mostly they stood in lines and picked up anorexic women, and smirked about how little the girls weighed. In every ballet company I’ve been around there is always a man either working as the director or teaching classes who has blown out his back picking up those skinny girls, because he picked them up wrong or the girls moved incorrectly at the worst possible moment.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
And the dancers were highly amused
that these big tough guys were afraid to wear tights and show off the goodies.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
He looked just like that statue when he was young
only he’s a bit shorter.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
we girls have opened up sothball to his sensitive side
by ladybug on Jun 30, 2009 9:32 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
I still can't believe the things you get rec'd for....
…unbelievable.
by sothball on Jul 1, 2009 12:36 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
I think I would do it via travel trailer and RV parks. Just drive around America at ground level.
It’s baseball, so it’s not a race. And I could add some minor league stops at the out-of-the-way places while I was passing by, saving myself the trouble later on…
We don't have a Bullpen. We have a Cowpen. Before we get to call it a Bullpen these guys gotta grow a pair.
That sounds good.
Or it would if I liked camping. I am at the point in my life where I really appreciate a hotel room.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
One of the best vacations I ever took...
…was 3 weeks traveling around the western states, staying at KOA’s and other campgrounds.
Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and back to California. Some of the BEST…TIMES…EVER.
Ah…If I could do that one more time again…complete freedom..no responsibilities. How the hell did that change so fast?
That's what I am hoping for.
Maybe I shouldn’t wait so long to do it.
We don't have a Bullpen. We have a Cowpen. Before we get to call it a Bullpen these guys gotta grow a pair.
We did that kind of stuff when we were in our 20s and 30s.
We had a little old 6-pack camper, lots of windows and not so much storage and in great shape. We put it on our pickup and drove from Riverside to Missouri when our son was 8 and I was pregnant with the second kid, and that must be when we went to the Royals’ game. Drove it to Seattle, drove it to Zion and Bryce in Utah, took it camping at June Lake in the Sierras. We had it for 8 years and realized when #3 was on the way that we would need to put two kids in car seats. We sold that as well as our 1970 Toyota Corona because we didn’t have a place for our son to sit in that car. The two child car seats took up the entire back seat, and the thing only had four sets of seatbelts. We bought a station wagon and I hated it because it was a station wagon.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
Zion
One of the hidden gems of America is that drive up 89 in central Utah, when everybody else drives up hwy 15. You have to get to it by jumping off hwy 15 and cutting through Zion. You come out hte other side of Zion on hwy 9, which runs out to 89.
Drive north up that valley in Spring, late in the day, stop at The Cowboy Steakhouse in Panguitch for dinner. In my experience, that valley is second only to Yosemite in natural beauty and it goes on for hours.
We don't have a Bullpen. We have a Cowpen. Before we get to call it a Bullpen these guys gotta grow a pair.
We did all of that.
It was an amazing trip and our two kids really enjoyed it even though it was hotter than Billy Blue Blazes. We sat in the Virgin River to cool off and nearly froze but it was better than being too hot.
I’m leaving on the 5th to drive from Sacramento to the Tetons with two of my cousins. (My husband is not going and I think he’s relieved not to be.) I will not be near a major league ballpark, but maybe I can see a minor league game while we’re travelling. I’m taking my laptop and my camera, so if I do talk them into seeing a game rather than spending time looking at TheFirstJCPenney’sintheWorld (they’re both older than I am and their mother was a little strange) I will post some photos.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
Zion is awesome
Seen it before during the daytime. But the last time I went to Zion was in 2002 with a crazy Aussie chick friend of mine. She was driving. We got to the park entrance after dark after driving from the north rim of the Grand Canyon, and we “somehow” ignored the signs saying “DO NOT ENTER AFTER 9PM” …
We stopped for a pee somewhere along all those dark winding roads and it felt like you could drop off into nowhere. You could hear bears roaring and things like that. At this point my Aussie pal lost her nerve and told me I had to drive from there on. So I did.
Needless to say, we didn’t get eaten by bears, and we made it into a little town called Virgin to buy cigarettes. But she was still so shaken she couldn’t drive, so I drove all the way thru St George down to Vegas.
Zion. Cool, glorious, beautiful, awesome place. And really creepy cool at night.
Don't call me Desmond
by highlandhalo on Jun 30, 2009 11:33 AM PDT up reply actions
On the one hand, you experienced something unique: Zion at night.
On the other hand, you missed Springdale in the day time, which is surprisingly like Laguna Beach used to be back in the ’60s.
We don't have a Bullpen. We have a Cowpen. Before we get to call it a Bullpen these guys gotta grow a pair.
I don't remember Springdale.
I think I remember the drive from Zion to Bryce, the Mount Carmel to Zion Highway. I remember a road in a tunnel with windows cut into the rock on one side.
We didn’t stop in St George, but we bought sodas at the bar in Virgin and ate lunch in a park in Hurricane. There we were, a couple of mid-thirties with two kids and one on the way, and everyone said hello to us. People came out of their houses and into the park to say hello. It was surreal.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
Minor league stadiums are like a box of chocolates...
…you never know what you’re going to get.
My last visit to Elsinore Stadium about 2 years ago, they had a parade of hearses going aroung the track. The oldest was probably from the 40’s to the latest models. Some had caskets in the back for that “authentic” look. One of the drivers was dresses up like Michael Keaton in “Beetlejuice”. They never really explained if it was mortuary night, or if it was designed to intimidate the opponents. It was a head-scratchers.
I didn’t have my camera…I’m not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
That was probably the Phantom Coaches Hearse Club.
Aren’t people funny?
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
I am about to quote the wisdom of the legendary...
…Jimmy Buffett. One of his songs is about how the “…cosmic bakers took us out of the oven a little too early, and that’s why we’re all so crazy”. Can’t beat that analysis…we’re all half-baked!
Well, most of us anyway…
I really dug the pics
As for the minor league stadiums, the Epicenter in Rancho is really nice, and Arrowhead Credit Union park in San Bernardino is pretty nice too, although summer day games are hotter than hell itself, same goes for Elsinore.
YOU DON'T KNOW THE POWER OF THE DARKSIDE.....
Rancho
Just saw a game there for the first time last week and it was a nice little park. Reminded me a lot of the Kernels’ stadium in Cedar Rapids, which was a cool place to see a game. Never seen a AAA game, but I’ve been to low A, high A (Rancho and back when Riverside had the Pilots), and AA (Wichita, the only place I’ve seen a field with an artificial infield and grass outfield).
Riverside had the Red Wave. I don't remember the Pilots.
We saw Ken Griffey jr at a game before he was called up to the majors. He was playing for the San Bernardino Spirit.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
The Pilots
They existed between 1993 and 1995. I was at UCR between 1991 and 1995, so we used to head over the to the Sports Complex occasionally. They had two problems: 1) no beer sales, and 2) a bunch of places like Lake Elsinore, Adelanto, Rancho, and Lancaster were building new stadiums. They left in 1996 and became the Lancaster Jethawks. Over the right field wall is where we played IM softball.
Ah. The Red Wave departed for Adelanto in 1990, and we left for the Oakland area in '92.
Same rule: no beer. They said that’s why the Red Wave moved. It was great while it lasted. Our kids got to see the San Diego chicken and Max Patkin as well as Ken Griffey jr. Both my girls live in Seattle now, all grown up, and they are Mariners fans. Traitors.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
I saw Griffey Jr in San Bernardino
When he played for the Spirit at Fiscalini Field. That place was a tiny dump, I remember the Red Wave, not the Pilots, maybe that’s why their no longer in existence.
YOU DON'T KNOW THE POWER OF THE DARKSIDE.....
They still exist
in Lancaster. They are the JetHawks.
We went to a game at Fiscalini Field in the 1980s, and while it wasn’t a new facility like the one at UCR, it wasn’t a dump at that time. It was just an older facility in a city park.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
Yeah
After I posted that, I rethought my posting, Fiscalini Field wasn’t a dump, just Perris Hill park where it was located, the field in fact was very decent, and almost picturesque, especially compared to the Riverside sports complex. I forgot about the Jet-Hawks
YOU DON'T KNOW THE POWER OF THE DARKSIDE.....
Riverside's was a bit sterile, all new and shiny and without character when we were going there.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
Wrigley
First, thanks for looking me up. Really appreciate that. :) Actually, I was in LA that weekend, so you’re off the hook.
Second, I had a similar experience the first time I went to Wrigley. Cool stadium. Great to see a place in person that I’d only ever seen on TV. Really neat that it was right in the middle of the neighborhood. That was in 1997 when a friend and I took a road trip to Bloomington, IN to visit his girlfriend (now wife). It’s a four hour drive from Bloomington to Chicago, but we had to do it, because at that time I thought “when the hell am I ever going to be back in Chicago?” A year later I was living two hours away, and four years later I was living 12 blocks away.
The second time, it was still neat, I guess. I lived close enough to walk to the stadium, but I think we took the train from the office for a work function. The third time we stood the whole time in an SRO section next to the beer cart, and the rest of the day is kind of a blur.
At this point, I’ve sat in the lower deck, upper deck, bleachers, roof top, “luxury” box, etc. Quite frankly, the appeal is gone. Wrigley, to me, is not much more than a glorified high school stadium. Given the choice, I’d much rather go to the Cell. The Cell reminds me a lot of Dodger Stadium, which I’ve always liked, despite hating the Dodgers (though I haven’t been to Dodger Stadium in 10 years). To me, it’s a closer approximation of what I consider to be a major league stadium. I will freely admit that my opinion may be tainted by the fact that the average Cubs fan is a huge douchebag, and I’m surrounded by them (and I’m about to move a bit closer). And while the neighborhood makes the park great, the park makes the neighborhood a really tough place to live during baseball season, unless you don’t mind people urinating on your lawn or in your alley. Then again, one of the country’s premier concert venues, the Metro (for smaller capacities – 1,100 people or so) is right across the street.
That said, everyone will love their first visit, especially if you’ve only seen places like the SoCal stadia. It’s definitely an experience. I highly recommend it to people who haven’t been there before. It’s just that after a while, if you’re seeing multiple games there, the novelty wears off, and you come to appreciate the better amenities of newer parks. I actually preferred Tiger Stadium, which I was lucky enough to see once in its last season. We sat in the last row of the upper deck, and we were closer to the field than most seats in Anaheim. That was a great place to see a ball game.
Don't go back to Dodger Stadium.
Not because I hate the Dodgers (I don’t), but because the game experience of that stadium has changed, and that pure baseball feel that it had for decades is now gone (IMHO). It’s best to stick to the beauty of your memories than to be confronted by the loss.
We don't have a Bullpen. We have a Cowpen. Before we get to call it a Bullpen these guys gotta grow a pair.
Next trip, if you're there, I'd love to meet up with someone that knows the town.
I will do a post on US Cellular and Miller Park in the next week. 2 questions;
1) How in the hell do they get away with charging $23.00 to park at The Cell? I was truly shocked. For comparison, it costs $8.00 to park at the Big A, and $15.00 to park at Dodger Stadium. What a flippin rip if!
2) Everyone complains about traffic in LA. It doesn’t seem to me Chicago is any better. I-90 from O’Hare to downtown was a mess regardless of what time of day/direction we traveled. (Lots of road destruction/construction too.) Did we travel at a time of year where traffic is worse? Or is this standard fare?
We drove a rental from Midway to Downers Grove
in September, 2006 and the traffic was pretty bad then. We landed a bit after rush hour should have been over, around 7pm. We took 55 West, the trip was only 21 miles and it took us an hour.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
Midway to Downers
There’s really no good way to get from A to B. If you take 55 west, you’re also going south, so you have to take 294 back north. You probably would have been better off with surface streets, like Harlem to Ogden or something.
Probably,
but for out-of-towners it was the easiest way to go. Heck, we had trouble just finding the freeway because the GPS in our rental didn’t notice that the street we were on dead-ended. We did get to see the place where a jet ran off the runway and onto the street.
Dad was born in Downers Grove but left in 1922, so he wasn’t much help.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
Chicago parking/traffic
1) Parking is pretty limited at the Cell, so I assume it’s a supply and demand thing. You’re either better off taking the train if possible, or parking over around Michigan and 33rd and walking in from there. It’s street parking, but it’s right by Illinois Tech, so I’ve never had a problem doing that. It’s just under a mile walk, but it’s not too bad.
Then again, pretty much the only way to get to the SoCal parks is to drive, so you’d think the lack of competition would increase the prices, but maybe not. Plus, a lot of people tailgate the Cell, so a lot of people do like to drive in. I typically don’t, or if I do, I park a ways away for free.
2) Traffic in Chicago is much worse than in LA. It’s under the radar, but it’s not even close. I often joke that the LA public transportation system was developed by people with a lot of money invested in freeways, and the Chicago freeways were designed by people with a lot of money invested in public transportation.
The real problem in Chicago, and I’ve never really figured out why, is the reverse commute. I live in the city, and I occasionally need to go to the suburbs for work. In LA, the traffic is bad from, say, West Covina to downtown in the morning, and vice versa at night. But the traffic is usually moving pretty well from downtown to the suburbs in the morning. In Chicago, it’s brutal in both directions. And Fridays are the worst. It can take two+ hours to get from Deerfield (north suburb) to the city on a Friday night (about 30 miles).
Another problem is that all of the major highways go to/through the city. If I’m going from Pasadena to Irvine, there are about 10 different ways I can take to get there. So if there’s an accident on the 5 in Norwalk, I can take the 605 to the 57 and hook up with the 5 by the stadium. Or I can take the 605 to the 22. But if I’m in Downers Grove, and I need to get downtown, there’s only one way to get there. I have to take the Eisenhower.
And speaking of the Eisenhower, to give an example of how screwed up the freeways are here, there’s a portion of the freeway that goes through the town of Hillside, and it’s called the Hillside Strangler. You basically have I-290, I-88, and I-294 all coming together at the same spot. And if that’s not enough, you lose a lane about 1,000 feet past that point. So they bring three freeways together at one spot AND take a lane away. Oh, and there are also a couple entrances and exits on the left right there, just to make things a little worse.
Another quirk here is that they give all of the traffic reports by travel times. So on the radio you’ll hear “On the Edens, Lake Cook to the Junction is 19 minutes”. Which is fine if you know where all of those places are, which freeways is the Edens, and how long the trip should take. If you’re from out of town, you’re pretty much screwed. It took me a while to figure everything out.
Well, you summarized our experience with traffic.
When we were returning from the game at the Cell, there was an accident at either Bryn Mawr or Diversey. It took 1 1/2 hrs to get back to our room (near O’Hare).
On Friday, we went to a game at Miller Park. The 94/294 was backed-up for the first 25-30 miles due to construction. Frustrating as hell. We opted to try one of the “express” lanes. That was a big mistake! It got baked-up for no apparent reason other than volume. We were watching the other 2 traffic lanes speed past us. I quickly came to dislike the “express” lanes. There are far worse than our carpool lanes.
The only place I have been that seems to have figured out how to do carpool lanes is Arizona (they call them HOV lanes or high occupancy vehicle lanes). They are similar to our carpool lanes with the the following differences;
1) The HOV aspect is only in effect during peak commuting hours…I believe it’s 6A to 10A in the morning, and 3P to 7P in the afternoon, Monday through Friday. Beyond that, anyone can drive in the HOV lane at any time.
2) You can navigate in and out of the HOV lanes at any time…not like here where you have to wait for the break in the lane stripping. So, if you have a doofus driving 55 in the carpool lane, you don’t need to sit behind them for 4-5 miles before passing them…that frustrates the bejesus out of me.
I have so many other questions…like, are mega-size meals the standard? Everywhere we dined, we were more than well fed. And we didn’t have a single mediocre meal. After the tour on Monday, we ate at Captain Morgan’s Club right there at Wrigley. They have “half-price” Mondays. Three of us ate for $16.00 (without tip)…and the lunch was really tasty. Some of the restaurants were a little pricey, but every meal was well above average to excellent.
In Northern California you can enter or exit the carpool lanes at any time.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
Really? There is a Northern California Department of Motor Vehicles
with a different drives handbook and different rules of the road?
We don't have a Bullpen. We have a Cowpen. Before we get to call it a Bullpen these guys gotta grow a pair.
Yes. We used to live in Castro Valley
and the youngest took ballet in Walnut Creek for a summer. We’d take Crow Canyon to the 680, and get into the carpool lane if the traffic was bad. Of course, getting back out of the carpool lane before you got sent to Berkeley on the 24 was sometimes tricky, because the traffic right there really, really sucked.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
you put a "the" in front of the freeways
And refer to the carpool lane as the “carpool lane” and not the “diamond lane.” I have many norcal friends who seem to emphasize those things. Are you originally from nor cal?
RIP #34
*clarification
My friends contend that one from nor cal would say something like this:
“I took 680 to 80 using diamond lane”
Personally, I think it sounds dumb, but that’s just my opinion
RIP #34
I am a native of Los Angeles county, and I grew up there.
Then I lived in Riverside for 23 years before moving to CV. Everyone in NorCal laughed at us because we said THE 580, The 680. They said only SoCal uses THE in front of a highway name.
I don’t think they called it a diamond lane there when we lived there, and that strange configuration where the left lanes of the 680 would force you west onto the 24 towards Berkeley was finally fixed a couple of years later when they finished the interchange. I think.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
I might be wrong about the diamond lane. I really can't remember.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
I don't know. I can't remember because we rarely use the 22
and we don’t use the carpool lane when we do.
.... as sexy as socks on a rooster.
Restaurants
I don’t know that it’s any different here than anywhere else, but I don’t know where you ate. We don’t have Claim Jumper here, and they have the biggest portions of anywhere I’ve ever been. But I live in the city, so I don’t eat at the suburban chains (Chili’s, TGI Fridays, etc) very often, if ever. In typical restaurants, I haven’t noticed portions being bigger here than anywhere else. I’ve never been the Captain Morgan club, but I’ve walked by it on my way to the Metro.
If you’re ever back, you have to have an Italian Beef sandwich. I’ve never understood why you can’t get them in Los Angeles. I’d never even heard of them until I moved back here. Chicago style hot dogs and pizza get all of the publicity, but Italian Beef sandwiches are Chicago’s real contribution to that type of cuisine. I prefer mine with sweet peppers, but some people like Giardinera (hot peppers) and/or cheese.
When construction is going on, the express lanes actually tend to be faster during high traffic times. For people who haven’t experienced them, “express” lanes are lanes that are blocked off by barriers, and once you’re in them, you can’t get out for miles. You don’t have to worry about people merging, which is a plus, but if you get behind someone who decides to drive slowly, you’re screwed. I made the mistake a few times of getting in them in the early morning on weekends (while going to play golf). The non-express lanes (“locals”) are much faster at those times. The good thing about express lanes is that it’s almost impossible to get a ticket when you’re in one.
As a hot dog afficianado, I will never get the Chicago style thing.
Pickle relish immersed in radioactive lime green dye #45 just seems a tad out of the way to concoct a ‘concept’. Not to mention the Bob’s Big Boy side salad worth of toppings.
We don't have a Bullpen. We have a Cowpen. Before we get to call it a Bullpen these guys gotta grow a pair.
Chicago Style
If you get a char-dog (i.e. not boiled), and you get grilled onions instead of raw, it’s a thing of beauty. The key is the celery salt. I haven’t had a better dog than what I get at the Weiner’s Circle on Clark.
OMG you guys ought to try driving in Britain
Then you would never complain about driving anywhere in America again. That said, British drivers are for the most part better and more capable than their American counterparts … IMO because driving is much more complicated (narrow roads, funky turnings etc) than it is in the States. Almost every British driver can pull up and reverse park into a space slightly larger than his/her car in a matter of seconds.
It took me a while to master this, being American. Also, I automatically reach for the gear shift with my right hand, and bang my elbow into the driver’s side door!
Don't call me Desmond
Parking in NY is also crazy
$25 to $32 depending on whether you’re within a half mile to the stadium. I think we really need to appreciate Arte.
This season just seems jinxed. If it can go wrong, it does
Its always bothered me
that the sign says “Home of Chicago Cubs” instead of THE Chicago Cubs.
This team is gonna kill me.
Came over here from Bleed Cubbie Blue to say "Hi".
I always appreciate other fans’ perspectives on different ball parks, teams, etc.
If you get a chance, make your way down to the “New” Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City…it’s simply gorgeous since the $250M rennovations over the last off-season. New outfield concourse, huge jumbotron, and essentially a wholly different (and better!) experience than last year or a few years ago.
Good luck to you guys the rest of the season.
Dan
"The riches of the game are in the thrills, not the money." --Ernie Banks
The Misus and I are currently on a mission to see all MLB parks.
On the same trip as Wrigley, we also saw games at US Cellular and Miller Park. Next year, we plan on visiting Detroit, Toronto, and Cleveland. Another future trip will include Cincinnati, St.Louis, and KC. That trip will probably be 2011.
Anyway, thanks for the tip on Kaufman Stadium!
Hello!
Another BCB visitor here. I enjoyed this post and am glad you had a good visit to Wrigley. I tell people that there really isn’t any other stadium like it (perhaps Fenway, but the BoSox are completely different experience) but usually they don’t understand what it’s like until they experience it themselves….
Someday, I'll do that "all 30 parks" road trip
anyone got $10,000?
"Yeah, well…if fuckin’ Gandhi threw up a 5.70ERA, it doesn’t make him a great pitcher. " CKOD
That’ll get you into Yankee Stadium … THEN WHAT?
;)
I love this team.
by Downing Rules on Jul 7, 2009 4:34 PM PDT up reply actions
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