Wrigley Field

Wrigley Field

Wrigley Field is the home of the Chicago Cubs, the baseball team of which I have been cursed with being a fan since my family moved to the Chicago area in 1950. My Dad was a great baseball fan and a Cubs fan since he saw the "Black Sox" throw games when he was a teenager around 1919. Wrigley Field has always been a special place for myself and my brothers. No family get together in Chicago is complete without taking in a game at the "Friendly Confines".

One of the pictures above was taken in 2002, when the Cubs were in last place, the other was taken in 2003 when the Cubs were in first place. Can you tell the difference and which is which. No matter the standings the Cubs always draw a crowd. Still it's just a lot more fun to be in the stands when they are winning. Having been a Cubs fan for over 50 years I've had a lot of days at the "Friendly Confines" enjoying the ambience more than the results. For the record the picture on the left was taking on May 9, 2003 at the Cardinals' game when the Cubs were in first place. The picture on the right was taken on August 16, 2002 at the Diamondbacks' game when the Cubs were playing god awful. The Cubs lost both games. No one can accuse me of being just a good luck charm.




The pictures above were taken the August 16 & 17, 2002 games with the Arizona Diamondbacks.



The pictures above were taken at the May 9, 2003 game with the St. Louis Cardinals.
The pictures below were taken at the August 6, 2008 Houston Astros game. The Cubs are once more in 1st place in the NL Central Division.

This was a Wednesday day game. As you can see the stadium is nearly full, actually standing room only in the Bleachers.
In the picture on the left the Astros have just taken the field in the bottom half of the 1st inning. For the first two innings this looked like a pitchers duel. The Astros got one hit in the 2nd inning. The Cubs got one run in the bottom of the 2nd with back-to-back doubles by Jim Edmonds and Mark DeRosa. Then in the 3rd inning all hell broke loose. The first two Astros were easy outs, then Matsui hit a double followed by a walk to Pence. Matsui scored on a single by Berkman. When Carlos Lee hit a homer the Astros were up 4-1. It looked like my luck for the Cubs was holding strong. I hadn't seen them win a game since 1994.
In the bottom of the 3rd Theriot hit a single sandwiched between a pop-out by Soriano and a fly-out by Derek Lee. It looked like another goose-egg on the scoreboard. In the picture on the left Aramis Ramirez swings at a pitch and either missed or fouled the pitch. He hung in there and worked a walk. I'm somewhat amazed by the quality of my Sony CyberShot camera. If click on the picture to open it in full resolution you can actually see the ball out in front of Ramirez.
So now there are two Cubs on base with two outs in the 3rd. Jim Edmonds walked to fill the bases.
This brought Mark DeRosa to the plate. DeRosa connected for a Grand Slam home run to left center field. The Cubs were back on top 5-4 and the crowd was going wild. Still with 2 outs the Cubs were not done for the inning. After DeRosa's homer Fukudome hit a double and Soto walked. The pitcher, Jason Marquis, then hit a double to score Fukudome and Soriano followed with a 3-run homer to left. The Cubs were now in the lead 9-4.
Amazingly Marquis settled in and pitched shutout ball into the 7th inning. The Cubs added 2 more runs in the 5th inning. The relief pitchers held the Astros scoreless the rest of the way. CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN! 11-4 In the picture on the left the Cubs take the field to celebrate the victory with the fans.
The pictures below show more of this capacity crowd for a mid-week day game. The picture on the right, below shows a couple of the private bleachers on the building tops across the street from Wrigley field. Even these seats are nearly half-full. They normally fill up only for weekend or night games.


The pictures below were taken around the Chicago water front.