World Series 2016 Game 4: Indians @ Cubs

Surprisingly enough Wrigley Field is not the oldest active Major League Ball Park. That would be Fenway which I’ve been to a few times and is remarkable for its physical smallness besides (old) Yankee Stadium (a creaky vast minepit) and Shea (a modernist version of the same with long skinny escalators that never failed to kill 1 or 2 people a season).

Fenway opened 2 years before Wrigley (1912 to 1914) and has always been home to the Red Sox, but Wrigley belonged to the Federal League Whales who went belly up the year after it opened becoming host to the Cubs only in 1916, 8 years after their last World series title.

It’s called Wrigley after William Wrigley Jr. who was kind of the Steinbrenner of the Cubs between 1921 and 1932. Yeah, he’s the gum guy and originally gave it away as a bonus for buying his scouring powder (yum) and baking soda. He also was one of the prime developers of Catalina Island in California.

What Wrigley is know for today is the ivy covered brick outfield wall and the frequently asked question is- so what happens if they lose a ball in there? Well, truth is that it’s only about a couple of inches deep so it’s quite unlikely and also it’s a Ground Rule Double just like any quirky hit that touches the field of play before exiting the boundaries of the park.

It is in fact nick-named “The Friendly Confines” though that’s kind of a generic term like Kleenex or Xerox today for any team’s Home Field. The phrase was popularized by Ernie Banks, “Mr. Cub”, who was the Cubs first Black player and also played with the Negro League Monarchs and the Harlem Globetrotters Basketball team.

Most of the other throwback goodness of Wrigley has fallen to modernization. It was the last Major League Ball Park to install artificial lighting for night games in 1988 (the Regular Season schedule is still weighted to day games). It was also the last to install a mechanical scoreboard though the old hand operated one is operated in parallel out of tradition and sentiment.

One of the more interesting community traditions is that many of the 3 and 4 story Brownstones in the neighborhood (which is called Wrigleyville) have Bleacher Seats installed on the roof by the owners and because of nostalgia and quaintness they are some of the most sought after. This year they are a sold out bargain averaging about $3000 for all three games as opposed to the same just for Standing Room at the Park.