Brewers Game at Wrigley Field

I had gone down to Chicago the night before to stay overnight at my Dad's apartment and to watch his puppy. I rode a shuttle to Wrigley that was full of Cubs fans. It was kind of uncomfortable, because I was the only Brewers fan on the bus, but all of the Cubs fans were nice to me.

I arrived a good hour before my friends (they were driving from Milwaukee and were trying to park near Wrigley, which is near impossible) so I decided to walk around and check out the the park and the surrounding neighborhood.

I saw everyone else getting their pictures taken outside this memorable signage outside of the park, and figured that "When in Rome..." so I took my own picture. I wanted a group shot, but at this point I was still without a group and the one lone Milwaukee Brewer fish in a sea of Chicago Cubs sharks.

Wrigley is crazy because it is right in the middle of a populated neighborhood complete with apartments, stores and bars. I doubt that the crowded neighborhood and lack of parking was a problem when it was built in 1914, but it sure is a problem now. But they've made the best of it by offering alternatives to driving and building bleacher seats on top of the buildings that overlook the baseball diamond. The bleachers in the park (on the left) are pretty small and pretty expensive ($15-$38 depending on the game). I guess they always sell out and are full of drunk and rowdy people.

Most of these rooftop bleacher are almost as old as the ballpark itself. They used to operate on their own, but now work in conjunction with the Cubs. They've all been updated and have so many modern conveniences that it's probably better to attend the game here than the archaic stadium. Maybe I'll have to try it someday, as soon as I gather enough money to waste it on the Cubs.

This guy was waiting outside on Sheffield Ave. hoping to grab some home run balls during batting practice. The stadium is small enough that many home runs escape the boundaries of Wrigley. I remember that they had to close of Sheffield and Waveland Aves. during the Sosa/McGwire contest because so many people had gathered outside hoping to catch "the ball."

I wasn't too impressed with the architecture on the outside of the ballpark. None of it really seemed to match, and was a far cry from the old-school interior. The surrounding neighborhood was really cool and reflected the time when it was built, but the outside left me wondering what they were thinking when they built this piece.

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