Legendary Wrigley Field, situated in Chicago's North Side, has long been one of baseball's greatest showcases. Ivy vines adorn the outfield walls, all games are played on real grass, and up until 1988 all games were played in the daytime --- NO LIGHTS.
The Cubs played their first game in the Park on April 20, 1916 and they beat Cincinnati 7-6 in 11 innings before a small crowd of approximately 15,000. In 1922-23 the park's capacity was increased to 20,000 and then in 1926-27 it was increased to 40,000. In 1950-51 more renovations reduced the seating to 36,755 and the distances to fences were 355' to left, 400' to center and 353' to right.
In the 1932 World Series, Babe Ruth pointed to center field and then proceeded to hit the legendary home run out of the park at the place where he pointed.
Allstar games were played here in 1947 and 1962 with the American League winning both 2-1 and 9-4.
In 1935 a huge scoreboard was installed in center field 27' high and 75' long with scores of all games placed on the board by hand. In 1982 an electronic message board was added and finally in 1988 lights were installed. The first night game at Wrigley Field was scheduled for August 8, 1988 vs. the Phillies, but the game was rained out. On August 9, 1988 the Cubs beat the Mets 6-4 in the first Wrigley night game.
In 1984 the Cubs won the first two games of the NLCS playoff but lost all 3 games to the San Diego Padres at San Diego, thereby missing the World Series again. The San Francisco Giants defeated the Cubs 4 games to 1 in the 1989 NLCS.
Wrigley Field was the site of the 1990 All Star Game. The American League won the game 2-0 on July 10.
Get
your own Free Home Page