When Did Wrigley Become the Star?

[Tim]

This is the kind of article I'd love to have more of on 312sports. Great read.

 

http://www.312sports.com/cubs-blog-entries/51-latest-news/1150-when-did-wrigley-become-the-star

[EhDubya]

This is the kind of article I would love to have more of on, well.. everywhere. Great read, indeed.

[CubbieBum]

It's a pretty good read but I'm not sure about his final point. I don't see how Wrigley Field being a shrine stops us from going into an era of winning. That point is completely lost on me but he explained some stuff I never really knew.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Wrigley has been the star since long before most of us were born. Read the book Wrigleyville on the history of the Cubs and there are lots of references to the team focusing the marketing around the park many decades ago.

[Misfit]

I think its great that most Cubs fans have a cherished love and bond with Wrigley... unfortunately, I just don't have it. My dad never took me to games as a kid, and now as an adult, I go a few times a year, and its a cool place, but I just don't have the special bond or attachment to it. I frankly only care about them winning.

[NewUserName]

Wrigley has been the star since long before most of us were born. Read the book Wrigleyville on the history of the Cubs and there are lots of references to the team focusing the marketing around the park many decades ago.

 

IDK My brother and I often went to Wrigley in the late 70s and got bleacher seats with no problem. Place was mostly empty and the neighborhood around the park was not nearly as thriving as it is today.

[biittner77]

Wrigley has been the star since long before most of us were born. Read the book Wrigleyville on the history of the Cubs and there are lots of references to the team focusing the marketing around the park many decades ago.

 

IDK My brother and I often went to Wrigley in the late 70s and got bleacher seats with no problem. Place was mostly empty and the neighborhood around the park was not nearly as thriving as it is today.

 

We would sit in the grandstand and sneak down as far as we could get. Old Andy Frain didn't care since it made the crowd look bigger on TV. It was that way until 1984. Wrigley Field itself wasn't nearly as big of a draw as a winning team.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Wrigley has been the star since long before most of us were born. Read the book Wrigleyville on the history of the Cubs and there are lots of references to the team focusing the marketing around the park many decades ago.

 

IDK My brother and I often went to Wrigley in the late 70s and got bleacher seats with no problem. Place was mostly empty and the neighborhood around the park was not nearly as thriving as it is today.

 

Are we talking about the Cubs/Wrigley combination being popular, or just about the Cubs centering their marketing around the park and not the team?

[Sammy Sofa]

Wrigley has been the star since long before most of us were born. Read the book Wrigleyville on the history of the Cubs and there are lots of references to the team focusing the marketing around the park many decades ago.

 

IDK My brother and I often went to Wrigley in the late 70s and got bleacher seats with no problem. Place was mostly empty and the neighborhood around the park was not nearly as thriving as it is today.

 

Are we talking about the Cubs/Wrigley combination being popular, or just about the Cubs centering their marketing around the park and not the team?

 

Both. I don't think anyone is saying Wrigley wasn't "popular" per se prior to the 90's, but it definitely was nowhere near the "scene" we've known it to be for almost 15 years now. Like NUN pointed out, it was exceedingly easy to get tickets for pretty much any game up until the late 90's. They may have been marketing the park before that, but comparatively speaking they were fiaiing miserably at it.

[jersey cubs fan]

Wrigley has been the star since long before most of us were born. Read the book Wrigleyville on the history of the Cubs and there are lots of references to the team focusing the marketing around the park many decades ago.

 

IDK My brother and I often went to Wrigley in the late 70s and got bleacher seats with no problem. Place was mostly empty and the neighborhood around the park was not nearly as thriving as it is today.

 

Are we talking about the Cubs/Wrigley combination being popular, or just about the Cubs centering their marketing around the park and not the team?

 

Both. I don't think anyone is saying Wrigley wasn't "popular" per se prior to the 90's, but it definitely was nowhere near the "scene" we've known it to be for almost 15 years now. Like NUN pointed out, it was exceedingly easy to get tickets for pretty much any game up until the late 90's. They may have been marketing the park before that, but comparatively speaking they were fiaiing miserably at it.

 

It hasn't even been 15 years. It was not much of a scene at all in the 90's and really only became a place to go in late 98, then that faded until 2003. Tickets were cheap and easy to come by until 2004. There's always been a drink in the bleachers under the sun element, but that is the case in just about every stadium, it's just so few of them play under the sun, so there's fewer crowd shots of shirtless drunks.

[Sammy Sofa]

Eh, I noticed it starting actually in 1997 for whatever reason, so I rounded up a year and a half.

[jersey cubs fan]

Eh, I noticed it starting actually in 1997 for whatever reason, so I rounded up a year and a half.

 

That was my last summer living in Chicago, three blocks from the park, and it was still nothing compared to post 98, let alone post 2003.

[Sammy Sofa]

Never said it was. Everything has a beginning, grasshopper.

[jersey cubs fan]

Never said it was. Everything has a beginning, grasshopper.

 

And that beginning was, at the earliest, Wood's 20K game, but more likely later. Just look at late May 1998, they played in front of 19,000 against Philly, and they were in 2nd place. In early June they played in front of 16,000, and that was right before going into first place. I would say it's more likely June 15, when Sammy had a 3 HR game on the way for 20 on the month, and then it just streamrolled. They started playing in front of 39,000-40,000 every night and scalpers started making real money on tickets.

[Sammy Sofa]

I don't know what to tell you: I just noticed significantly more people around and in the ballpark the summer of 1997. I have no idea why. I'm not denying when it really took off, but more people were starting to show up the year before. And yeah, it's not around 40,000, but when you're getting 14-17,000 instead of 10-12,000 it shows thing s are starting to change, for whatever reason.

[jersey cubs fan]

I don't know what to tell you: I just noticed significantly more people around and in the ballpark the summer of 1997. I have no idea why. I'm not denying when it really took off, but more people were starting to show up the year before. And yeah, it's not around 40,000, but when you're getting 14-17,000 instead of 10-12,000 it shows thing s are starting to change, for whatever reason.

 

Fewer people went to Wrigley in 1997 than 1996. There were more people at the park on average in 1994 than 1997. There were only two seasons in that decade with fewer people per game in Wrigley than 1997. I don't know what to tell you other than you are wrong. Wrigley was not a hot spot or tough ticket in the 90's until late 1998. It all began in the middle of 1998.

[Sammy Sofa]

Hey, I guess I just drew more people to the games I went to in 1997. I am pretty awesome and handsome like that.

[jersey cubs fan]

Hey, I guess I just drew more people to the games I went to in 1997. I am pretty awesome and handsome like that.

 

I can believe that.

[Sammy Sofa]

Out of curiosity, where can I look up the attendance numbers? I'm nerdy enough that I still have most of my ticket stubs, and I wonder what the attendance was on those days.

[UMFan83]

Attendance was not what it is today, but for the most part it was still very good. Looking at the numbers on BR.com, it looks like the area the Cubs had the smallest crowds were almost all in April (a few more in may and a few more in Septmeber. But they still sold out (or at least drew 38,000) to just about every weekend game between June and August, which is their typical peak period.

[jersey cubs fan]

Attendance was not what it is today, but for the most part it was still very good. Looking at the numbers on BR.com, it looks like the area the Cubs had the smallest crowds were almost all in April (a few more in may and a few more in Septmeber. But they still sold out (or at least drew 38,000) to just about every weekend game between June and August, which is their typical peak period.

 

They were a pretty good draw starting in 1984, but it wasn't much of a scene until 1998. Similarly, the Yankees were a fairly easy ticket until 1998 as well, even though they won the WS in 1996. Starting in 99 though, it really became a scene. When I first showed up in NY, getting cheap decent tickets in Yankee stadium was easy, and you didn't have to work very hard to get actual good seats.

 

Mojo, it's the baseballreference.com site:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHC/

[Sammy Sofa]

Thanks, Jersey. Is there anything BF doesn't have?

[Guest]

Thanks, Jersey. Is there anything BF doesn't have?

Beer.

[jersey cubs fan]

Thanks, Jersey. Is there anything BF doesn't have?

 

taco delivery. I've really been disappointed with their lack of taco delivery

[Ricky Vaughn]

As an outsider, I have a lot less experience with Wrigley than the rest of you-I never went before 2002, and I've still only been on weekends, so my experiences have been in the "post-scene" era, and on dates that are more popular anyway.

 

But I do have a question...is it possible that at least some of the increased attendances in the stadium have been due to the rooftops becoming "official partners," and therefore getting more expensive?

 

In other words...watching from a rooftop used to be a cheaper, and still easy way to catch a ballgame. Then the owners started building nicer bleachers, including food and beverages, etc. which (I assume) lead them to raise their prices. Then they reached an agreement with the club, and in order to offset some of the revenue they paid to the club, they raised their own prices again.

 

All of a sudden, the roofs are quite expensive, and although they have some pluses (somewhat private, food & drink included, clean bathrooms), they're also that much further away, and not necessarily a "bargain" compared to actually buying a seat in the stadium.

 

So is it possible that this drove some people from the rooftops, back into the stadium? Thus, stadium attendance, based off of tickets sold, would appear higher, but the number of people who "went to" the game remained the same or close to it?

 

Not that this would account for all of it. Just a theory, and interested in your thoughts on it.