Touring Wrigley Field

Last weekend, I was in Chicago. After a few cocktails on Saturday night, I went back to my hotel room and realized that Sunday was a pretty light day for me, and that I should take a ride out to Wrigley Field, just to see the old park. I then had a crazy idea to google whether or not they did ballpark tours, and was happy to find they had a few openings for Sunday tours. I chose the 10am, which would run for a little over an hour. It cost $30.

I snagged an Uber and started the 4-mile, 12-minute drive. I got there about 20 minutes early, and this was the first thing I saw:

The famous sign. I know that for most this might invoke memories of Harry Carey, but for me, it means John Candy, the announcer in Rookie Of The Year. Sorry, I grew up in the 90s.

The only real bummer is that there was a fence and scaffolding around it, as the Cubs are making upgrades to their press box.

I then walked a few feet to the left and took in the Ernie Banks statue.

We had to meet our tour guide in the Cubs team store. Cool to be in there, but nothing for me. Still, I liked looking at some of the awards on display.

The tour started by entering a gate toward left field, right off of the famous Waveland Avenue.

After going through the metal detector, the very first stop was to walk up the steps in left field and take in Wrigley for the first time.

Pretty cool! Obviously bummed to see snow all over the field, but that was expected. Also as expected, the ivy was dormant.

The tour goes through three different clubs within the ballpark. The first was The W Club, where we probably got our longest history lesson of the day. Did you know the Cubs were originally intended to be called the Chickens? I didn't grab a picture for whatever reason, but you can see the Cubs batting cage through a window in the club.

Next stop was the famous(?) 1914 Club. I had never heard of it. It smelled kind of weird. It's a prohibition-style club made to look like it's straight out of The Great Gatsby.

Before heading to the final club, we were given a look around the visitor's clubhouse. I can see why opposing players aren't fond of the amenities. It was basically a high school locker room, and that's after it was recently remodeled. Seems pretty silly to jam 25-member teams plus coaches and personnel into here. I couldn't get a great photo of the full room because a few other tour members were in the picture.

The final club on the tour was the Makers Mark Barrel Room, which was neat. What's also cool is that you can swing open pictures on the wall and peep at the opposing team's batting cage.

The final stop on the tour is the first base dugout and the field! While I enjoyed being there, it wasn't until stepping onto the field that I had an "oh shit" moment.

Like everything else, the dugout is super small and cramped.

The tour lasted about 75 minutes. I hope to go back for a game at some point, but I'm really glad I got out and about and did this.

It was definitely $30 well spent!