Chicagoans refer to it familiarly as The Friendly Confines. You may want to call it Cubs Park, but did you know it started its career under the moniker Weeghman Park; or that, for a brief, embarrassing moment in 1915, Wrigley was known as Whales Park?
Wrigley Park was designed in 1914 by Zachary Taylor Davis, and opened April 23rd of that year under the direction of then-owner Charlie Weeghman for his team, the Chicago Federals. After the Federals' league failed, an early incarnation of the Cubs organization took it over in 1916. It was renamed Wrigley Field in 1926, in honor of owner William Wrigley Jr., of the chewing gum Wrigleys.
It's the oldest surviving National League ballpark. Zachary Davis also designed the late, lamented Old Comiskey, now replaced by a spanking new structure on the city's south side. Wrigley, however, exhibits the twin virtues of historic significance and longevity. For the moment, it seems to be safe. On a soft summer day, before the weather gets too hot, (or, perversely, too cold) a hotdog and a seat in Wrigley Field can make you feel like a kid. Gazing over the stands to the rooftops outside the park, you can wave to the fans that have set up their lawn chairs and barbecues from their privileged perches.
Wrigleyville, the neighborhood surrounding the park, is full of the expected sports bars and burger joints, but also the unexpected. Cabaret Metro, the city's foremost rock venue, is right up Clark, and there's a lovely residential street one block north named Alta Vista Terrace that looks like a little piece of London in hailing distance of the park. There are some fine bookstores in the neighborhood, as well as some cozy neighborhood bars. They won't all admit it, and there's a lot of grousing about parking and ungentlemanly behavior, but many Wrigleyville residents moved to the neighborhood just so they could walk to the park on a summer afternoon. The Cubs may be the National Leagues' losingest team, but they have the most devoted fans. Steppenwolf Theater alums Joe Mantegna and Dennis Franz developed the theatrical tribute to Cubs fans in 'Bleacher Bums,' a play based on a group of real-life fans that heckled, cheered, and harassed the Cubs from 1966 into the late `70s. 'Bleacher Bums' defined the passion and perversity of those die-hards for whom hope knows no bounds, and their decadence lives on today. The definitive Wrigley Field anthem (aside from 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' as sung by the late Harry Caray) is folksinger Steve Goodman's 'A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request.'
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