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Today is a momentous occasion in Chicago Cubs history. It was on this day eighteen nineteen years ago that the Cubs recorded their first official night game at Wrigley Field, beating the New York Mets 6-4 on a national stage; the game was broadcast on NBC with Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola in the booth. Note the use of the word "official." Their first night game was actually scheduled the previous evening against the Philadelphia Phillies, but was called off due to rain after 3-1/2 innings in what some assumed at the time was a show of anger by the baseball gods for such a "blasphemous" act. Watching the games on television from our dorm room in Florida, all we and our roommates kept saying was, "Wow! That park looks beautiful under the lights."
Today, Wrigley Field still stands, although you might not want to look over your heads too long when you're there. Because of their limited number, night games at Wrigley Field are considered an event. Some equate the attendance at night games as a contributing factor to Wrigley Field's reputation as the "world's largest beer garden." That may be true, but it isn't the largest factor. That would be Harry Caray's "Cubs Fan, Bud Man" persona and his endless selling of Wrigley Field as a "paradise."
Here's a bit of information about night games at Wrigley: those night games in '88 weren't the first in the park's history. That honor goes to the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which played their 1943 All-Star game using temporary lighting structures.
Photo courtesy of Scott Mutter, American Museum of Photography.
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I pray that Sam Zell turns this into condos after selling the Cubs. Forced to move to Schaumburg, the bandwagon unfaithful would see once and for all that Wrigley - and not the losers on the field - are the main reason attendance is what it is...
Oh how I'd love to see how beautiful that neighborhood could be when the morning after a Cubs game, there isn't beer bottles, puke, and trash everywhere...
"Oh how I'd love to see how beautiful that neighborhood could be when the morning after a Cubs game, there isn't beer bottles, puke, and trash everywhere..."
Given the fact that for better or worse, Wrigley is the economic powerhouse of that neighborhood, it's probably wise to consider whether or not the possibility of swapping "beer bottles, puke, and trash" for "hookers, dirty needles, and bums" is really trading up.
Every time I think it's safe to hit [show guest comments], I immediately live to regret it.
The only people who get to complain about living near Wrigley are those who moved there prior to 1914. Everybody else knew -- or should have, if they had a pair of eyes and a half-functioning brain -- what they were getting themselves into by moving there.
It's like people who move near an airport and then complain about the noise: it was there long before you became incapable of dealing with your bad decisions.
unless my math is off, wasn't the first night game 19 years ago?
Harry didn't start the whole "Beautiful Wrigley Field" meme. That was started by Bill Veeck when he worked for Phil Wrigley in the 30s/40s.
"Today, Wrigley Field still stands"
Really? Who knew.
I was at that game 19 years ago and it was unbelievable. My neighbor took my brother and me along with her and her son. One of those things I'll never forget.
I pray that Sam Zell turns this into condos after selling the Cubs. Forced to move to Schaumburg, the bandwagon unfaithful...blah, blah, blah.
Ahhh, the type of bile and venom that only a true Sox fan could spew.
To switch gears for a moment, does anyone else hate that "photo"? I hate it. I think it is cheesy and looks like something you'd win at Great America or your local carnival. Seriously, I see this shot all over the place and simply do not understand its appeal.
Ahhh, the type of bile and venom that only a true Sox fan could spew.
Or it could just be an asshole who lives up there and doesn't like baseball and the fans, not quite impossible.
Myself I think that's a nice picture. Are people shining flashlights?
That photo is doctored to make it look like people were lighting the game. it's just taken during the day and then futzed around with.
The complaints of drunkenness, public urination and vomiting around Wrigley Field are ridiculously exaggerated. I live three blocks from the park, have no interest in baseball, and I have to say Wrigley management does a very good job of getting fans into and out of the ballpark efficiently, with a minimum of neighborhood disruption. Plus, they're constantly cleaning the streets and emptying the garbage cans around here. In short, they're good neighbors, and the vast majority of fans are great.
it was 08/08/88, check facts!
Guest 14: Read the article carefully!
There is an explanation why the first official game was on August 9.
I used to live just outside Wrigleyville, and I will attest to the fact that it's really not that bad. My biggest problem, and the reason I moved farther away, was that after the game all the drunk fans who came into the city for the game would then come to my neighborhood and be obnoxious. Really, though, if you live nearby and you don't like it, either move or shut up. It's not like you can't tell what it's going to be like.
Living about six blocks from the park, I see both sides of it. Certainly, anyone who moves into the neighborhood expecting to not have to deal with traffic, parking and the occasional noise issue related to the Wrigleyville scene are naive as can be and not worth your sympathy.
That said, there are reasonable lines that some visitors cross from time to time that no tax-paying citizen should have to put up with, no matter where they live. (I'll agree the folks who get out of hand are far, far fewer than the media stereotype would suggest... the real troublemakers generally aren't wander-the-neighborhood types, they're the ones who get bombed beyond belief at one of the "Cubbie Disney" bars -- Cubby Bear, Hi-Tops, etc. -- immediately adjacent to the park and then proceed to get in a fight or cause trouble on the L or in area restaurants).
But let's acknowledge that there's a difference between whining over issues that naturally come along with 41,000 people coming into your neighborhood 81 times per year and being legitimately upset over being a victim of rude/criminal behavior. I'm sorry, some random drunk puking on my porch and leaving it for me to clean up in the morning would piss me off to no end. People suggesting I somehow "deserved it" because of where I lived would be the only thing that pissed me off more.
I'd also like to point out that Bridgeport is experiencing a renaissance (or just a naissance) and it's all because of The Cell. Daley is VERY protective of that area because he knows it could become Wrigleyville South if it's done the right way. So one day we'll have two whole neighborhoods full of stupid yuppies bitching about drunken baseball fans.
Witnessed once in Wrigleyville after a game:
Older completely average looking neighborhood man in his sixties walks his dog past a stoop of drunken Cubs fans.
Cubs fan: Look at the fucking fag! Only a fag would walk his dog like that!
What the??
Let me get this straight. You move to a place within a mile of a baseball stadium, and you are surprised you encounter drunk people acting stupid?
What is your next step, moving to Orlando and complaining about the amount families with small children on vacation there?
I hate baseball, people coming from the suburbs (where I grew up), and drunk people, so the best location for me to live is right by Wrigley Field!
RESEARCH WHERE YOU LIVE BEFORE MOVING THERE! seriously...
Isn't Naivin a fan of the White Sox, in whose stadium you can find hundreds of drunk homophobic idiots wearing "Wrigley Field: World's Largest Gay Bar!" t-shirts?