Overview

In spring 1914, a new ballpark opened in Chicago. Hastily constructed after epic political maneuvering around Chicago's and organized baseball's hierarchies, the new Weeghman Park (named after its builder, fast-food magnate Charley Weeghman) was home to the Federal League's Chicago Whales. The park would soon be known as Wrigley Field, one of the most emblematic and controversial baseball stadiums in America. InWrigley Field: The Long Life and Contentious Times of the Friendly Confines,Stuart Shea provides a detailed and fascinating chronicle of this living historic landmark. The colorful history revealed inWrigley Fieldshows how the stadium has evolved through the years to meet the shifting priorities of its owners and changing demands of its fans. While Wrigley Field today seems irreplaceable, we learn that from game one it has been the subject of endless debates over its future, its design, and its place in the neighborhood it calls home. To some, it is a hallowed piece of baseball history; to others, an icon of mismanagement and ineptitude. Shea deftly navigates the highs and lows, breaking through myths and rumors. And with another transformation imminent, he brings readers up to date on negotiations, giving much-needed historical context to the maneuvering. Wrigley Fieldis packed with facts, stories, and surprises that will captivate even the most fair-weather fan. From dollar signs (the Ricketts family paid $900 million for the team and stadium in 2009), to exploding hot dog carts (the Cubs lost that game 6–5), to the name of Billy Sianis's curse-inducing goat (Sonovia), Shea uncovers the heart of the stadium's history. As the park celebrates its centennial, Wrigley Field continues to prove that its colorful and dramatic history is more interesting than any of its mythology.

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Reviews

Home of the Cubs, world's greatest ballpark, Chicago's largest beer garden, bucket list-worthy tourist attraction, field of (broken) dreams, enduring monument to enduring failure--Wrigley Field is all of these things, and of course so much more. Stuart Shea's witty, informative, and deeply entertaining book gives the Friendly Confines the tribute it deserves. --Dan Epstein, author of Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball

This is the story of how ordinary old Wrigley Field became Wrigley Field, baseball mecca and tourist trap, a ballpark populated by dreams and drunks. It takes a Chicago native and baseball scholar like Shea, a North Sider who has lived and died with the Cubs for three decades, to write this outstanding history of one of baseball's crown jewels. (Gary Gillette, editor of The Baseball Encyclopedia)

Author Information

Stuart Shea is coeditor of The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia, The Emerald Guide to Baseball, and Who's Who in Baseball and coauthor of Big League Ballparks. He lives in Chicago, twenty-four blocks north of Wrigley Field.

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