2016 Wrigley Field Pilgrimage
Even though I grew up as a Cubs fan listening to Harry Caray on WGN, the truth of the matter is that I had never been to Wrigley Field until three years ago. There was a very simple reason for this. Chicago was far away from my home in southwest Iowa. Instead of traveling seven or eight hours to see a big league game at the friendly confines, we would travel to Des Moines and watch the Triple A Iowa Cubs play at Sec Taylor Stadium. Not only was it far cheaper for my parents to take our entire family, it was also an opportunity to get up close and personal with player on their way up to the majors. We also got to see stars on rehab stays in the minors, and every summer some of the non-all star Chicago players would come to Iowa and play an exhibition game during the All-Star break.
All in all, I was very content being a Chicago fan in exile. Visiting Wrigley Field was a nice concept to have on my bucket list. Someday I hoped to get there, but I was not going to stress too much about it. Three years ago, however, everything changed. My wife Lily bought us tickets for Opening Day 2014. It was the centennial of Wrigley and we were going to see the Cubs take on the Philadelphia Phillies. To make things even more interesting, the manager of the Phillies that year was former Chicago second baseman, Ryne Sandberg. Sandberg was one of my childhood heroes and I was looking forward to seeing him in person, even if he was managing for the wrong team. Despite the Cubs’ loss the truth of the matter is that I simply fell in love with Wrigley Field. The tradition, the quirkiness of the field, and the excitement of Chicago fans won me over completely. Visiting Wrigley would have to become a regular tradition.
Unfortunately, the Windy City remains an all day journey from current home in southeast Missouri. That means that Wrigley visits require an overnight stay and a lot of prior planning. This has turned it into something of an annual pilgrimage instead of a regular event. In 2015 Lily and I made the trip to see Chicago dismember the Brewers. Seeing my first Cubs victory in their home field was overwhelming. In addition to baseball, we took the opportunity to explore the lakefront and turned the whole thing into a mini-vacation.
The trip for 2016 almost did not happen. Both of our schedules were incredibly busy this summer, and we were not able to get away until late September. This time we were going to watch Chicago play their arch rival, the St. Louis Cardinals. Seeing a Cubs-Cardinals game at Wrigley was a dream come true. What made it even more exciting was the fact that it came towards the end of a spectacular season where the Cubs had utterly dominated Major League Baseball. It was an absolutely beautiful day and the crowd was in extremely high spirits. We got a chance to chat with several brand new friends and had an amazing time. The fact that the Cubs beat the Cardinals in a 5-0 shutout was simply icing on the cake.
After the game, we took the opportunity to explore Wrigleyville for the first time. The streets were crawling with thousands and thousands of celebratory Cubs fans. The atmosphere was positively electric. We wandered for a while before heading into a pub that had an intense game of giant jenga going. The food was good, but the people watching was even better. Eventually, we were both ready to collapse from exhaustion so we headed back to the El and caught our train back to the hotel.
While I admit that other stadiums are larger, have more conveniently placed restrooms, and fewer obstructed views, there is absolutely nothing like being in the stands at Wrigley Field with 40,000 Chicago fans singing “Go Cubs, Go” after a northsider victory. The history in that place is simply overwhelming. Only Fenway Park can boast such a long tradition. It is rapidly becoming one of my favorite places on earth. If only it weren’t so far away. Fortunately, it won’t be too long before it is time to start planning our 2017 pilgrimage to the holy land.
