5/10/11- Wrigley Field (Cubs)

Cardinals vs. Cubs, 7:05pm start

We got really cheap tickets for really great seats at Wrigley Field, so we kicked off our stadium tour with a stadium in our own backyard.  It was a gorgeous night and with a Cardinals' win, it couldn't have been much better!

This is the outside of the stadium- it kind of sneaks up on you from the surrounding bars, restaurants, and apartment buildings.

The thing I love about this ballpark is that it is so old-school: there are no ostentatious sky-boxes, no "mall" taking up the bleacher area, and no children's area making noise during the game.  It's so open that the buildings outside the stadium have put up bleachers on their roofs.  The one thing I miss about this old stadium is that there's no jumbo-tron.  It was kind of nice, because you really paid attention to the game, but I missed all the stats and games the jumbo-trons provide.  That being said, there's a small screen where they played, at the very beginning of the game, the hardest game of baseball-under-solo-cup game I've ever played (the ball was under cup 1, if you're interested).  It's a shame the ivy on the back wall hadn't started to bloom yet.

Because of the lack of a jumbo-tron out on the field, under the terrace area they had these old score boards.  When the Cards are the visitors, this is what I like to see at the end of the game :)  It doesn't show hits, but there were 24 total!  It was crazy, especially since the final score was so low.

Our idea is to get a pennant from every park we visit.  Here's the one from Wrigley.

Overall, I loved the old feel to the ball park and the final score made it all the better.  A great way to start off our tour!