Wrigley Field

The Friendly Confines

Wrigley Field is a ballpark on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago Whales of the Federal League, which folded after the 1915 baseball season. The Cubs played their first home game at the park on April 20, 1916, defeating the Cincinnati Reds 7–6 in 11 innings. Chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. of the Wrigley Company acquired the Cubs in 1921. It was named Cubs Park from 1920 to 1926, before changing its name to Wrigley Field in 1927. The stadium currently seats 41,649 people.

Quick Facts

Nickname: The Friendly Confines
Address: 1060 West Addison Street
Location: Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Groundbreaking: 4 March 1911
Opened: 23 April 1914
Renovated: 1937, 1988, 2014–2019
Expanded: 1922, 1927, 2006
Owner: Ricketts family

Lore & Background

In the North Side community area of Lakeview in the Wrigleyville neighborhood, Wrigley Field is on an irregular block bounded by Clark and Addison streets to the west and south, and Waveland and Sheffield avenues to the north and east. Wrigley Field is nicknamed 'The Friendly Confines', a phrase popularized by Hall of Fame shortstop and first baseman Ernie Banks. The oldest park in the National League, it is the second-oldest in the majors after Fenway Park (1912), and the only remaining Federal League park.

The park was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2020. Wrigley Field is well-known for its ivy-covered brick outfield wall, distinctive wind patterns off Lake Michigan, the red marquee over the main entrance, and the hand-turned scoreboard. The stadium is situated in a primarily residential neighborhood without parking lots, and spectators have views from the rooftops behind the outfield. Additionally, it was the last Major League Baseball (MLB) park to have lights installed for night games, in 1988.

From 1921 to 1970, the stadium was also home to the Chicago Bears of the National Football League, and from 1931 to 1939, it was the home of the Chicago Cardinals (now the Arizona Cardinals) of the National Football League.

Reader's Guide

Baseball executive Charles Weeghman hired his architect Zachary Taylor Davis to design the park, which was ready for baseball by the home opener on April 23, 1914. The original tenants, the Chicago Whales (also called the Chi-Feds), came in second in the Federal League rankings in 1914, and won the league championship in 1915. Later in 1915, Weeghman's Federal League folded. The resourceful Weeghman formed a syndicate including chewing gum manufacturer William Wrigley Jr. to buy the Chicago Cubs from Charles P. Taft for about $500,000.

Weeghman immediately moved the Cubs from the dilapidated West Side Grounds to his two-year-old park. In 1918, Wrigley acquired the controlling interest in the club. In November 1926, he renamed the park Wrigley Field. In 1927, an upper deck was added, and in 1937, Bill Veeck, the son of the club president, planted ivy vines against the outfield walls after being inspired by the ivy planted at Perry Stadium, Indianapolis.

In June 2024, Wrigley Field announced a multiyear partnership with Invenergy, and their community solar company, Reactivate, to launch clean and renewable energy systems at the park. The agreement was to establish the stadium as an 'anchor' for community solar projects in Wrigleyville, marking the ballpark's first ever use of renewable energy.