Rebuilding Rob

After 27 years and two previous attempts, I finally made it to Wrigley Field this past Saturday afternoon.

Kid 2 and I made the trip out to Madison Wisconsin, where we met up with a Kid 1 for the “future Badger orientation“ at the University of Wisconsin. i’ll be creating a separate post about the college visit later. Since we were all parting ways on Saturday and Chicago was, sort of, on my way home, I decided to catch a game.

The exterior

Because I’ve heard so many horror stories about expensive parking fees in and around Wrigley Field, I decided to put the proverbial feelers out on social media to get some advice on parking. I ended up parking at the Howard terminal, which is on the outlying northern end of town, I took the red line L train to the Addison stop. It let me off about one block from the stadium. Navigating Chicago’s mass transit system was much easier than I expected. That, and I probably saved myself at least 30 or $40 in parking fees.

Looking at the outside stadium, I would never have believed that it was over 100 years old. While the building itself does contain some of its classic elements – limited foot room in the seating, wide ramps in lieu of escalators and stairs for going to the upper decks among other details – everything was completely up-to-date: new seats, sensory room for the neurodivergent, all new fixtures in the bathrooms, etc.

I also really enjoyed Gallagher Way – the open air public space just outside the stadium. I had assumed, however, that this was an open public space. I was a little shocked to see gates up around the perimeter, which meant that it was only open to ticket holders. I caught the top of the ninth inning on a video board installed in the area. As you can see, my favorite feature of Gallagher Way was the statues of Cubs legends.

The interior

Everything you’ve seen and heard about the atmosphere and the overall ambience of Wrigley is true. It feels as if you’ve stepped into a fully modern, updated piece of the past – which I guess makes sense since Wrigley Field is the second-oldest active park in MLB.

When Wrigley field went through it most recent, and fairly extensive renovations in the 2010s, I thought that the stadium would lie a lot of its “old school charm“. I’ve always seen myself as something of a baseball traditionalist. But I must say that the renovations that comes to have all worked. Extending the bleachers was necessary. The video boards, while distracting to some old-school fans, are likewise necessary as the old hand operated scoreboard in Summerfield is just too small to see from the nosebleeds.

Much like old Tiger Stadium, Wrigley Field does have some obstructed view seats, due to the placement of support columns for the upper deck. From my seats, my view of the extreme right field corner of the field was blocked by a support column, but this was really not enough to Distract me or hamper my overall enjoyment of the game.

FINAL TAKE: Absolutely, positively recommended to all fans of the game! If you’ve never been there, and if you have the needs, you have to experience a weekly feel for yourself. The term, the culture, and the passion of the fandom are absolutely palpable. I remember looking at a couple fans on the L train as we made our way back to the car thinking “I can tell that these people just live and die for this team“

Comerica Park will always be my favorite current stadium; but damn if Wrigley Field is not a very, very close second! 

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, 👍 comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related posts:

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• Life is What Happens: A Look Back at My Non-Existent 2025 Vision
• The Moment I Walked Inside a Hallmark Movie

The article “Rob Reviews: Wrigley Field – Chicago, IL” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.