Wrigley Field ..... up close and personal

I wonder if anyone else ever gets chills when they see Wrigley Field when approaching it from the Red Line train in Chicago.
I do. Every time.
It's been about a week since my Cubs Destinations weekend, a 40th birthday present from my wonderful wife, Karen. It still hasn't totally hit me ..... the opportunity I had during the late-July weekend series against the Cardinals. Forget what happened during the games.
I'm talking VIP treatment off the field.
In a word ..... Amazing.
The package included a jersey (my wife correctly chose No. 2 Ryan Theriot for me), a Major League baseball, a 2010 Cubs yearbook, a tour of Wrigley, lunch and a meet-and-greet with a player and an opportunity to watch batting practice before the gates opened to the public.
As an aside note on the jersey, my wife picked the alternate blue jersey instead of the traditional white with blue pinstripes, figuring the way I eat, there's less of a chance I could ruin the blue one. So my brother, Mike, got the home Derrek Lee jersey, and he smudged a protein bar on it before the first game. Oh the irony.
Anyway, I now return you to your regularly scheduled blog already in progress.....
All three special events took place Sunday, since the game was a night game on ESPN and it was easy to facilitate.

First the tour. We started by walking up to the press box. Walking. Literally. I don't recall seeing an elevator. Not that I need one. I'm just saying. Anyhow, up the ramps to the top of the upper deck, then up a couple flights of stairs into the sardine can. Not being a hater. Just being truthful. The press area is tight. It holds about 65. When the Cubs made the playoffs a couple years ago, and back in 2003, etc., the spillover media had to watch the games on TV from the media dining room. The broadcast booths are equally cramped. Sitting up there we got some breathtaking views of Wrigley and Lake Michigan out toward right field.

Then the real treat. We walked back down and sat in the front row by the Cubs dugout and learned a little bit about the stadium. We then got to walk on the field, have our picture taken on the Cubs on-deck circle then go inside the dugout, sit on the bench and pose for a picture.

Let me be a little melodramatic here. The spot I sat in could have been the same spot where Ernie Banks sat when talking to a coach. Managers like Charlie Grimm, Leo Durocher and Don Zimmer could have sat there.

We then got to walk around to the visitor's side and enter the field near the bullpen. We walked to the gorgeous ivy covered wall and again posed for a picture. Standing at the wall and looking up, you can't help but think about all the history that took place there. The homers, the catches, balls getting lost in the ivy, beer "accidentally" spilling on opposing players. The wall is a lot higher than I thought it would be.

Mike and I then each took a picture touching the outfield grass. That was a special moment for me. I know it's only grass and as a former sports writer, I interviewed some world-famous athletes without hesitation. But when you grow up rooting for a team and when it's such a big part of your life, you can't help being a little dorky. OK, a lot dorky. I would have bent down and kissed the grass but my luck, I would have gotten bitten by a bug.

Then it was off to a special lunch and meet-and-greet with Theriot, where he answered any and all questions, even one about the fly ball he failed to catch the day before. Classy guy. They tell me he does a lot of these. He just jumps up and volunteers.

Afterward, we got to watch batting practice for about 40 minutes before the gates opened. Pitchers hit first, followed by some of the regulars, like Lee, Marlon Byrd and Aramis Ramirez.

All the time spent in Wrigley allowed me to come to some conclusions. I hope they don't try to do too much to it.

Yes, the concourse is narrow, the bathrooms still have troughs, parking sucks and pieces of cement have been known to randomly fall.

But think of the history.

Think about all the little things.
The ivy.
The rooftops (which generate $1 million for the Cubs annually, but that's for another blog),
The guest conductor of Take Me Out To The Ballgame.
Balls being thrown back into the stadium from Waveland Avenue when an opposing players hits one out.
Seeing the crowd walk from and hustle to the Red Line before and after games.
Then there's Wrigleyville, the Cubby Bear, the souvenir stores, all the other eating and drinking establishments around. It's almost like a Jimmy Buffett concert without drunk women flashing you and with a baseball game instead of music.
These are things other ballparks can't offer. I've been to Riverfront Stadium, Great American Ball Park, Kauffman Stadium, Old Yankee Stadium and Comiskey Park. Each has some positives and their own nuances, but nothing like Wrigley.
I have driven by or seen but haven't been in a few other ballparks.
Nothing compares to Wrigley.