Journey to 32 Major League Stadiums: Chicago

by Mike Trovato

I'll never forget my first baseball game- July 4th, 1993, my family took me to Shea Stadium for my 7th birthday to see the New York Mets play the San Francisco Giants. We sat in the Lodge seats, just to the left of home plate, and my dad caught a foul ball hit by Vince Coleman. Frank Tanana pitched against Bud Black, and the Giants won 10-8, with Rod Beck closing out the game. That was my first taste of Major League baseball, and although I may not have understood the intricacies of the game, nor did I realize just how awful the Mets were at that time; they fell to 24-55 after the Giants game, and finished 59-103 that year. What I did know is that I was 7 years old, and I was hooked.

I remember watching games on Channel 9, Kiner's Korner for the post-game interview. I remember that Anthony Young was terrible and that Jeff Innis pitched submarine with his index finger sticking out of his glove, which for some reason, I emulated. I remember coming home from school that October and watching the White Sox play the Blue Jays in the playoffs, and wanting to stay up late to watch the World Series. These are the first memories I have of the game of baseball, and are what ultimately turned me into a huge sports fan.

Over the next 7 years, I saw a few ballparks outside of New York. I was at the Vet where I saw Darren Daulton's final game with the Phillies in '97, Fenway Park in '99 and Camden Yards the following year. It wasn't until a few years ago, however, that I decided to set a life goal for myself- to attend a baseball game in every Major League stadium. Though I had already been to Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore as a kid, in my head I wiped the slate clean in a way. I still count the Vet as having seen a Phillies game in Philly, but I wanted to actually document my experiences now that I considered it my personal project to see every stadium, and now had the means to travel to them by my own free will.

I "officially" began my quest in 2006, and started small, planning a day trip to Philadelphia to see Citizen's Bank Park for the first time. I went with my sister and my friend from college, and the trip left us wanting more, though the Mets were shut down by John Lieber that night. Just 10 days later, we went down to Baltimore, taking my friend's brother along with us. We visited Camden Yards to see the Orioles against the Devil Rays. I didn't particularly enjoy the game, which was at 1:00 on a Sunday afternoon, probably because I had prefaced it with a 5 hour drive. Nonetheless, the trip was a blast- we stayed overnight and couldn't get enough of the Inner Harbor.

I didn't see any new stadiums in 2007, though I did return to Citizen's Bank Park with my sister and Dad. Last summer was when I really began to expand my horizons, planning a family trip in May to visit relatives in Georgia, conveniently just 30 minutes outside of Atlanta. Again, I saw the Mets- I don't want to talk about the game, but Turner Field was nice. A month later, my sister and I took a bus down to Washington D.C. to see the Nationals take on the Angels in the inaugural season at Nationals Park. The Nats of course didn't play very well, as L.A. scored 6 runs in the top of the first, but the food at the stadium was fantastic, and we had a great time in the capital city.

The more stadiums I see and the more places I travel, the more I want to see and the farther I want to go. With Citi Field and the new Yankee Stadium opening this season, I knew I would be adding two more stadiums to my list, but New York wasn't enough, and my mind began racing. I'm not sure exactly when the schedules come out for any upcoming baseball season, but I started planning out 2009 before the calendar flipped to January, before the schedules were set, and I had several cities on my radar.

Originally, the next logical place to go was Pittsburgh, having the northeast and Atlanta covered, but not having the funds to make it down to Florida. When I started doing my research, a trip to Pittsburgh quickly became a trip to Pittsburgh and Cleveland, naturally- Cleveland is only 2 hours farther, so of course, why not? Within ten minutes, the idea became a grand loop that included Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit and Toronto, in a time period that would either be too expensive or not nearly enough time in any one city.

After ruling out the "Four City Tour" as I called it, I decided that if I could only take one trip, I wanted to at least hit two more stadiums on my list. I wanted to plan in a way that would allow me to spend time seeing the city I wound up in, without having to frantically pack up and carry on to the next city. That was when I set my sights on Chicago.

If you follow this blog and noticed the lack of new material over the past two weeks, this was the cause, and I've been working on this particular post for four days now. The good part about planning a week-long road trip to a city over 800 miles away is that you are (hopefully) well prepared. I concocted an outline of the trip in January, which left me more than enough time to research, research, and research the same stuff over again. The drawback of course, is the 6 months of anticipation, knowing you're not really even close to the trip being around the corner, but already dying to go. Granted, it's not easy to coordinate a trip like this for one, let alone four people, but believe me, funding a trip like this is much easier when you're quartering your hotel, gas and toll costs. Not to mention, it's more fun to go with friends, and after the successful trip to Baltimore in '06, we had the same cast for this year's trek.

The itinerary for Chicago '09 spanned 7 days, Monday through Sunday, and included 600 miles of driving on the first and last days of the trip. The Days Inn in Swanton, Ohio was very accommodating, and was a nice, quiet stopping point both going and returning. We arrived in Chicago on day two of our trip, and were again very pleased with our hotel selection, another Days Inn in the heart of the city. There were many highlights- the Navy Pier, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Sears (Willis) Tower, the world-famous Blues Festival, deep dish pizza and Chicago dogs- but for this bit I'll focus on the baseball.



U.S. CELLULAR FIELD
Chicago White Sox vs. Detroit Tigers
June 10th, 2009
Tigers 2, White Sox 1

Tickets for a White Sox game are a lot easier to obtain than tickets to Wrigley Field (which I will outline later). I was able to call the Sox box office directly and we got upper deck seats in section 537, just to the third base side of home plate for under $30, which suited our budget very well. We were also able to eliminate the cost of parking by taking the public transit. U.S. Cellular Field is easy to access via the Chicago L, as the stadium is diagonally across the street from the Sox-35th Red Line station.

"The Cell" opened its doors in 1991, and was the last stadium built before the new-age ballparks, which feature concourses with field views from around the stadium. U.S. Cellular reminded me somewhat of Shea Stadium, in that the concessions, restrooms, and shops are all located underneath the seats, with no view of the field.

One thing I did enjoy was the tribute paid to the franchise's former stars. On the left field wall are the images of eight White Sox greats: Nellie Fox, Harold Baines, Luke Appling, Minnie Minoso, Luis Aparicio, Ted Lyons, Bill Pierce and Carlton Fisk. Each concession stand around the outer perimeter of the 500 level was named after a different former White Sox player, and murals on the stadium walls outlined White Sox history.

The main drawback of U.S. Cellular Field is that each level is exclusive to its ticket holders. Because our seats were in the 500 section, we were prohibited from entering the 100 and 300 levels. This was a huge disappointment, and put a significant damper on my experience. We were unable to access specific food venues or see many of the main attractions, such as White Sox Legends Sculpture Plaza on the outfield concourse, as well as the Chicagoland Plumbing Council Shower near section 160.

The fireworks to kick off the game was the consolation for the things we didn't have access to. The pyrotechnics are set off at the beginning of every home game, and following every Sox home run and victory. Jim Thome treated us to a second fireworks show with his solo blast in the bottom of the 7th, but Thome's home run turned out to be the only Chicago run of the game. Detroit's Justin Verlander threw 122 pitches, 89 for strikes in a complete game 9-strikeout effort, notching his seventh victory on the season, denying us a third fireworks show for a Sox win.

The exit ramps by our section faced what I believe to be north, and we stopped for a few minutes to soak up the view of the lit Chicago skyline. It was a nice way to end a chilly night, and it was only appropriate that there was a fairly consistent breeze blowing through the upper echelon of the Windy City's south side ballpark.

I was glad to have seen the Cell; I got my souvenir hat, and we did all leave with our own personalized first game certificates. The blues performance before the game, as well as the National Anthem performed on harmonica by Billy Branch added a little flavor to our first taste of Chicago baseball (as did the Polish and Italian sausages, which were delicious by the way). Overall, however, the experience was hindered by the lack of access to U.S. Cellular's lower levels. In retrospect, it may have been a good idea to invest a bit more in better seats, so as to have access to the many attractions U.S. Cellular Field has to offer.

Pros:
- Ticket pricing
- Accessibility/Proximity to public transit
- Pregame/Home run fireworks
- Center field scoreboard display
- White Sox history celebrated throughout stadium
- "First game" certificates available through Guest Relations on all levels
- Skyline view from north ramps
Cons:
- Field level exclusive to field level ticket holders
- No upper level concourse
Overall Rating: C
Recommendation: For a more complete experience, spend a little extra on tickets for the 100 level and while you're there, have a Polish sausage, they're very tasty. If you're feeling really cheesy, pop over to the Guest Relations booth and get yourself a first game certificate. Keep your fingers crossed for a Sox homer and/or win- the fireworks are pretty cool.



WRIGLEY FIELD
Chicago Cubs vs. Minnesota Twins
June 12th, 2009
Twins 7, Cubs 4

The excitement I had in anticipation of going to Wrigley Field was justified the second we arrived. It was only fitting to be seeing a day game, an old Wrigley pastime. We left early, around 11 a.m. for a 1:20 game, and took the bus up Clark Street from our hotel to the stadium. For almost a mile leading up to Wrigley, there were an unbelievable amount of Cubs flags lining the numerous bars on the street, which were already filling up despite the time of day.

As soon as we got off the Clark street bus and walked to the corner of Clark and Addison, there it was, the big red sign reading, "WRIGLEY FIELD HOME OF CHICAGO CUBS." Apparently, there is no "the" after "home of," but I digress. The stadium itself is not a large structure at all, and although it has its own plot of land in the middle of four Chicago streets, it blends in with the buildings on three of the four sides of Wrigley, which are not dwarfed by the ballpark.

The buzz surrounding the stadium was immediately evident and as we made our way around Wrigley, we passed a large amount of Twins fans who made the four hour trip to Illinois to see the first game of the interleague series. It would not have been appropriate to walk into the oldest park in the National League without first visiting the statues of Ernie Banks and the great Harry Caray, located on streets on the first base side of Wrigley.

After taking pictures in front of both statues, we entered through the gate behind home plate, and I bought my souvenir hat before heading for the field. We arrived early enough to see batting practice and even though our tickets were for section 527, we were allowed right down to the wall dividing seats from turf, something we had missed out on at U.S. Cellular.

Once batting practice ended and the players returned to their respective dugouts, we made our way to our upper deck seats. The tickets had been hard to come by; when I tried to order through the Cubs' website, I was only able to choose $325 Dugout Box seats. Instead, we opted for $73 tickets from StubHub, which I believe were marked up about $51, but a trip to Chicago without seeing a game at Wrigley Field was out of the question so we decided to splurge. As it turns out, because the ballpark is so small, our seats were probably comparable to decent Mezzanine level seats at Shea Stadium, and we were only a few sections over from the press box behind home plate.

In my last post I mentioned Joe Mauer's white hot hitting, though I had never seen him hit in person. That changed quickly, but the sentiment remained the same as Mauer lined a single in the first and blasted a two-run bomb to left center field in the third off of Randy Wells, which prompted strong "MVP" chants from the many Twins supporters. Mauer is the real deal, as good as advertised, if not better.

There were several reminders of the split in allegiances, specifically as a result of the play of Milton Bradley. The Cubs right fielder made not one, but three boneheaded plays in the game, causing Twins fans to go wild while the home Cub fans pulled their hair out. Bradley first lost a ball in the sun (I'd let that one slide), but later made a base running mistake and was tagged out between second and third. The worst of the three came with one out in the 8th inning with men on the corners. Bradley caught a Mauer fly ball- out number two- then turned, struck a pose, and flipped the ball into the right field stands as runners rounded the bases.

The play didn't cost the Cubs a run, but it did earn Bradley two long rounds of boos, once during the play, then again when he came up to bat in the bottom half of the inning. One Cubs fan a few seats over to my left repeatedly screamed "BRADLEY!! YOU SUCK!!" The man next to me apologized for him, but laughed when I told him, "Don't worry about it, I'm from New York. I'm used to this."

Perhaps it's psychological, but the aura that comes with the legendary history of the Chicago Cubs and all that has transpired within those walls, both good and bad, is unmistakable. Whatever the cause, I arrived awestruck, and was not disappointed. Between the bar-lined streets leading up to the ballpark, the pregame buzz around the entire building and the rooftop bleachers on the apartments beyond the outfield, and Kenny Chesney's performance of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch, Wrigley had a certain feel to it, an ironically epic modesty. There is no big screen. The PA system was not the greatest. Yet these slight negatives, if you can even call them that, only added to the feel of a giant Little League stadium; that there is no bad seat in the house, and everyone in attendance is excited to be there. Although we went 0-for-Chicago as the Cubs lost 7-4, the experience I had at Wrigley Field met and far surpassed my expectations.

Pros:
- Aura
- Pregame fanfare surrounding stadium
- Accessibility/Proximity to public transit
- Statues of legendary Cubs figures outside stadium
- Access to all areas of stadium
- Cons:
- Ticket pricing
- No jumbo screen
Overall: A+
Recommendation: DO NOT visit Chicago without seeing a game at Wrigley Field. Arrive early, walk around the entire stadium, and really get a feel for the place. I had eaten at Harry Caray's Italian Steakhouse the night before, so I was equipped with a caricature t-shirt of the broadcaster and a better sense of his greatness as it was celebrated in the restaurant. If you can make it there, do so. The food is fantastic, and it's a great precursor for a day game at Wrigley.

• Shea Stadium
• Yankee Stadium (old)
• Veteran's Stadium
• Fenway Park
• Oriole Park at Camden Yards
• Citizen's Bank Park
• Turner Field
• Nationals Park
• Citi Field
• Yankee Stadium (new, 2009)
• U.S. Cellular Field
• Wrigley Field

Next stop... Pittsburgh? Toronto? I'm not sure yet, but I'm looking into both. I'll keep you posted.