
The
first park on Chicago’s North Side, Wrigley Field cost $250,000 when it was
built in 1914. Charlie Weeghman built the park to house his baseball team,
the Chicago Federals (a.k.a. the Chi-Feds and, later, as the Whales) of the
brand-new Federal League, which was challenging the established major leagues.
The Federal League folded after only two years, so Weeghman, leading a ten
man syndicate which included chewing gum magnate Willam Wrigley, Jr., purchased
the Cubs of the National League. The team was moved from West Side Grounds
to what was then known as Weeghman Park. In 1918, Wrigley took over Weeghman's
share of the team and by 1919 had bought out the shares of the other members
of the syndicate. The name of the stadium was changed to Cubs Park in time
for opening day, 1920. It was renamed Wrigley Field in his honor in 1926.
The outfield
bleachers went up in 1937 and the scoreboard was constructed the same year
by Bill Veeck. It is still manually operated, and it still has never been
struck with a batted ball, although Roberto Clemente and Bill Nicholson each
hit home runs that barely missed. Sam Snead hit it once with a golf ball teed
off from home plate. Veeck was also responsible for the ivy that gives Wrigley
its distinctive look. In 1937 he planted 350 Japanese bittersweet plants and
200 Boston ivy plants. Eight Chinese elm trees were also planted on the bleacher
steps to complement the ivy, but the wind from Lake Michigan kept blowing
the leaves off and after multiple attempts at replacing the trees, they were
removed.
The first permanent concession stand in baseball was built here in 1914. The
custom of allowing fans to keep foul balls hit into the stands started here,
as did the custom of throwing back home runs hit by opposing players. "Take
Me Out To the Ballgame" has been sung (off-key) thousands of times by venerable
announcer Harry Caray (1914-1998), and countless fans have watched the game
from the porches and rooftops of the houses on Waveland Avenue (behind the
left-field fence) and Sheffield Avenue (beyond right field).
After 5,687 consecutive
day games played by the Cubs at Wrigley, the lights were finally lit on August
8, 1988, for a game with the Philadelphia Phillies. That game was rained out
after 31⁄2 innings, and the first official night game took place the
following evening against the New York Mets. The Cubs won, 6-4. Lights had
actually been placed in the ballpark for installation in 1941, but Wrigley
instead donated them to a shipyard for the war effort the day after Pearl
Harbor. In the late 1980s, however, Cubs management insisted that the team
was in danger of leaving Wrigley if lights weren’t installed, and Major
League Baseball threatened to make the Cubs play postseason games at Busch
Stadium in St. Louis.