Chicago Sightseeing Day Two

Yesterday we took a tour of Wrigley field - it was very interesting because the field is over 100 years old so it has a lot of history. It was also exciting because it was game day - our 90 minute tour was at 3 and the game started at 7 so before we left the players showed up on the field. (notice coach Joe Madden as the first image to the right of the sign. he was the coach for the Rays and gave a wonderful motivation speech to City employees shortly after our new mayor took over.)

 

Really awful photo of me and hubby (due to wind and age) behind home plate. They had all these barrier things set up - I guess to keep folks from getting hurt during practice.

 

Jerry's aloha shirt standing out in the stadium shot. All the flags on top of the building have meaning. The ones on the left side of stadium are team accomplishments and the ones on the right are individual player accomplishments. Oh, this stadium was the very last to have lights. They didn't get them on for a game until August 8, 1988; however, rain delayed the game so the first game under lights was played on 8/9/88. Previously Mr. Wrigley purchased lights for the stadium and they were delivered in November 1942 but Pearl Harbor was bombed before they were installed so he donated them to the war effort. And finally, the first lit game at the stadium was actually the women's professional baseball league (as seen in the movie "A League Of Their Own") when they played at Wrigley and brought their own lights!

 

The visiting team dugout. The team is the Washington Nationals. Some of them were there really early and I will assume it was because their guest suite wasn't comfortable. Our guide, John, told us about the guest suite for the visiting team but we couldn't see it because it was occupied. That's the downside of going on the tour on a game day. He said it's small but has hosted more top athletes than any other stadium in history because a) the field has been there since 1914 for base ball, and b) the Chicago bears football team used the stadium for 50 years. The best of the best have played here.

 

Having a little knee issue so I couldn't walk up the last few ramps to the top so I took some shots of batting practice once the cubs arrived. These are zoomed in because I found  spot to sit while my tour group climbed the upper two ramps. 

Infield

 

 Outfield

Dinner (before and midway through) at the Old Crowe. My cousin Brad's father-in law is the executive chef and he came by our table several times. I love BBQ so it was a great choice. It would have been a great place to watch the game with huge TV's and an indoor/outdoor atmosphere.



 

I wish I had taken a photo at street level of the corner where Wrigley field is located when we first arrived (about 2pm) and when we left (about 6:15). You would not believe it was the same place! It went from pretty quiet with a few people walking around in team gear to packed! It was a flood of Cubs teamwear and a few Blackhawks jerseys.