Check Out This Video Of Wrigley Field In 1938
By Chuck Sudo in News on Feb 4, 2015 3:20PM
The Bulls and Blackhawks are in midseason slogs, college basketball and the Fire are largely afterthoughts and The Score can't. Stop. Talking about the fucking Bears! Thankfully pitchers and catchers report to spring training in a couple weeks and we can now dream of playing hooky on a work day to catch some baseball in the sun at 35th and Shields (or, if you're inclined, Clark and Addison).
This video from Chicago Film Archives, which was only uploaded to their YouTube page this week, shows the sights at Wrigley Field April 22, 1938 for the Cubs' home opener versus the St. Louis Cardinals. CFA originally listed the date as 1937 but the bleachers were built that year and Cubs general manager Bill Veeck planted the iconic ivy along the outfield wall that same year. Take a look at everyone dressed up in suits, ties, coats and hats, smoking cigars and enjoying a day at the Friendly Confines.
According to DNAInfo Chicago, the video is part of the Glick-Berlozheimer Collection, 93 reels donated by husband and wife Karl and Diane Berolzheimer. The video was shot by Diane Berlozheimer's father, Jacob Glick, a Ukrainian immigrant who owned several cigar shops across Chicago. (He's the one seen lighting the cigar in the video.) The Glicks lived in the New Lawrence Hotel in Uptown.
"My father was a big Cubs fan, and all I remember, during the season, some of the Cubs players stayed in the hotel," said daughter Diane Berolzheimer, now 83 and living in Evanston. "He went to every game he could."
The video is interesting for several factors, besides its existence. Take a look at Wrigley Field's landmark scoreboard which, save for the missing clock and some other wrinkles, is unchanged. The buildings surrounding the ballpark are also spare and don't even hint at the big business they would become decades later with rooftop clubs. Wrigley Field was a ballpark, not the World's Largest Beer Garden it is today.
Glick's video may have predicted some future Cubs history. Check out the name on the sign in the upper left corner in the screengrab below.
Spooky.