The Friendly Confines

"The ballparks are like cathedrals."

- Crash Davis, Bull Durham

This is my first mini-attempt at a ballpark tour.  I've fantasized before about doing the whole country during a season, so this move provided me the opportunity to see at least four of the stadiums I had never seen before.  With one down, I have one recommendation for anyone pursuing a ballpark tour:

Do not see Wrigley first.

All other ballparks will pale in comparison.

I've been to Fenway, but not during a game, so my view of the world may be skewed, slightly. But walking into that old, OLD building with the neon sign, welcoming you to Wrigley field, is something that words can't describe for a baseball fan.

Wait, I've gotten ahead of myself.  I would be lax if I didn't mention the insane energy of Wrigleyville.  Streets upon streets of blue and red, vendors, nothing but Cubs as far as the eye can see.  It's as if the stadium itself were so bursting with its own history that it had no choice but to spill over into the entire north side of Chicago.

Neil's partying like it's 1914.

I've heard complaints that Wrigley is for the "fashionable fan..."  Barack Obama recently spoke out about Chicago baseball, claiming that the White Sox are the team in town that plays "serious" baseball, that if you want to have a beer and see the beautiful people, go to Wrigley.  I did see Barack's point at certain times... there were a fair amount of tight-shirted guys and trophy girlfriends walking back and forth to the concessions.  Plenty of tight jeans to ogle at, no matter your preference.  I will argue, though, that the Cubs fans are passionate, knowledgeable, smart, and LOUD.  I was tempered on baseball in a stadium that was once blamed for magnifying crowd noise... and Wrigley beat those decibels hands down.

Plus, I've been to New Comiskey (I hate and refuse to call it US Cellular), and it's a concrete bore.  It's the same as all the new-ish ballparks.  Walking out of the ramp in Wrigley to see that green field, surrounded by the old concrete, you can almost breathe in the air from the early century.  The old wooden seats have given away to plastic, but the metal fittings holding the rows together are original.  Netting has been put up in order to keep old concrete from falling into concourses, but it's still the same structure.  New stadiums will never have what Wrigley has... until they've been around for 90 years.  

The partial view from my seat.

I sat in my seat for a good half hour before the game started, just taking it all in.  Baseball is full of its own history, and prides itself on its never-changing nature.  Details may change over the years: the designated hitter, wild cards, interleague play, etc.  But what makes baseball an obsession is its stodginess.  The rules haven't changed in almost 150 years... 9 innings, 3 outs, 3 strikes, 9 players to a side, you get the idea.  Little things have changed, but the essence of the game stays the same.  This is why we can still have debates such as "who would you rather have on your team, Babe Ruth or Albert Pujols?"  It's not even a silly question, because both players (though from different eras) played the same game.  Sure, details have changed... salaries have grown, relief pitchers come in earlier, night games, all that.  But they played the same game.  The same game that has been played for over a century.

In that way, Wrigley is representative of everything we hold dear to our hearts about baseball.  Wrigley reminds us of the past, and strives to maintain it.  At almost any other stadium, you could look up to the digital jumbotron and see the score, count, batter, pitcher of any game going on in any stadium.  Wrigley's scoreboard is still hand-operated.  The box scores fall behind at times, sometimes not even showing the inning-by-inning score at all, as the scoreboard folks struggle to keep up.  That's what you've come for, though.  You've come to Wrigley to be a part of the past, to taste history for a while.  And you wouldn't have it another way.

The hand-operated scoreboard upon which 

I can see my Twins getting killed by Cleveland...

The details of the game (as Dr. Evil would say) are quite inconsequential.  I got to see C.C. Sabathia pitch, and lose, which is unusual.  I saw three home runs, two of them by Prince Fielder of the Brewers (Son of Cecil Fielder, All-Star first baseman... talk about living in the past), and a once-great Cubs starter closed out a 5-4 win, but not before he kept it interesting in true Cubs style, by giving up a run in the ninth.  

I found myself rooting for the Cubs by the end of the game, and thought, "How could you not?"  There's a reason these great fans have stuck through dry years and curses and multiplied and flourished...  These Chicago Cubs will always keep you coming back for more.  In this great cathedral that they play in, the Cubs will always be what they once were.  That thought, both comforting and maddening, will make you itch and fume and eventually want to return.  

I can't wait to go back.

The moon rises over Wrigley on a perfect baseball night.