Wrigley Field is beautiful when you're in your seat, but lacks creature comforts.
Ozzie Guillen is at it again, stirring up trouble before this week's Cubs-Sox series by doing his annual Wrigley Field rip job. Asked about the Cubs' storied ballpark Sunday, the White Sox manager told reporters, ''I puke every time I go there."
In this age of spectacular new stadiums that boast every imaginable amenity, you can understand why opposing teams would loathe Wrigley, with its tiny and distant visitors' locker room, its small dugouts, its infamous rodents. Opponents are there to do a job and and they want comfort and convenience, both of which are in short supply on the visitors' side.
Of course, plenty of visiting players still have waxed poetic about Wrigley's charms. They tell you it's a shrine, a throwback to a bygone era, a hallowed treasure that makes them appreciate how lucky they are to be playing in the major leagues. And free agents often speak of wanting to sign with the Cubs so they can savor the experience of playing within the ivy-covered confines.
Once they join the Cubs, however, they have to put up with a cramped home clubhouse that becomes even more claustrophobic when the postgame media horde arrives, particularly after a bitter loss. Manager Lou Piniella, like his predecessor Dusty Baker, has complained about the closet-like interview room. The close quarters can't help but turn up the heat on a team trying to reverse 100 years of postseason futility.
OK, but what about the fans? They're the ones who count, and many will tell you there's no better place to watch a game. The old-fashioned scoreboard, the gorgeous ivy, the sun-soaked bleachers, the grandstands that make you feel like you're right on top of the action. I've always said that, when you're actually sitting in your seat, you can't beat the ambience of watching a game at Wrigley.
The big problem, of course, is that going to a ballgame involves much more than just sitting in your seat. And that's where Wrigley loses all its charm. Narrow concourses, antiquated bathroom facilities, the lingering stench of urine and stale beer, the nets that are in place to catch crumbling concrete. In many ways, Ozzie is right: The place is a dump, in desperate need of renovation. If the Ricketts family ever completes the purchase of the Cubs, a Wrigley Field facelift figures to be a top priority.
What's your take on Wrigley: shrine or dump? Is it an enjoyable place to watch a game? Would you like to see it modernized with a Jumbotron, an automated scoreboard and more family-friendly features that would make it easier to bring the kids? How would you rate it compared to other big-league ballparks, such as the Cell?
Taking everything into consideration, what's your vote on Wrigley Field: thumbs up or thumbs down?
Roman Coliseum: 7th wonder of the world or marble quarry?
The last time I was at Wrigley was in the early eighties (By the way, I had to get there by el train). The Sox still had old Comiskey Park (that I would often drive to) and I remember saying to myself, "Both sides of town need to get with the program. Our ballparks suck!" Apparently, things do get worse over some 25 years.
I have never been in the clubhouses, but that seems like a significant reason to upgrade to me.
ASK ALL THOSE TWINS FANS WHAT THEY THOUGHT OF HISTORY?
MORE TOURIST VISIT THIS PLACE THAN MT. RUSHMORE, WRIGLEYVILLE IS A
HAPPENING PLACE FOR THE BOYS OF SUMMER IN CHICAGO!
ASK BROOKLYN IF THEY MISS THEIR OLD BALLPARK, AND POOF THE DODGERS ARE IN LOS ANGELES, CHICAGO IS BLESSED TO HAVE TWO TEAMS, AND THE CROSSTOWN CLASSIC SEES TO IT, THAT THESE TEAMS PLAY 8 MAGNIFICENT
BALLGAMES, OZZIE CAN SAY WHAT HE WANTS, LOU CAN SAY WHAT HE WANTS, BUT THE FANS SAY KEEP WRIGLEY FIELD THE WAY IT IS, BASEBALL SHOULD HAVE SOME HISTORIC BALLPARKS, LIKE BOSTON AND CHICAGO, EVERYTHING CAN'T ALWAYS BE NEW!
TUESDAY LET THE GAMES BEGIN, THANK GOD, REAL BASEBALL AT LAST!
SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT GERALD PERRY LOSING HIS JOB, HELLO TO LESTER STRODE PITCHING COACH OF THE CUBS, SORRY TO HEAR YOU WEREN'T FEELING WELL, LESTER AND I PLAYED FOR A TEAM IN DETROIT IN 1979, THE YEAR BEFORE HE WAS DRAFTED OUT OF KENTUCKY STATE UNIVERSITY, WHAT A GREAT PITCHER LESTER ONCE WAS!
The cons of Wrigley Field far outweigh the one big positive of the stadium, which is basically the nostalgic feel of watching a game and the footlong hotdogs (my personal favorite) that many fans like. However, the place really needs a big time facelift, a major renovation project. There's no reason why they can't just fix the place up and still keep the traditional bleachers, the ivy and brick walls in place along with the traditional scoreboard look if that's what people are most worried about. There's nothing that they'll be able to do about the parking (or lack of it, really) because of the neighborhood and the surrounding business establishments that's also part of its "charm". I have to agree though, overall, the place is a dump and a thumbs down vote for me as a Cubs fan. I haven't been to all the Major League ballparks yet, but so far, Camden Yards at Baltimore is my favorite baseball stadium, AT&T Park at San Francisco a close 2nd.
I could care less about adding a jumbotron or electronic scoreboard. It adds a nostalgic feel to the game.
What I believe needs to be done is for the Cubs to renovate the ridiculously awful bathrooms and seats. All the urinals are good for is trough diving and long lines.
The seats are straight out of some medieval torture chamber.
I don't think they need a complete tear down. A simple renovation would do wonders.
My last trip to Wrigley field occurred back in the late 1970's. I felt then as I do now. A new stadium is needed. If the Cubs are to break the alleged curse, re-build the old or build a new stadium. The technology is available to replicate the old stadium with modern amenities (See New Yankee Stadium). The best features in Wrigley field are the Ivory covered walls, the playing field, and the world famous Bleachers, of which all can be replicated and updated within a new stadium.
Note to current owner. Rescind your current offer and sell the team to Mark Cuban. Mr. Cuban is just what Wrigley needs!
NSA
WRAGGLEY FIELD is what I call it. Some things just look better on TV. And the Cubs are definitely a WGN/Hollywood/TV concoction. Like watching the Bad News Bears! And everyone is waiting for coach Buttermaker (aka Lou) to bring it home but this is no movie and somebody needs to tear down the set. And IF they cannot make room for parking - MOVE the Cubs to the South Loop! Cub fans ride the EL because they HAVE to! And if you ride the train home from WORK, the city commandeers the trains just for their games! The EL is the life-blood of the common worker and there is nothing worse than waiting for that LATE train to arrive after you get off work - only to see it whiz by you because its running express with drunken Cubs fans. And 2 or 3 of them will whiz by you before one will stop and its complete packed. If the stadium was a place with a winning tradition, then I could understand, but the place isn't even that. If the Yankees can tear down their place, who are the Cubs.
Its been my heart's desire to take my kids to Disneyland/Disneyworld because I grew up watching the Disney Club and Disney movies my entire life. I never went as a kid, but that place looked like a magical kingdom to me. I am now an adult who's time is past but my kids have that gleam in their eyes. And I know that its not going to be what I once thought it was when I get there. But deep down inside Walt Disney and his spin-meisters have programmed me to get there! And I must complete my mission like I have been programmed to. Disney will at least have some good parking, some urinals and a bunch of workers that will satisfy my programming.
Phil Smith,
I don't think you realize that by capitalizing all your words, you actually, in effect, make them smaller.
I am glad that I'm not the only Cub fan who thinks Wrigley stadium is pathetically overrated. I love the field and the ivy, but all the rest could be completely replaced, even the scoreboard.As a Cub fan attending Cub games at Miller Park in Milwaukee, I can't help but wish we could just switch parks. I liked the Brewer's old County Stadium too, and was initially opposed to replacing it, but not anymore. I've said before that Wrigley's idea of renovation is a new trough in one of the two or three bathrooms.
After the reading the few comments posted above, where the heck is all this AMBIANCE I keep hearing and reading about?
From what I have read so far it seems as though the place is a dump!
Okay, I am a White Sox Fan, so don't go postal Cubbie Fans thinking I am not objective. Simply going on what I read.
Ozzie is right.
I had the day off last Friday and as I drove down Irving Park Rd. I saw at least 20 charter tour buses parked along the street next to Graceland Cemetery waiting for the game to end so they could pick up their passengers.
Buses with identification painted on the side showing that they had come from far western Illinois, Indiana and Iowa.
They are just tourists and that did not include the Twins fans who made the trip.
How many real baseball fans were at that game? 20,000 maybe?
They had come to see the crumbling shrine because WGN does a great job of selling an image of a ballpark that does not really exist.
It is not a shrine to baseball but to drunken frat boys and old ladies who find the Cubs cute.
Yankee Stadium will soon be gone. Comiskey Park, Tiger Stadium, Sportsman’s Park, Municipal Stadium….. all have been replaced.
Hell… the Dodgers have played at Dodger Stadium longer than they played at Ebbets Field at this point.
I am all for history and tradition but come on.
Other than perpetual losing teams what baseball history does Wrigley really have?
I am 47 years old and there has been very little as far as Cub history that has happened in that ballpark in my lifetime.
5 division titles in the last 65 years and not a single World Series appearance?
For a good part of those 65 years they could hardly give away tickets.
I have been there many times and that is not history that it reeks in.
The Bears have far more history at Wrigley than the Cubs do and they moved on a long time ago.
I miss Comiskey Park but it is a hell of a lot more comfortable watching a game at U.S. Cellular and I like being treated like a paying customer.
The same goes for Soldier Field and the Chicago Stadium. The memories are great but the new places are not some damp old dungeon to tolerate the best you can.
Its not like the Cubs are charging you five bucks to get in either.
If this were the CTA you would be screaming bloody murder over this kind of outdated service and poor performance and the “L” has been around longer than Wrigley has.
Cramped, dirty, crumbling, smelly, obstructed, rude drunken fans, zero parking, team ran ticket scalping and stupid B-list celebrities singing that same song over and over.
All held together by coats of paint, safety nets, vomit and decades of losing baseball.
There is very little about the "Friendly Confines" that is friendly to the fans.
I believe that the average Cub fan is afraid of the team building a new park because that would cause the casual tourist fans to stop coming and they would then average their 2.5 million fans. They would actually have to produce on the field to draw fans.
If Cub fans can't recite attendance numbers like it is an accomplishment then they have nothing else to say because the baseball played at Clark & Addison over the last 6 decades has been a joke.
You can't gut it because the room needed for a real renovation is not there and you are just clinging to the same old problems.
Tear it down and build a new ballpark already.
A sox fan perspective...
What's good:
- sitting in the seat watching - field is beautiful
- walk to any number of good restaurants
What's bad:
- getting there
- getting tickets
- walking inside...the mens' room, the smell anywhere inside wrigley
- I won't comment on the fans...afterall the Sox have the Ligues among others...
Have plenty of friends who are cub fans. Cannot get over the near barbaric views of fans on both sides. Basically both teams have been bad to a little better than average for 100 years. I think they have a total of 4 championships combined (maybe a few more). The Yankees have 26 I think...do people have that much time on their hands to actually hate the other team or their fans?
too funny
PHIL - there are two silver lines of tears rolling down both sides of my face! I am dying laughing!!!! You paint a very vivid picture! Your post is in 1080ip HD!!!! I am going to read it again...
Keith... if I can make you get misty then my work here is done.
You have probably been to Wrigley at least once even if you are a Sox fan.
Do I lie?
Is it not a dump?
Why be so afraid of a great new ballpark to play in for the next 50 to 100 years? Don't dread a new stadium for your team Cub fans.
Embrace it!
Demand it!
Support it!
Hope that they build a new place and it is the best park in the league.
Look around the country at places like PNC, AT&T and Petco Field and tell them that you want your new park to be even better. A unique home that does not try to recreate Wrigley either.
A new tradition. Build a new park on Goose Island and turn the old worn out brick building into new bars and restaurants.
If you won't come out to see the Cubs in a new ballpark then you were never really coming for the Cubs in the first place.
THAT is what they are so afraid to admit.
it's a dump.... became "hip" in the mid 80s due to gentrification and harry - prior, it was e-m-p-t-y (so much for *ahem* "cherished history").... absent wrigley, not much joy in rootin' for the flubs.... :)
Guys,
Wrigley Field, as in the field itself, is absolutely beautiful. It's perfect. It's a player's field. I had an "aha" moment visiting there last summer to see a Cubs v Marlins game. Doesn't matter what your team allegiance is - if you love baseball, if you appreciate the game at all, then you have to look at that field and think it's beautiful.
Everything else is okay at best. I wouldn't call it a dump. Old Comiskey had a beautiful field, too, but it was truly a dump.
Cubs' owners have had little incentive to make improvements - they can fill the place without doing so.
Can I just say something here about Jose Contreras because I don't feel like going back and finding a different post ---------
I was at Miller Park Saturday (a great time, and a great ball park) and watched Contreras pitch 7- plus innings of 1-hit baseball. No matter what my Sox do this year, my hope is that this old man continues to heal physically and mentally, and dominate hitters the way he has in his first 2 starts since coming back from Triple A. And he is an old man - he's at least as old as me and I'm staring at 46. He is a workhorse, and as determined an athlete as I've ever seen. How many other starting pitchers would ASK to be demoted to the minors to find his stuff again? Not Josh Beckett, or Johan Santana, or even Carlito Zambrano. Not in a million years. Jose has the heart of a champion and there would have been no World Series Championship without him.
And finally - to the Detroit Red Wings and their woeful fans, who booed as the Stanley Cup was given to the Penguins - have you no class? Guess not. Buh bye!
Some "fans" need jumbotrons, fireworks, tailgaiting, whiffleball fields, batting cages etc. in or around the stadium to get them to go there. Anything and everything besides the actual game.
Baseball fans don't.
The only thing Wrigley Field needs to modernize it is a moat like the new Yankee Stadium has so ballplayers don't get too close to the fans, like Milton 'I think I'll throw the ball in the stands with two outs' Bradley. Otherwise, it's like the Roman Colisseum in many ways, ancient and hasn't seen a championship since the days of the gladiators.
If you want to see a Ballpark, I invite you to visit Yankee Stadium and or the NY Mets' spanking new venue. Wrigley is like a Hollywood Set;
not much behind the facade. And the Cubs are just that Cubs!
NYC
And some "fans" need obscure celebrity sing-alongs, phony sidewalk cafe dives, goat curses, dead broadcasters, cute racist t-shirts, frat boy scoreboards written in a dumb secret code to track how long the team has sucked and "Nice to see you, my name is Bruce!" urinal troughs.
Add some yuppie wine cooler action on the rooftops across the street and some Dave Mathews music and you are ready for the parade down Clark Street.
Of course there are nothing for the kids at Wrigley to get them into baseball.
What is baseball?
That is why Cub fans throw them back onto the field. They don’t know what it is.
It is not a venue for children in the first place. With all of the binge drinking and “alternative” making out going on why would you want your kid to even be there?
Not to mention that Wrigleyville has a higher crime rate than the area around U.S. Cellular. Yes Cub fans. Look it up.
Bubbas Mom - I agree about Contreras and the Penguins! And I need to thank Stu for the acknowlegement on the Sox thread. Jose is a beast. And if he can hold up, look out. And I still think Colon can be righted also. Its too early to write off the veterans. Our pitching can hang with the best of them. And Kenny is still not finished. We get one more starter and we are going to take the Central. And how about Podsednik!! As the Boss sings: "you cant start a fire without a spark"! Those words come to mind everytime I see him at the plate. And Frank is back....who said you can't turn back the clock? That feeling is back. That special, nostalgic, magical feeling. The kind that only the winds of Championship lore can bring. The kind that pays off in the end. There is the loud shiny man made concoction and the natural genuine thing. "Aint Nothin like the REAL thing baby".
"I think...do people have that much time on their hands to actually hate the other team or their fans?"
You bet your sweet ass we do!
I like how the singing of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" at Wrigley is a tradition (Brought over from the White Sox by Harry Carry by the way) but the White Sox exploding scoreboard is a gimmick.
The Sox have been doing this for over 50 years while that stupid John Cusack karaoke bit is 10 years old and getting older every time they drag out some stiff to mumble their way through it.
Lets throw the ball back on the field!
Lets sing that that cheesy "Go Cubs Go" song!
So desperate to have something to cling to while ignoring the bad baseball right in front of them.
They need something that is unique to Wrigley Field.
I say that during every 7th inning stretch at Wrigley every Cub fan in the park should stand, dial up a friend on their cell phone and then wave at the camera like they are waving for a lifeboat on the Titanic.
Oh wait.... they already do that for the other 9 innings.
Never mind.
Since Phil brought up the Haray Caray tradition, I feel the need to piggyback on that thought. One of the reasons some of us Sox fans have had "attitudes" (for me, thankfully, it's largely in the past--I now just laugh at it all) against Cub fans is due to the hypocrisy of how the Cub fans would laugh at Haray Caray throughout the 70s while he was with the Sox and then later embrace those same antics in the eighties with the Cubs--even to the point of vaulting his image into a sculpture at Wrigley. Too funny!
Gig is right.
They called Harry a drunk when he was with the Sox yet he was their God when he took the Cubs job.
When Harry was on the South side he was brutally honest about the team and the players performance. He would call out any player, coach or manager at any time when it was needed. He did not treat the viewers as imbeciles.
His job was not selling the White Sox, it was commenting on the game at hand and he did not pull any punches back then.
With the Cubs he was good old grandpa Harry and he had lost touch with the game that was going on right below the press box. It was like he was someplace else.
The game took a back seat and reading the names of who was in attendance, getting married, celebrating a birthday or spelling the players names backwards was the focus.
Maybe that is why they loved him so much.
The actual baseball game at Wrigley was on the back burner as usual.
I guess some traditions do last at Wrigley after all.
I ordered my parents a couple of old original Wrigley Bricks that they tore down from the remodel a couple years back.
My parents were so thrilled they are going to incorporate the bricks into their flagstone patio (that i helped them build) and tie together forever the Culzie Family home and Wrigley!
Sorry this is a little while after the discussion, but I needed to voice my opinion.
You guys speak about what the 'kids' want, so I'll voice the opinion of a teenager.
I have been a Cubs fan my entire life, and have been going to games at Wrigley Field for as long as I can remember. Of course the Cubs have yet to win anything important during my lifetime, and regardless of whether they do or not, keeping Wrigley Field the way it is absolutely essential to me.
There's no where else I would rather be than Wrigley Field on a beautiful summer day. Sure, the adventure to actually get to the seats is never easy, or as pleasant as some would like, but the experience of getting to the seats, being in the seats, being a part of Wrigley, is what makes it all so special.
The experience of being at Wrigley is what makes so many people so passionate for the Cubs. They know that every time they go, it's the exact same feeling. It's a feeling that can't be matched by any other stadium. I can testify for this as I have visited updated stadiums such as PetCo park in San Diego, and the Angels stadium as well. It's not the same.
I couldn't love the Cubs the way I do if they tore down Wrigley, it would be absolutely heart-breaking.
I thank TB, "a teenager," for sharing his sincere thoughts. Nevertheless, I wonder how many Cub fans, including adults, would love the them less if they tore down Wrigley. I'm inclined to think that this adolescent has an opinion that is felt by a great many Cub fans, minors and majors alike. If this is true and I believe it is, then a significant part of the team known as the Cubs is tied like an umbilical cord to Wrigley Field. Should a team's baseball stadium increase or decrease fans' adoration of their team? I think not.
2009 Season Attendance
Chicago Cubs 34 Games 1,353,915 (39,821 Avg) #6 in MLB
Chicago White Sux 34 Games 865,158 (25,445) #18 in MLB
So in threads like this, you'll always get jealous (as usual) Sux fans!
Bill Jenkins,
First of all, most Sox fans couldn't care any less about the "attendance race" between the two teams. In fact, we almost relish coming in second place. We come to see a team perform. The fact that you guys go to the game even if the they lose ninety games is one significant reason why the Cubs haven't won in 101 years. Let me know if I need to explain the economics behind that.
Secondly, bringing up the attendance doesn't in any way dispute the Wrigley Field-is-so-much-the-reason-for-the-love-Cub-fans-have-for-their-team argument.
"Sux" fans? White "Sux"? I hope you're under twenty.
It's a real shame you get into this back-and-forth nonsense, Gig. I'll never understand why some of you guys really get off on this, both sides included. Both teams are finally playing well and you got nothing better to do than to respond and cut down another team and segment of fans that are NOT even in the same League or a Division rival. Thank goodness for Bulls basketball in the headlines again this week and Bears Training Camp starting next month. This Chicago baseball fan bickering soap opera, combined with all the steroid conspiracy and narcissistic Hall of Fame accolade talk, are really beginning to sour my taste on this sport. Just going by the number of posts (or lack of it, really) in baseball topics lately, it's obviously just not fun anymore. Keep at it if you like, boys and girls, but I'm done with baseball blogging in FCP until October if one or both teams actually make the playoffs......
I used to go to Wrigley as a kid with my younger brother and sister mainly on Free-whatever day and stopped when I couldn't pass for 13 and under. Once I went back as an adult it was like going back to your old house and bedroom and saying, "wow, the place is smaller and a lot more shabbier than when I lived here". Plain and simple it's a dump. The hollywood set anology is dead-on. Jerry Springer's stage was smaller than my kitchen and that didn't stop them from loading it with riff-raff. Now I'm not calling Cub fans riff-raff mind you. I just think that some of them can be riff-raff. People really don't go into the Cell unless they really like the team. Some fans do go to Wrigley just for the atmosphere. Phil hit that stuff all on the head,in the head and all around the head. Great stuff Phil.
Edgar my friend,
Thanks for your post. However, I'm not sure you realize that many of us actually are parts of families with Cubs and Sox fans amongst them. Some, are mixed marriages! It's tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek repartee'. We mean nothing by it essentially. Believe it or not, I am one Sox fan who actually wouldn't mind if the Cubs won it all! Yeah, go figure! It even goes against some of the things I've said recently! (There's your tongue-in-cheek, don't-really-care-after all-attitude--I've even said that I'm really laughing inside about so much of it.) I have a ardent Cubs-fan teacher friend of mine out here in Washington who is battling brain cancer and might not make it. I would love for him to have that experience.
You know Edgar, I always enjoy your well-reasoned and quite mature posts. You've additionally taught me a lot about the sport of basketball and I'll just about go with whatever recommendations you have regarding the Bulls draft or whatever for that matter. I really do enjoy your writings in general, but I have to at least partially agree with some from the past who've insinuated that you play the "high horse" and/or "holier than thou" role a bit too much. I can tell you're a nice and very decent guy. I can tell you're a very intelligent guy. Don't change, but please try to let go of the tendency to attack the slightest bit of silliness every chance you get. Another poster said that you take things a bit too seriously. As one who has been accused of that myself in the past, I'd have to agree that it's better to let things go sometimes, especially when little is really meant by the silliness.
By the way, I do have better things to do, far better things to do. However, when I "take five" this can serve as a bit of a diversion. After this post, I shall return to doing responsible things.
Gig, thanks for the reality check on my part. Yes, maybe I do get a bit too serious on some of the posts, but I really don't ask for much, at least I don't think so. However, when it comes to the blogs, the only real pet peeves I get are the Cubs fans vs. White Sox fans stuff and the topics that steer off the main topic towards anything involving racism, politics or religion. That's it in a nutshell. If you check out my many old posts, those are really the only stuff that get me going when I think it gets carried away. Look at this topic of discussion for example. There are plenty of real Cubs fans who have already acknowledged that Wrigley is a dump (myself included) who feel that it needs to be renovated, not necessarily torn down and rebuilt. Nice educated answers to Stu's questions and then there we go again, a Sox fan says this and then another knucklehead Cubs jock retorts back and now this blog becomes a silly free for all. For me, I just wanted read some insightful ideas on what to do about this rundown treasure of an old ballpark, but noooo, I try to call it out to stop the nonsense and then this. Like I said, I don't understand it, but it's not like I'm telling you to stop and as always, it's nothing personal.
I used to go to Wrigley as a kid with my younger brother and sister mainly on Free-whatever day and stopped when I couldn't pass for 13 and under.
Hey Gig - that was a very classy post regarding your friend and the Cubs. Now that's the high road my brother. Its Cubs fans like that who deserve to see the Cubs win.
Edgar - when it comes to the Cubs/Sox rivarly, you are that serious guy with the top hat an monacle yelling "I never" when the 3 stooges start a pie fight. Man just let us throw ourselves out. I too am a fan who really would not be mad if the Cubs won a championship. Just NOT against the Sox.
GIG..I LOVED YOUR STORIES...BUT I THINK BILL JENKINS ACTUALLY SAID YOU CAME IN 18TH PLACE...NOT SECOND?!?!