Yesterday I “reviewed” my recent trip to the South Side to see a Chicago White Sox game. Today I will “review” my Wrigleyville experience.

I put “review” in quotes because I am uncertain that in either case I am truly providing a review so much as a few thoughts and feelings about the experiences.

As I have said here before, I lived in Chicago in the early 1980s. First in Bucktown and then in Hyde Park. For those unfamiliar with Chicago neighborhoods, Bucktown is a North Side neighborhood and Hyde Park a South Side one (geographically speaking anyway).

During my sojourn in Chicago, I went to a lot of Cubs games at Wrigley Field and White Sox games at Old Comiskey. It was a time of sparse attendance for baseball in general and both Chicago clubs in particular. That meant when you went to Wrigley for a game, the stadium was largely empty and so tickets were cheaper than the price of an Old Style Beer.

The White Sox game experience I posted about yesterday was that same kind of experience. A relaxed experience in a largely empty stadium surrounded by true baseball fans.

The July 6th Cubs game against the rival St. Louis Cardinals was neither. It was two things I had never experienced at Wrigley before: a night game AND a sell out.

The result, for this fan anyway, was a disappointing experience. Certainly not worth the premium prices I paid for both the seats and for a nostalgic Old Style tallboy.

Popularity may be a good thing to the economic bottom-line of the Chicago Cubs Club and to the businesses of Wrigleyville, but from a fans prospective it has been at the cost of losing the charm a Cubs game once provided.

Here are a few pictures from the game and Wrigleyville.

.

.