BASEBALLPARKS.COM's Ten Must-See Parks

Wrigley Field

Even if our "Must-See" list had only one park on it, Wrigley Field would still be on that list.  It is that perfect.  It is that unique.  It is that baseball.

We could produce pages and pages of all the wonderful aspects of this place (and, indeed, we have an entire area -- complete with a number of photos -- in BASEBALLPARKS.COM devoted to this park called The Wrigley Collection), but suffice it to say that if you've never seen a game here, you owe it to yourself to do so.

WHERE THIS PARK IS LOCATED:  "The Friendly Confines" are located in the "Near North Side" of Chicago, in a neighborhood often referred to as Wrigleyville.  The park is at the corner of Clark and Addison.  Take the Addison stop if you're riding the Howard elevated-train line. 

WHO PLAYS HERE:  Interestingly, the Cubs were not the first tenants here.  The field was constructed to be the home of Chicago's Federal League entry in 1914.  When that league folded, the Cubs took over, meaning that Wrigley has been the Cubbies' home from 1916 to the present . . . and we hope it will be forever and ever.

SPECIAL EVENTS WHICH HAVE OCCURRED HERE:  In one of the most famous moments in sports history, Babe Ruth is said to have "called" the two-strike home run he hit into the center-field bleachers during the 1932 World Series . . . Rookie sensation Kerry Wood struck out 20 Astros in 1998 . . . Ernie Banks hit his 500th homer in 1970 and Stan Musial his 3,000th hit in 1958 . . . In 1985, Pete Rose singled for his 4,190th career hit, tying Ty Cobb . . . The Cubs have participated in six World Series since they've been playing in Wrigley, but none since 1945 . . . The first night game at Wrigley occurred in 1988, a scant 53 years after the first Major League game under the lights . . . A rather infamous incident happened in Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS. With the Cubs seemingly cruising to a win and a date with the Yankees in the World Series, an 8th inning foul fly down the third-base line was inadvertently knocked out of Moises Alou's glove by a fan named Steve Bartman. Everything then went awry for the Cubs, as the Marlins scored eight runs and won that game. The next day they won Game 7 and went on to take the World Series from the Yankees.

WHY YOU MUST SEE THIS PARK:  If you have to be told why you should see Wrigley Field, then I can only surmise that you're not much of a baseball fan.

Go to The Wrigley Collection

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