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Welcome to the Friendly Confines
© 2002
by Darryl Musick
Wrigley Field is known as the Friendly Confines. It is a cozy, little place and the second oldest stadium still in use (Fenway Park in Boston is the oldest). Built in 1914, the Chicago Cubs moved in the next year.
Wrigley, like Fenway, is noted for a few oddities. The outfield wall is not the soft, blow-absorbing wall of newer parks, it's hard-as-rock brick covered with ivy. Running outfielders better heed the warning track here.
Many of the apartment buildings around the outfield have views into the stadium to the consternation of team owners. This year "privacy screens" were put up to block the view.
There are very few modern amenities here and, as you can imagine with such an old structure, accessibility is spotty at best.
One big bright spot on accessibility is that the adjacent El line station is completely accessible. The Red Line serves the stadium and has other accessible stations in the Loop. It's just a couple of hundred yards from the station elevator to the entrance to the park.
In the stadium itself, accessible seating is just where they've ripped out a few seat on the top row of the first deck. On lightly attended days, you will be very lonely up there. The view of the field from there is top-notch, however. Ticket prices in general range from $12 to $36. The accessible seats we had are currently priced at $12.
I did see a wheelchair lift going down to the first few rows on the third base side of home plate but I was not offered those seats even when I told the box office I wanted the best seats I could get regardless of the price. I suppose those are taken by season ticket holders.
Restrooms here are old and retrofitted for access. They are adequate at best. There is an elevator near third base to get you up to your seats. You will need to come back down if you want to go to the snack bar or gift shop.
Most hard-core fans of baseball consider these old parks as some kind of shrines, harkening back to the good old days of baseball. Maybe so, but the good old days weren't so good for wheelchair users and it shows.
So how was our game?
We went in April (we were in Chicago for Spring break). April in Chicago is still pretty cold and that was the main impression we took home with us from our outing to Wrigley.
The game temp was 26 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill factor of 16 degrees. The crowd was around 3,000 so we were up by ourselves in that top row. A big portion of the crowd were actors and extras sitting in the stands over third base for a movie they were filming that day ("Hardball" with Keanu Reeves) which also closed off access to that part of the park.
Sammy Sosa hit a double and the Cubs lost because the reliever couldn't feel his fingers. Subsequently, he threw a lot of balls and fat pitches over the plate that were easily hit by the visiting Phillies.
It was a sunny day but cold and the wind was fierce. The design of the stadium does not stop the wind at all, it blows right through it. I'm sure on a more highly attended summer day, this would not be a problem.
Overall, any true baseball fan will want to visit this stadium at least once in their life. It's old and a place where history has been made. Wheelchair accessibility is pretty basic here but has excellent public rail transportation to the park. It's pretty but Chicago weather can take a toll on a bad day. Ticket sellers here were not very helpful or sympathetic to our situation.
STADIUM FACTS:
Tenants: Chicago Cubs
Year Opened: 1914
Capacity: 38,765
Surface: Grass
Accessible via Public Transit: Yes, El Red Line
Box Office Phone: (773) 404-CUBS
HANDY LINKS:
Chicago Cubs: chicago.cubs.mlb.com/
Chicago Transit Authority: www.transitchicago.com/
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