The first real attempt at naming rights for a stadium was tried by Anheuser-Busch shortly after they bought the Cardinals in Imagine something like that happening in Busch then named the place Busch Stadium, ostensibly after himself Even so, many people in St.
Louis in Now, of course, the majority of MLB parks have official naming-rights deals. Weeghman was granted ownership of the Cubs after the Federal League fell apart, but he quickly got into financial trouble and sold to a group that included William Wrigley Jr. When Weeghman sold, the ballpark became generally known as Cubs Park. That lasted until December , when team executives had their annual winter meeting. Among other things accomplished at that meeting, they named Margaret Donahue, who had worked for the team since , corporate secretary.
She was generally acknowledged to be the first woman named to such a high position with a baseball club, and among other things, she pioneered the sale of season tickets. She remained with the ballclub in that position until she retired in A small playground run by the Chicago Park District only a few blocks from Wrigley Field is named in her honor.
New office space was created and old offices refurbished in the administrative area behind home plate in , while the ticket office was built directly behind home plate in During the winter of , a new home clubhouse was completed under the third-base stands. The visitors' clubhouse was renovated in In , private boxes were constructed on the mezzanine level, formerly occupied by the press box and broadcasting booths.
A press box and broadcasting booths were constructed in the upper deck directly behind home plate. Other improvements included a food court in the upper deck.
Following the season, the Cubs expanded the bleachers, adding a restaurant in the batter's eye and a window to Sheffield Avenue in right field. In the winter of , Wrigley Field underwent a major field renovation project to remove the field's crown, install an intricate drainage system and create a new playing surface.
Prior to the season, the back of the centerfield scoreboard was fully renovated for the first time since it was installed in Restrooms were remodeled and fitted with new fixtures, a new viewing.
Prior to the campaign, the right-field Budweiser bleachers were transformed to include the Budweiser Patio. The area provided fans with a rooftop experience inside the ballpark, and added a foot LED board just above the right field fence.
The restoration and expansion of Wrigley Field, known as The Project, is complete. This multi-year upgrade ensured the viability of the ballpark for future generations of Cubs fans, while preserving the beauty, charm and historic features fans have come to know and love. The Project, which started at the conclusion of the baseball season, included structural upgrades, improved player facilities, fan amenities, outfield signage, two outfield video boards, premier clubs, upper-level outdoor concourse, expanded concessions, improved restroom facilities, enhanced connectivity and Wi-Fi and more.
Wrigley Field History. Wrigley Field, which was built in , is the second-oldest ballpark in the majors behind Boston's Fenway Park Wrigley Field Basics. Height of wall:. Distances from plate:. Left field - feet Left-center - feet Center field - feet. Right-center - feet Right field - feet.
The Friendly Confines has been the site of such historic moments as:. Babe Ruth's "called shot," when Ruth allegedly pointed to a bleacher location during Game 3 of the World Series. The distances from home plate to various points in the outfield have remained essentially unchanged since the bleachers were remodeled during the season.
They were originally marked by wooden numbers cut from plywood, painted white, and placed in gaps where the ivy was not allowed to grow. Since the early s, the numbers have been painted directly on the bricks, in yellow. Although the power-alley dimensions are relatively cozy, the foul lines are currently the deepest in the major leagues.
It is feet The point where the bleacher wall begins to curve inward in left-center field, one of the two "wells", is an unmarked feet The front part of the left-center "well" is the closest point in the outfield, about feet. The marked left-center field distance is feet It is closer to true center field than its right-center counterpart is. True center field is unmarked and is about feet. The center field marker, which is to the right of true center field and in the middle of the quarter-circle defining the center field area, is feet That is the deepest point in the outfield.
Right-center field is feet The notch of the right-center "well" is an unmarked feet The right field foul line is feet The backstop is listed in media sources as Although that distance is standard, the relatively small foul ground area in general gives an advantage to batters.
The rooftops seats across the street offer views similar to those from the ballpark's own seats. Template:Rellink Old-time ballparks were often surrounded by buildings that afforded a "freebie" look at the game for enterprising souls.
In most venues, the clubs took steps to either extend the stands around, or to build spite fences to block the view. Perhaps the most notorious of these was the one at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, which caused a rift between the residents and the team that never healed. The Cubs themselves had built a high fence along the outfield at West Side Park, to hide the field from flats whose back porches were right next to the outer fence of the ballpark. But at Wrigley it was different.
The flat rooftops of the apartment buildings across Waveland and Sheffield, which pre-date the ballpark, were often populated with a reasonable number of fans having cookouts while enjoying the game for free. The Cubs tolerated it quietly until the s, when some owners of those apartments began building little bleacher sections, and charging people to watch the games.
That was a whole different ball game, and the Cubs management became very vocal in expressing their displeasure, threatening legal action. In they went so far as to line the screens that top the outer walls with opaque strips, to block the best exterior sight lines. That was the closest thing to a spite fence that Wrigley had seen. This led to meetings and to a peaceful settlement among the various parties. The building owners agreed to share a portion of their proceeds with the Cubs, and the Cubs obtained permission from the city to expand the ballpark's own bleachers out over the sidewalks and do some additional construction on the open area of the property to the west, bordered by Clark and Waveland, and to close the remnant of Seminary Avenue that also existed on the property.
The rooftop seats are now effectively part of the ballpark's seating area, although they are not included in the seating capacity figure. Some of the rooftops have become legendary in their own right. Today, Wrigley rooftops have become a unique alternative venue to watch baseball games. Many rooftop venues feature bleachers, open bar, specialty food items, and a unique game-day atmosphere, although the quality of the view can vary depending on the specific rooftop location.
In April and May the wind often comes off Lake Michigan less than a mile to the east , which means a northeast wind "blowing in" to knock down potential home runs and turn them into outs.
In the summer, however, or on any warm and breezy day, the wind often comes from the south and the southwest, which means the wind is "blowing out" and has the potential to turn normally harmless fly balls into home runs.
A third variety is the cross-wind, which typically runs from the left field corner to the right field corner and causes all sorts of interesting havoc. Depending on the direction of the wind, Wrigley can either be one of the friendliest parks in the major leagues for pitchers or among the worst.
This makes Wrigley one of the most unpredictable parks in the Major Leagues. Many Cubs fans check their nearest flag before heading to the park on game days for an indication of what the game might be like; this is less of a factor for night games, however, because the wind does not blow as hard after the sun goes down.
With the wind blowing in , pitchers can dominate, and no-hitters have been tossed from time to time, though none recently; the last two occurred near the beginning and the end of the season, by Burt Hooton and Milt Pappas respectively.
In the seventh inning of Ken Holtzman's first no-hitter, on August 19, , Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hammered one that looked like it was headed for Waveland, but the wind caught it just enough for left fielder Billy Williams to leap up and snare it in "the basket". With the wind blowing out , some true tape-measure home runs have been hit by well-muscled batters. Glenallen Hill put one on a rooftop.
Batters have occasionally slugged it into, or to the side of, the first row or two of the "upper deck" of the center field bleachers. Sosa hit the roof of the center field camera booth on the fly during the NLCS against the Florida Marlins, some feet away. But the longest blast was probably hit by Dave Kingman on a very windy day in while with the Mets.
According to local legend, that day, Kingman launched a bomb that landed on the third porch roof on the east center field side of Kenmore Avenue, some feet away. No batter has ever hit the center field scoreboard, however it has been hit by a different kind of ball: a golf ball, hit by Sam Snead, using a two iron. No matter the weather, many fans congregate during batting practice and games on Waveland Avenue, behind left field, and Sheffield Avenue, behind right field, for a chance to catch a home run ball.
The main scoreboard at Wrigley Field. This photo was taken on the August 27, Cubs- Marlins game. Note the video board below the scoreboard, as it was added in Along with Fenway Park , Wrigley is one of the last parks to maintain a hand turned scoreboard.
Unlike the home of the Red Sox, the scoreboard at Wrigley is mounted above the center field bleachers, rather than at ground level, making it harder to hit during play. No players have hit the current scoreboard, although several have come close. The scoreboard was installed in , when Bill Veeck installed the new bleachers. The scoreboard has remained in place ever since, and has only seen minor modifications. The clock was added in , a fifth row of scores was added to each side in and later a sixth.
A set of light stands facing onto the scoreboard was added in with the introduction of night games. An electronic message board was also added below the scoreboard. The scoreboard is still manually operated, with scores coming in through a computer a ticker tape machine was used in the past ; a number turner watches the score changes closely, and updates scores by manually replacing the numbers from within the scoreboard.
The scoreboard is made out of sheet steel. The numbers that are placed into the inning windows are steel, painted forest green, and numbered with white numerals. The box for the game playing at Wrigley uses yellow numerals for the current inning. The clock, which sits at the top center of the scoreboard, has never lost time in its year existence. The doors to enter the scoreboard are located at either end.
On the reverse of the scoreboard, visible from the CTA elevated trains is a blue pennant, with the words " Chicago Cubs ", in white outlined in red neon. The scoreboard was extensively rehabilitated for the season.
In , the Cubs toyed with the idea of adding a Jumbotron to the stadium, but the presence of the hand turned scoreboard which cannot be moved due to the park's landmark status, which also prohibits even simple facelifts such as adding two more games on the National and one more on the American side to reflect 16 and 14 teams, respectively, in the leagues; the game, team scoreboard reflects MLB from to , so up to three games 2 NL, 1 AL each day cannot be posted has hampered efforts to do so.
Directly over the main entrance to the stadium stands the most familiar icon of the exterior of the ballpark, a large red, art deco style marquee, painted in white letters to read " Wrigley Field, Home of Chicago Cubs ". The marquee was installed circa The sign was blue until the s, and originally used changeable letters similar to the scoreboard to announce upcoming games. This was also changed during football season to reflect the Chicago Bears.
In , the two line announcement board was replaced with an electronic message board and a backlit advertising panel was added below this is now solid red. The marquee utilizes red neon lights at night, showing the familiar " Wrigley Field " in red, as the rest of the sign is in darkness.
The marquee is so iconic with the park, that the owners of the park, both past, and present, have used the marquee in some way as the park's trademark of sorts, even the CTA platform that services Wrigley Field the CTA Addison St. Wrigley Field was a hold-out against night games, not installing lights until after baseball officials refused to allow Wrigley to host any post-season games without lights.
Before then, all games at Wrigley were played during the day. Night games are still limited in number by agreement with the city council. In , then-owner P. Wrigley had planned to install lights, but instead, the lights and stands were scrapped for the war effort.
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