Two BallParks In Chicago

Last Saturday afternoon, July 12, after I-Fest was over I decided to take a quick trip north and visit Chicago. Not the whole city just a couple of selected places, namely the two baseball stadiums. This meant a trip to both the south and north side of the city.

Visiting the White Sox ballpark on the South side was going to be easy because the team was out of town and the stadium would be closed to the public so no crowd to deal with. The only problem there could be was just finding it.

The Cub's park on the other hand was going to be a little trickier to get to because an afternoon game was being played there and had started at 12 noon. It had gone into extra innings and ended just after 4 PM about 20 minutes before I headed north for the hour drive to the Windy City.

As I followed the directions I had printed off of the internet I left Rt 57 and merged onto Rt 94/Rt 90 known to Chicago natives as the "Inner Loop." As I looked out the window at the Chicago skyline I immediately picked out the Sears Tower building. It's the tallest building in the United States. I got off the highway at Exit 56 and turned left and found myself at the White Sox stadium, U.S. Cellular Field.

As I had anticipated all the gates were closed but the entrance to one parking lot was open. I parked in front of Gate 3 and got out to take pictures. I was met by a man wearing a security shirt in a Chevy Blazer with a "Ball Park Security" emblem on the side. He approached me and asked me what I was doing. I told him I was a tourist from Kentucky and wanted to look around and take some pictures.

As any good security man would he started asking me questions. I told him some specifics about where I lived. He asked me if I knew where Beaver Dam was. I told him I had been to Beaver Dam earlier in the year and mentioned the Denny's restaurant there. He said he had a cousin in Beaver Dam and that the service at that Denny's was slow. I made the obligatory "what a small world" remark. Deciding I was legitimate and posed no threat he made some suggestions of where I should go to get the best pictures of the stadium and even where I could find the display of the home plate from the previous stadium, Comsiky Park.

I took some pictures but couldn't really get any good ones. I took what I could of the outside to prove I'd been there.

Soon it was back onto "the loop." Three exits and a couple of turns later I found myself on Ashland Avenue. I knew I was in the neighborhood of Wrigley but couldn't find the turn off for West Addison Avenue. After about 20 blocks I thought I had gone too far. I decided to pull into a gas station and look at a map. As I turned into the station I realized that I was at West Addison Avenue. A couple of blocks later I found myself sitting at a stop light right in front of the famous Wrigley Field marquee.

Although it was almost 2 hours after the game had ended the area was still rather crowded with fans. Some were at a local open air watering hole across the street while others were just walking around the stadium still sight seeing.

I drove around the block and couldn't believe how close the rest of the neighborhood was to the park. Oh I've seen it on television many times but in person the intimacy of the field in relationship to the surrounding buildings is unlike any other baseball stadium I've ever been to. There are front steps that lead into brownstone houses just across the street from back of the outfield fences. Someone's porch (or stoop if you will) is 10 or 20 paces from the back gate of Wrigley Field. That was amazing to me.

As I came back around to the front of the stadium again I found a parking place in front of a McDonald's not 50 yards from the Marquee. I got out and took a picture of an Ernie Banks statue that was on display. I made my way to the marquee hoping I could get someone to take my picture taken in front of the baseball icon.

Luckily there were two young girls getting their picture taken. After they were finished I asked them if they would like to return the favor. They politely obliged. They snapped three shots and I have posted the best one.

After the picture was taken I couldn't think of anything else to do. The gates were all closed so I couldn't even get a glance at the field. It was kind of frustrating to have come all the way to Wrigley and not get to see the field; but at least I'd been there.

Soon I found myself back in my car looking around at the stadium and all the people still having a good time. It was so cool I didn't want to leave but I didn't know what else to do. Therefore put the Vue in gear and headed back toward my hotel in Waseka Illinois.

My experience made me sure of one thing. I am determined to go back to Wrigley Field to see a game and spend more time there. Next time I'm not going alone. I've got several friends who I know would enjoy the experience as much as I would.

As I drove back down the inner loop and headed toward RT 57 I could think of only one thing that would have made my trip better. Next time I'll make sure I have the soundtrack of the Blues Brothers movie with me so I can hear Jake and Elwood singing away about their favorite place "Sweet Home Chicago".