Originally a trip planned for myself and a friend, complications with a new job for my friend turned it into a family vacation. My dad, nephews(Carl & David) and myself would get to experience outdoor baseball together, and, in the end, it was a joy to share the experience with my family.
I had chosen the hotel in nothern Chicago since it was 3 miles from a park and ride for the "L". I figured that we could catch the train for both Chicago games. It ended up being really easy and a new experience for us since we don't really use trains around Minneapolis(we've just started to have light rail in Mpls. but have not had to use it as of yet.)
We caught the Yellow Line in Skokie and took it to the Howard Station where we transferred to the Red Line to take us down to U.S. Cellular Field. The whole trip took about an hour, and we got out at the Sox-35th stop which was right across from the ballpark. A quick walk across the bridge and we were there. Pretty painless. Anyone going to Chicago should give it a try since the train goes right by both stadiums.
Here is the home to the World Champs...it's a bit hard to take, being a Twins fan. Hopefully, the Twins can stick it to the Sox at the end of this year and keep them out of the playoffs.
The atmosphere around the stadium as we walked to the gate seemed non-existent. In its defense, I will say that we did not walk all the way around the stadium, so there may have been some attractions outside the stadium, but I did not see much of anything from the train to the gate...just one souvenir stand.
Inside is a different story. We received pennants as the stadium giveaway and headed up to our seats on the top level, row 8 between home & third. It was dollar dog day. As we walked in, the vendor was right there pushing the hot dogs. Just a quick hot dog each to start the day off before walking around the park to get the whole experience.
In the left field corner, there is an area with games for kids to experience baseball. My nephews, Carl & David, jumped right in. It was sort of a mini baseball midway...ball tosses, batting cages et al.(That's Carl trying to knock down the catcher in the picture below.)
It's been at least a decade, probably more, since I've been to a stadium other than the Metrodome. I can easily appreciate the wider concourses and the many more restrooms & concession areas than you'll find at the Dome. In case you haven't been to the Metrodome, Usually there are multiple lines of 10 people at the concession stands. To navigate around them, there is usually only a single file line that you must squeeze through.
The seats for the game were not bad. The only exception was that my seats were on the aisle about 2 rows above the entrance to the section. This made it a bit hard to see the field from time to time as people walked up the aisle. In addition, the lady in front of me was leaning over the railing and her big head took up a bit of the infield. Fortunately, she was gone for about half the game.
Carl & I had planned to move over next to my dad, one section over, since there were plenty of seats when the game started, but Sox fans kept trickling in and by the 5th inning, most of the seats were filled up, so we never moved.
Here are some panoramics of the park from different areas that I created by stitching some of my photos together. You can click on them to get a larger version, as you can with all of the pics.
U.S. Cellular was a nice park. We ate a total of 13 hot dogs between us. The dollar dogs are just that, dollar dogs. Small, bun smashed, some cold...not your finest dining.
We saw a good game. A record was set. It was the first game where both leadoff hitters, for both teams, hit homeruns in each of the first two innings. Compared to Wrigley & Miller Park, I found this game, surprisingly, to have the most atmosphere. I was expecting Wrigley to be the one, and the Cardinals blow out of the Cubs perhaps threw a damper on the fans. Sox 5, Royals 4
Wrigley Field for me is a pilgrimmage. This is the holy grail of parks in my book. The same can be said for Fenway, alas, I have not made that trip yet. I have been to Wrigley one other time as a kid of 14. SRO tickets, a seat on a ramp up to the second deck, and a view of vendors and people walking by with a small glimpse of a field...those are my memories of Wrigley...and I still loved it. This time, I was going to try to improve upon those memories.
Another Yellow Line train ride from Skokie to Howard to transfer to the Red Line would get us there. This ride would only be about 25 minutes to the Addison stop. Again, right across from the ballpark. Some of the Wrigley vendors would get on the train along the way for their ride to work.
Arriving with plenty of time before the gates would open allowed us the opportunity to walk around the stadium and the neighborhoods. Much has changed since 1984. Parking lots across from the stadium are now McDonald's and Taco Bell. Official merchandise is sold along the Wrigley side of the streets while the unofficial merchants are on the opposite sides of the street. One of the funny t-shirts sold by an "unofficial" merchant was a t-shirt for Cub fans that proclaimed, "Cardinal Fans take it in their Pujols." Ahh...rivalries.
We were greeted by none other than Harry Caray, Coke bottle glasses and all. There would be no stadium giveaways today, but that did not mean that there weren't freebies. Sponsers such as Emerald nuts and Kleenex were giving away all sorts of samples...temporary tattoos, fortune cookies, flavored nuts, wet cloths, frozen icees, popsicles...we stocked up our pockets with as much as we could gather. Carl & David put the tattoos on their cheeks...we would be Cub fans today...although I'm still sort of a Cards fan...shhh. We had to run into the store across the street to buy Carl a Cubs hat before the game. Cheaper the better.
We could see the bleacher bums already lined up for their dash to get a good seat. Carl & I would be sitting in the bleachers today, but no rush, we were in the newly created Bud Lite bleacher box area in the right field corner. Seats are reserved, so no rush.
Looking through the gate from the street, we could see the Cubs already starting to take batting practice (As seen below)
It was time to get to our seats and try to snag us some balls. I've learned a few tricks from reading Zack Hample's blog. I figured with my nephews, it would be a good time to try a few things out. Carl & I were in the bleacher box while my dad and David were over on the third base side...you can see the difference in our views of the field from panoramics below. There would be no seat hopping today since there was no way to get them into our section, and I was not going to sit in theirs all game. (I did switch tickets with my dad halfway through the game, so he got to sit out in the Bud Lite bleacher box.)
Carl & I ran up the steps to our seats to find very few people in it. This isn't like the bleachers. The usher is standing right at the top of the stairs to make sure our tickets let us in the section. It was like our own little section for a while. Not knowing any of the players off hand, I yelled down to the field and asked if one of the Cubs could toss up a ball. Cubs pitcher, Juan Mateo, walked over, picked up a ball and tossed it up. It landed in an empty row, and Carl jumped down and grabbed it. BALL #1. Less than a minute, and we already had a ball. Carl held it up and showed David, hanging over the right field line wall looking bummed that he was not the one to get the ball.(That's him, above, leaning on the brick wall looking a bit dismayed.)
During the switch from Cubs to Cards BP, I ran down to the souvenir stand and bought a program to have the player's names. Cards pitcher, Jeff Suppan, finished throwing. Pointing at Carl, I yelled down, "Jeff, could you please toss up a ball?" Jeff strolled over to a couple balls, kicked away from the ivy by a grounds worker, picked them up and lobbed them into our section. I caught one with my glove, and another kid grabbed the other. BALL #2 I handed it to Carl, and he had to rub it into David again. (Carl-2, David-0).
Looking like that would be it, I started to watch the hitting. Chris Duncan crushed one towards our section. It was going to land right next to us. I didn't try too hard for it since Carl & two kids were standing to my right. They had gloves, so I figured one would catch it. The ball zoomed over their heads, narrowly missing hitting the youngest in the forehead. It hit in the second row and bounced back on the field. The kids were looking down at the players and not paying attention. I was a bit frustrated after it bounced back that I did not try for it...oh well, live and learn. It was just a good thing that no one got hurt. Either a Card coach or, perhaps, Jim Edmonds, couldn't tell since he had just a windbreaker on, was walking down below so again asked nicely if he could toss a ball up. The toss was short and landed in the basket just above the ivy. I'd seen a father send his child over the fence in the bleachers twice during BP to climb down and get a ball, but I wasn't going to have Carl do that. Fortunately, the basket is closer than it is in center field. Carl stuck his skinny arm under the railing and reached down into the basket. BALL #3 (Carl-3, David-0). To keep David from not feeling left out, we walked over and handed him a ball to have.
There was a few drops of rain, but a nice breeze kept it cool. (Until I switched spots with my dad. Ufda...it was hot and humid where they were, plus drops of rain were still finding their way down to those seats even though it was partially covered.) The air & sea show was going on that weekend in Chicago, so planes flew over the stadium quite a few times. The Cards took it to the Cubs. The Cubs didn't help much with multiple errors on one play. (A throw home from left went off the cutoff man's glove, who then threw to second and out into right field. Jacque Jones then picked up the ball and bounced the throw into the ground about fifteen feet in front of him...not good.) I was fortunate enough to see Albert Pujols hit his 36th homer of the year. I happened to take a picture just as he hit it. Too bad I wasn't closer, but it's a pretty good action shot. After the game, we wandered around the streets while the rush to the train would settle down. David ended up buying a Cubs hat off a guy on the street for five bucks...illegal knock-off, no doubt. A short trip back on the train, and we were ready for one more day of baseball. Cubs 3, Cardinals 11
Here are some more of those panaramics that I created by stitching pictures together. One for each view Wrigley from each of our seat locations.
Only an hour and a half drive north of Chicago is Milwaukee. Easy access to Miller Park off of the highway (94). We arrived early Saturday afternoon at the park to take a ballpark tour. With a night game, the clubhouse and .300 club would be off limits. I always enjoy taking the tours of ballparks since it gives you a chance to stroll around and see things you may miss while trying to make your way through the crowds to your seat.
The tour needs to be a little more organized. We bought our tickets, but no one ever collected them. We could have just been just hanging out at the pro shop and jumped onto the tour. Another drawback was that the tour guide was an 80 year old man who, unless you were right next to, you could not hear. That didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves. We walked straight out onto the field. Freshly cut for the night's game. They cut the grass everyday when at home and every other day when on the road. The roof was closed but would be opened as the crowd entered that night.
We walked around the warning track and up to the visiting bullpen. Then we would continue around the perimeter to the visiting dugout. A couple Brewers, one of which was Coery Hart, were sitting in the home dugout talking. A couple pics of us in the dugout and we headed up to check out the press boxes and party suites.
One of the highlights was being able to sit in Bob Uecker's broadcasting chair. Now I can say that I must have been in the front row. For those of you that don't know what I mean, back in the late 70s and early 80s there were some commercials that Bob Uecker did where he would walk into the stadium and sit down. An usher would come and look at his ticket and say, "Come with me." As he was getting up, Bob would say to the people around him, "I must be in the front row!" We would then see Bob sitting in the farthest seat from home plate in the upper deck, probably an obstructed seat. So, there I was sitting in Bob Uecker's chair, so I must now be in the front row.
The tour ended, so we walked down to look at the statues and Helfaer Field. Statues of Hank Aaron, Robin Yount, and a memorial to the fallen workers that died during the construction of Miller Park adorn the main entrance. Helfaer Field is another of those little league parks that seem to be big with the newer stadiums. It is used by little league and softball teams for a fee. Approximately 7 games are played a day on the non-game weekends, allowing 2 hours per game starting at 9am. The Miller Park grounds crew keeps takes care of this field. Home plate from old County Stadium is marked somewhere above the third base dugout and the foul/fair poles are from the old stadium.
With only an hour before gates opened, we drove from our temporary parking for the tour to the general admission lot on the other side of the highway. Tailgaiting was just starting to get into full swing. A couple large corporate party tents were erected, so we hung around one of them to enjoy their stage entertainment until it was time to get in line. The stadium giveaway was a lunchbox for back-to-school weekend. The lunchbox was covered with the Klement's weiner racers. We entered at the gate by Friday's(open year 'round) and grabbed the lunchbox and headed straight for the lower level third base area. Despite having tickets in terrace upper deck seats, there was no one to stop my dad from walking straight down. I had tickets just above the visiting dugout...real fair there, huh? I would be taking David with me to the good seats today and Carl would go with my dad. Don't feel too bad, there ended up being plenty of seats around us, so I ran up to bring them down after the 4th inning.
My dad and Carl hung out down the left field line while David and I marched down to the corner next to the photographer's pit which was on the end of the visiting dugout. Not more than a minute down there and my dad was able to get Matt Wise of the Brewers to toss a ball up to him and Carl. BALL #4 (Carl-4, David-0) Again David was shut out. I was determined to get him a ball. There was a free program in the lower deck cup holders, so I grabbed one to learn a few names. The Brewers were taking infield, so I waited til they were done and yelled out "Hey David (Bell)! Could you please toss us a ball?", pointing at my nephew. David Bell caught one off of a grounder and waited for the next hit to go by then lobbed it our way. I leaped, but it siled over my head, landing in the photographer's pit. The security guard/usher on the field walked over and said that he knew that David Bell had meant it for us, so he would retrieve it. Very nice. He climbed down and got the ball and handed it to David. BALL #5 Carl-4, David-1. My dad & Carl decided to walk around the stadium, so they were off to discover the kids games on the upper level.
The Brewers finished up BP and the Astros came out. I got a couple pics of Clemens batting. Andy Pettite was in the corner of the dugout signing autographs for awhile. We didn't run over there and decided to hang out in our spot and hope for another ball. It would not be in vain. Calling out Luke (Scott), we asked for a ball. He would toss a ball in our direction. David and another kid with a glove were standing against the railing. It was heading for the other kids glove, but David would stick out his bare hands in front and caught it on the fly. He immediately whinced in pain, but he caught it. I've been taking my nephews to the park this summer, and I know that David is not the best at catching with a glove, but I can now see that he can sure can catch without one. BALL #6 (Carl-4, David-2). While hanging out, Orlando Palmeiro walked over, looking to autograph some things, we handed him a pen and our tickets. The ink would eventually smear because of the humidity still in the stadium before the cool night air would take over once the roof had been open for awhile. We stood in our corner spot while Orlando would keep signing. He listened to David as David told us about our trip. He seemed interested in the story. Very kind. It even slowed down his signing a little. Once he was done, we went up to our seats to sit down. Unfortunately, I didn't get the autograph that I wanted (Craig Biggio). Craig's my favorite player since I like how hard he's always played the game. I saw Craig sign about three autographs by the other end of the dugout before he went to the cage. Oh well.
