I think the unique part of Wrigley is that it really is a slice of the early 20th century. There are only two places in all of baseball where you can get that. One is Fenway Park and the other is Wrigley.
—Len Kasper, Chicago Cubs TV play-by-play broadcaster
The word “Chicago” brings many names to mind: Bad (Bad) Leroy Brown, Michael Jordan, Oprah, Al Capone, and perhaps more infamously, Steve Bartman, whose name has become symbolic of the fruitlessness of baseball that has taken place on the North Side of Chicago for the past century. Chicago was founded in 1833, and though that predated organized baseball in the Windy City by 18 years, many would argue that 1833 was also the last time the Chicago Cubs won a World Series. With Boston breaking its “curse of the Babe” after 86 years in 2004, and the Cubs’ crosstown neighbor White Sox also ending an octogenarian drought of their own (88 years) in 2005, the Cubs have now gone over 106 years without a team championship. While that’s a record for a team in any sport, the 1908 title itself is riddled with controversy to this day. Though the Cubs dominated the Detroit Tigers in that year’s fall classic, it’s the road to the National League pennant that is most talked about today among historians and baseball writers alike. The Cubs had ousted the New York Giants, thanks in great part to perhaps the most infamously decided game in baseball history two weeks before. Giants’ rookie first baseman Fred Merkle’s not stepping on the second base bag on a seemingly game-winning hit by shortstop Al Bridwell—coupled with a subsequent call by the umpire ten hours later and from the comfort of his hotel room—gave the Cubs new life in their pennant race, as the Giants were never credited with the win. A 4–2 victory over John McGraw’s men 15 days later had the Cubs fleeing for their lives out of New York and back to Detroit, where they won the second of their back-to-back world titles. If the term “back to back” ever took a physical form, one might make the case for the ’07–’08 Cubs, as the team could look for decades in each direction without a glimpse of a World Series championship.
Perhaps referred to in the Chicago and New York communities as the Fred Merkle of the 21st century, former Chicago resident Steve Bartman committed a baseball spectator’s cardinal sin by interfering with home outfielder Moises Alou’s attempted catch in foul territory during game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series. With the Cubs shutting out the Marlins, and just five outs away from clinching the team’s first pennant in almost 60 years, Bartman’s interference led to a Lemony Snicket–worthy “series of unfortunate events” for the Cubs, headlined by third baseman Aramis Ramirez’s error on a ball that could have started an inning-ending double play. The Marlins scored eight times in the eighth frame and went on to win game 6, 8–3, inside the now-not-so-friendly confines of Wrigley. Bartman had to be escorted out of the stadium by police once television replays and cell phone relays had fingered him as the culprit for this monumental collapse by the Cubbies. To this day, more than a decade later, Bartman has not returned to Wrigley Field. While Steve Bartman has taken the lion’s share of the blame for the Cubs’ failure to reach the World Series, his story is just one in a series of misfortunes over the past 106 years that have precluded the team from winning their third title.
Former Cubs fan William “Billy Goat” Sianis, along with his “plus one” companion goat, were asked to leave Wrigley during the 1945 World Series. On his way out, Sianis was said to have proclaimed, “The Cubs ain’t gonna win no more.” Manifesting Sianis’s prediction, the Cubs went on to lose the series to the Detroit Tigers, and the “curse of the goat” began. In 1969, with the Cubs leading the Mets in the division late in the season, a black cat appeared in a game at Shea Stadium between the Cubs and Mets. The cat, an obvious symbol of bad luck, circled Cubs third baseman Ron Santo—who was standing on deck—and then vanished. The Cubs eventually lost the division to the “amazing” Mets, who went on to win the team’s first ever title against the Orioles. The Cubs’ bad luck inside Shea extended to other teams, as Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner misfielded an easy groundout by the Mets’ Mookie Wilson in the historic game 6 of the 1986 World Series. Buckner was wearing the batting glove from his days with the Cubs under his fielding glove, indulging the superstitious hearts of curse of the goat theorists. Despite all the misfortune and broken hearts, fan attendance at Wrigley surpassed the three million mark for eight straight seasons following Bartman’s infamous catch. Though it’s debatable whether the Cubs are actually cursed or not, the team’s loyal fans have continued coming through the turnstiles at Wrigley for more than a century now, a trend on the north side of Chicago that will likely never change.
That Old Neighborhood Feel
Opened on April 23, 1914, Wrigley Field is located in the Lakeview community of Chicago, and though it was built more than a century ago, the parcel of land on which the stadium sits leaves no room for expansion unless the direction is up or down. While the close-knit network of neighborhoods, restaurants, and businesses surrounding Wrigley make it seem like a pressurized atom that bursts 41,000 blue-and-white particles on a daily basis, many would argue it’s part of the stadium’s charm rather than the unfortunate hand it has been dealt. Chicago Cubs play-by-play broadcaster Len Kasper describes his unique daily Wrigley Field experience: “The great thing about Wrigley is it’s like Central Park is in New York. Chicago’s a bustling, busy, huge city, and, for a broadcaster, I walk into the ballpark for a 1:20 start around 9:30–9:45. The park is empty and all you can hear are the sounds of the city. I’ve jogged to Central Park a million times, and it’s the same deal here. You’re in the middle of this oasis. If you just look around, you feel like you’re in a very rural area, but, if you listen, you understand that you’re in a big urban environment. As we get closer to first pitch, as the gates open and batting practice starts, the sounds of the city—the L train going by, car horns honking—those get drowned out by the crack of the bat, the sound of the crowd, and, for the next four hours or so, the focus is really on that small parcel of land. Then when the game ends, fans file out and you start to hear the sounds of the city again. It’s, to me, the way Major League Baseball was meant to be played, and if I go to the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, that’s where all the ballparks were was downtown. I think about my favorite ballparks—Wrigley, Fenway, AT&T Park, Yankee Stadium—they’re all in their own neighborhood. They’re all part of a big city, and that’s very special. To me, it’s really a link to the past.” The club owners have made sure this “link to the past” stays within the ballpark as well. Kasper adds, “The fun thing about the friendly confines is that there are fans who come here who have been around for a while and they haven’t been to the ballpark since the ’60s, and it looks exactly the same. They have preserved the feel and the vibe of this ballpark as well as any in the history of the game. The vines. The ivy. That’s been there since 1937, as has the scoreboard. Really the only significant change in the ballpark since 1937 has been the addition of lights.” The lights almost seem like a formality, as Wrigley hosts a way above average number of day games, due to its location within an actual neighborhood, in which restrictions allow for just 30 night games of the team’s scheduled 81. The league standard is almost twice that. It’s debatable whether or not the Cubs have that much of a disadvantage due to their unusual scheduling times; regardless, once players have been wearing a Cubs uniform for more than a season, the disadvantage falls to the visitors no matter what time the game starts at Wrigley Field.
Baseball’s Ground Rules, Appendix W: Wrigley Field
Without question, the most unique feature of Wrigley Field’s playing dimensions is the labyrinth of ivy draping the outfield walls. The term “friendly confines,” referring to this horticultural presence on the field, is usually an oxymoron to those not acclimated to Wrigley. Len Kasper notes, “The ivy, the bricks, and the angles of the wells in left and right cause a problem for outfielders who have never played at Wrigley. In a lot of ballparks, an outfielder can steal a home run away, but, at Wrigley, there are baskets overhanging the field, which also can pose a problem. Occasionally, you’ll get a line drive that hits the bottom of the basket, so playing the angles out there is different.”
Adopting a set of rules that seems more suited for a sandlot pickup game than a Major League contest, Wrigley’s one-of-a-kind ivy and the guidelines that come with it add a little more padding to the umpire calling the game’s back pocket. Kasper continues, “There are a lot of things you need to know about the ground rules at the ballpark. A ball will get lost in the ivy, and I’ve seen a fielder reach in and not pick it up, and, once you reach in, it’s a live ball and the umpires will not stop play.” Needless to say, outfielders in a Cubs uniform learn to run with their arms extended, either to concede a ground rule double or audition for the sausage races on their next trip to Milwaukee. The ivy is just one of several features that put Wrigley Field at the peak of baseball’s learning curve.
With a nickname like the Windy City, Chicago’s weather definitely comes into play during Cubs games. Wrigley is located just a mile from Lake Michigan, and the wind can be coming or going, which drastically changes the way the ball plays. Len Kasper notes, “I think I can very easily claim that the conditions not only in the weather but of the physical characteristics of the ballpark have as much an impact on the game and on the players as any ballpark in baseball. We spend a significant amount of time every day on our broadcast in the first few innings talking about the weather conditions. The wind is always a factor. Even when there’s no wind, that’s noteworthy at Wrigley Field. When the wind blows in, it can play as the biggest ballpark in the game, and the wind blows in about 65 percent of the time. When the wind blows out, it’s the best home run park in the history of ever.” Though the wind may determine whether the game’s a pitcher’s duel or a slugfest, Wrigley Field’s limited real estate tends to weigh in on a player’s preparation before, or in the case of a rain delay, during the nine-inning contest. Kasper notes, “The tunnel from the visiting clubhouse to the dugout takes about a minute and a half to two minutes to navigate, so it’s not the most convenient part for visiting players as opposed to Miller Park in Milwaukee, where the clubhouse is about five steps from the dugout. Batting cages are actually in the outfield. When the Cubs pinch hitters want to take some swings, they have to come into the middle of the tiny clubhouse and take them off a tee. There are a lot of little things that kind of add up over the course of time, and you realize it takes you a while to get used to playing at the ballpark. I’ve talked to players with the Cubs and they all say it takes about a full season to really understand and get used to all the day games and all the quirks of the ballpark.” As far as Cubs outfielders are concerned, a full season may still not be enough prep time.
Along with presiding as judge “can I get it or not” with ivy-entangled fly balls, outfielders inside Wrigley have to take into account the brick façade that encompasses the playing field. The ball has a tendency to carom more and in unexpected directions off the wall, as opposed to what happens with the soft-landing-providing walls at pretty much every other ballpark in baseball. Considering this hard landing as a player, green means stop—rather than go—when chasing down deep fly balls. Adding to the mayhem are the recessed areas in both left and right field, referred to in Wrigley as “wells.” Any misjudgments by an outfielder when it comes to the wells or the caroming effect of the bricks will often lead to a triple, or, in rarer circumstances, an inside-the-park home run. As if all this isn’t enough, the right fielder has to battle the sun as well. Kasper claims, “I think playing right field is the toughest spot in any ballpark with the sun and the wind. Fortunately, the Cubs have Billy Williams as senior advisor, who played a lot of games out there and is a wonderful resource for all of our outfielders. He knows playing that position probably better than anyone on the planet.” Cubs former right fielder Nate Schierholtz had a little bit more prep time than others when coming over to Wrigley Field. Kasper explains, “Nate Schierholtz was in his second year and I thought he made a very quick adjustment. One of the reasons is Nate played right field at AT&T Park in San Francisco. I think if there’s one comparable ballpark, it is that one because of the wind and the funky, quirky angles of the outfield. If you come from San Francisco, Wrigley probably isn’t quite as drastic as it would be coming from a lot of other ballparks.” Though AT&T Park hasn’t adopted all of Wrigley’s traditions—as the Giants have already won three World Series titles since the park opened in April 2000, and the Cubs have yet to capture one inside their century-old home—the Cubs have still made some noteworthy playoff runs in recent years, including the ’07 and ’08 seasons.
June 29, 2007: Who Says June Baseball Can’t Be Dramatic?
When Lou Piniella took over as manager of the Chicago Cubs in 2007, his reputation arrived at O’Hare International three flights before he did. Arguably one of the most explosive personalities in managerial history, Piniella came to Chicago with a World Series title (’90 Reds) and the winningest season in American League history (’01 Mariners) already on his resume. With the Cubs finishing third or worse in the three seasons that followed the state of Florida’s offering Steve Bartman sanctuary, the ’07 Cubs were sizing up to make it a fourth, coming into June 29’s contest against the division leader Milwaukee Brewers already trailing them by six and a half games. Coming to the defense of the Cubs’ slow start, Len Kasper comments, “The team had gotten off to kind of a middling start, adjusting to a new manager. No question a very talented team. The first two and a half months, you really have to get locked in.” With the game being a weekday matinee (of course), the Brewers came out in the first inning showing why they were in first place, scoring all five of their runs in the introductory frame. The Cubs chipped away at the deficit with two runs in the fourth and one in the seventh, but up two runs and calling on their closer, Francisco Cordero, Milwaukee looked to be leaving the ballpark up seven and a half games to their cross-lake rival. Kasper adds, “It’s late June, so it’s still early enough to say you have a fighting chance. As big a game as it could be in June, that was the case.” After two one-out singles and a sacrifice fly brought the Cubs to within one run, Aramis Ramirez came to the plate as the potential winning run. About his most memorable game as a Cubs broadcaster thus far Len Kasper recalls, “Aramis Ramirez comes to the plate. Cordero throws a first pitch slider to Ramirez and he hit a game-winning, two-run homer. For that date—that early in the season—it really was one of the most incredible moments I’ve ever witnessed. The crowd went absolutely crazy. It felt like a World Series game. Because it was a first pitch, it was such a surprise that my call was not really a broadcaster’s call as much as it almost was a fan’s call. I screamed, ‘A drive. Deep left center. Cubs win.’ My voice cracked. It really was the turning point of that season, and I think, to the fans, it was such an incredible moment. We had won many more later that year and obviously throughout 2008 when the Cubs won 97 games, but, for me, in my first nine years with the Cubs, that’s the moment that stands out more than any other. Just the incredible atmosphere and the reaction. Obviously, the players mobbing Ramirez at home plate. I just remember total bedlam in the bleachers where the ball ended up landing. Everybody just lost their mind. That’s the beauty of Wrigley. It was one of those ‘anything can happen’ type moments the day where it did happen.” The Cubs eventually overtook the Brewers for the division title and returned, once again, to the postseason. Even though there wasn’t a goat, cat, or Bartman to blame for the team’s sweep by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2007 National League Division Series, or by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2008, the Cubs faithful were, are, and always will be “blue” with bated breath for that third World Series title to take its victory lap around the friendly confines of Wrigley Field, laying Chicago’s baseball ghosts to rest for good.