Ball Parks – 4 - Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL

Wrigley Field, Nestled in the Chicago North Side (24 July 2001)

It was July 2001. We were going back to Wisconsin for Beck’s 30th HS reunion. The plan was to get there via Chicago so we could visit some of the great downtown museums and stay for a Cubs game at Wrigley Field…a park still named for the chewing gum magnate who once owned the team and not some corporate entity that bought the naming rights.

Completed in 1914, it is, by far, the oldest park in the National League. As you might expect, a park this old has much history. Here are some highlights:

· The club, in one form or another, has been in existence since 1876, the earliest days of organized baseball.

· Weeghman Park, the first name of the place, was built on land formerly occupied by the Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary.

· 1922 – Cubs beat Phillies 26-23 in highest-scoring game ever.

· The NFL Chicago Bears played there from 1921 to 1970.

· The ‘Friendly Confines’ is where Babe Ruth made his famous “called shot,” pointing his bat toward the bleachers right before hitting a homer in the 1932 World Series.

· It was the last park to install lights so night games were not played there until 1988. It is the only ballpark with ivy-covered outfield walls. Balls hit into the ivy will occasionally disappear in the foliage and have to be called ground rule doubles.

· Along with Fenway Park in Boston, Wrigley has the only other manually-operated scoreboard in the majors.

· Hall of Famers include Ernie “Let’s Play Two” Banks, Ron Santo, Ryne Sandburg and the old double play infield of Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance.

The Iconic Marquee (24 July 2001)

Our seats were in the lower grandstand, down the left field line past third base. The seats were many rows back from the field and under the second deck. Two memories remain regarding that location.

Sorry About the View, Wrigley Field (24 July 2001)

This is an ancient ballpark. In those days, we couldn’t build upper decks without steel girders every 30 feet. From my seat, if I leaned to the left, I could see the batter. If I leaned to the right, I could see the umpire. Not the most accommodating view.

And it wasn’t just the girders. Being under the upper deck, while an advantage when it rains, did have its drawbacks at times. Fly balls disappear. During the game, I got the hang of viewing fly balls. You see infielders scramble and you knew it was a pop-up. You see outfielders move and you knew the play was deeper.

On one play, Sammy Sosa was at bat. In his full, steroid-infused glory, Slammin’ Sammy was the darling of the team. This was the season when he hit over 60 home runs for the third time…and failed to win the home run title each time…those were the days. Anyway, I leaned left to see him connect. The ball went up and disappeared behind the upper deck. On this shot, nobody on the field moved. The infielders looked up. The outfielders looked up. The fans in the left field bleachers looked up…as the ball sailed onto Waveland Avenue.

Left Field Corner, Wrigley Field (24 July 2001)

One of the special features of the tight neighborhood 

is the seating that the buildings across 

from the stadium have added to their roofs. 

It was then and is still a party place. Young folks buy standing room tickets just so they can be there, hang out, suck down some brews and soak up that intoxicating atmosphere. The Cubs actually finished with a winning record that year…and beat up on the Pittsburgh Pirates that day, 10-2. As old Harry Caray would say, “Cubs win! Cubs win! Cubs win!”

Of course, the team currently is known for having the longest championship drought in professional sport, not having won a title in 108 years. They have had a great season. I just may live long enough to see them win a championship for the first time in living memory. I loved the sign a fan held up during a recent playoff game – “Party like it’s 1908.”

Ball Parks - # 3 – Progressive Field, Cleveland, OH

Jacob’s Field, Cleveland OH (25 September 2006)

So, as the baseball season wound down, I introduced the next quest, American ballparks. I have not been to many and just figured the introduction would be a diversion from the stuff I usually write about and set the stage for future travels. Now we have a magical World Series featuring the two teams that have gone the longest without a championship…AND they happen to play in parks that I have actually visited…with the camera.

I must note here that my interests at the time were sporting and not photographic. The camera came along to document the occasion, not capture the place in any interesting way. Future visits will focus more on creating special images.

The Archives call it, ‘Road Trip II’. In September 2006, Frnak and I drove through Ohio to visit four Dead Presidents. After paying our respects to James Garfield in Cleveland, we took in a game at ‘The Jake.’ BTW – I like a crisp, economical nickname for…just about anything. Life’s too short to have to say “Oriole Park at Camden Yards” every time.

Jacob’s Field, Cleveland OH (25 September 2006)

It’s early yet but the bleachers didn’t fill up this night. 

The flag shows the wind was blowing out.

At least it was for the home team.

It was late in the season and the Indians were out of contention. The team wasn’t drawing crowds for that reason and also because they were playing rookies…bringing minor leaguers up to give them a look on the big stage and plan for next season. This is a common practice for teams that are out of it and for teams that have already clinched a spot in the playoffs – so they can rest their stars before the post-season run. The only teams sprinting to the finish line this late in the year are those that still have a shot at the playoffs.

That was the scene here. The visiting White Sox fielded all their starters and stars. Jim Thome had 42 home runs that year. Jermaine Dye had 44. Paul Konerko had 35. The Indians started a few regulars but also sent out more than a few irregulars, scrubs, subs and rookies.

Although I still like calling the park ‘The Jake’, the naming rights were sold to an insurance company in 2008 so it is now officially Progressive Field. The Indians have played there since 1994. Before that, they played in the cavernous Municipal Stadium. Nicknamed the ‘Mistake by the Lake’, the stadium was built for the 1932 Olympics but those games went to Los Angeles. After the baseball team moved to the Jake, the Cleveland Browns continued to play there until they moved to Baltimore to become the Ravens. FirstEnergy Stadium was built on the same site to lure the NFL expansion Browns back to town.

Jacob’s Field, Cleveland OH (25 September 2006)

Completed in 1994 at a modest cost of $175 million, the park continued the trend revived by Camden Yards…asymmetrical, with natural grass and integrated into the downtown of Cleveland. The skyline provides an interesting backdrop for most of the fans.

Jacob’s Field, Cleveland OH (25 September 2006)

At 120-feet tall and 222-feet wide, the scoreboard is 

the largest free-standing one in the Majors.

The box score, confirms the memory. The Tribe scored four runs in the first inning and had 14 by the end of the sixth. The final score was 14-1. The scrubs beat the vets. Stuff happens. It was a good idea to leave early and get to Canton where William McKinley resides.

This ballpark visit was not like future ones will be. It was a nice way to spend a beautiful, late summer evening in a different city. I didn’t noodle around the park looking for images and other architectural or historic elements to shoot, but I did check a stadium off the list. Cha-ching.

Ballparks - 2 – Camden Yards, Baltimore, MD

My Orioles made the playoffs this year…briefly. It was a good season…one that exceeded expectations. Might as well look at their magnificent home field.

Orioles Park at Camden Yards (23 April 2011)

The official name of the stadium is ‘Oriole Park at Camden Yards.’ We have this tendency here to not want to leave anything out when it comes to naming stuff. We fly out of BWI Airport. It stands for Baltimore-Washington International Airport. But the official name of the place is ‘Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.’ Such a mouthful. But I digress.

The O’s have been in Baltimore since 1954 but can trace their lineage back to the founding of the American League. They were the St. Louis Browns from 1902-53 and the Milwaukee Brewers before that, when the league was created in 1900.

Our fine stadium was the antidote for that unfortunate trend of the 70’s where the concept of modernizing ballparks was to make them bigger, symmetrical and plastic. Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Veterans Stadium in Philly and Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati all fit that mold. In his book, ‘Take Me Out to the Ballpark: An Illustrated Tour of Baseball Parks Past and Present’, Josh Leventhal called this period “The Dark Age of the Cookie Cutters.” Because these ‘concrete doughnuts’ were constructed for baseball AND football, many had artificial playing surfaces…’Astroturf’…plastic grass that held up to the two-sport action…even if it created a whole new category of injuries…and looked like splotchy, green concrete after a few years.

Camden Yards is a baseball-only stadium. It brought back the idiosyncrasies that made the older parks interesting. Symmetry was not required. A little quirk here and there was encouraged. It instantly became the standard against which all subsequent parks were measured. It showed a stadium didn’t have to be a big arena without character surrounded by parking lots. A ballpark can be placed downtown or in interesting neighborhoods and even lead to revitalizing parts of a city. The old B & O Warehouse beyond right field is a fine feature that has been retained. The 120-year old building now holds the team offices, banquet facilities and other commercial enterprises.

The Eutaw Street Promenade, Camden Yards (23 April 2011)

The extension of Eutaw Street is an area where you’re happy to hang out long before the game…buy team gear at the O’s store…eat at Boog’s BBQ place. You can survey the little circular plaques that mark the spots where dozens of home runs have cleared the bleachers and landed on the promenade. To date, only one has actually hit the warehouse itself…a 465-foot blast by Ken Griffey, Jr. during the 1993 All Star Game Home Run Derby contest.

Camden Yards (4 September 1995)

On Labor Day, 1995, we took my visiting mother to a game. In the category of ‘Close but…’, I can say I was there for Cal Ripkin’s next-to, next-to, record-breaking consecutive game. The team hung large, rolled numbers from the warehouse wall…a countdown toward the record with a new number that was revealed after the fifth inning when the game became official. The O’s lost to the Angels but Cal hit a home run and the fans went wild. The following day, he tied Lou Gehrig’s record and on Wednesday, September 6, he had it all to himself.

Cal’s 2129th Game is Official, Camden Yards (4 September 1995)

Finally, I am not a skybox kind of guy. Hell, I could probably count on one hand the number of times I sat in field-level box seats. Most of my baseball experience has been from the grandstand-upper deck-bleachers perspective. This is why I remember April 3, 2002. My electric utility company had just purchased a nuclear power plant in upstate New York and we invited some of the staff to the company’s skybox to watch the Yankees play the O’s. As the primary environmental guy on that project, I was there to schmooze with my New York counterparts.

Here are the memories of my only skybox experience. It was just the second game of the season and the weather was too cold to play well or enjoy it. The club-level location behind home plate gave a great view of the field but few of us sat outside, especially when there was ample food, drink and warmth inside. The other advantage of sky box life is that they have their own bathrooms. No mixing with the unwashed masses here. And that prompts the lasting memory of that game…a 1-0 snoozer that the Yankees won…on a home run…hit when I was in the can. Just my luck.