Guest Feature from Kevin Lagowski

Notes from a Successful Phillies Trip to Wrigley Field

Jul 04, 2023

The Phillies were able to pull off a sweep of the Cubs at Wrigley Field last week, and I had the good fortune to be at the last two games, as my friend Matt and I traveled to Chicago to soak up the city for a few days. This was my first time visiting Chicago in several years, and it was my first trip to Wrigley in over a decade, something that I mentioned last week in an article as a prelude to this series where I detailed the crazy history that the Phillies and Cubs share at the Friendly Confines. I also realized after the fact that I didn’t even mention Cole Hamels’ no-hitter in that article, so please don’t tell anyone about that. Regardless, I figured that I would recount this particular trip for you Phils fans, whether you’ve been to Wrigley before or have yet to experience it.

First off, the Wrigleyville area around the park is really unlike anything else you’ll find in MLB. There are plenty of shops, bars, etc. in the surrounding neighborhood to keep you busy for hours before the gates even open. We didn’t take in too much of that this time, but I did make a special point to lead Matt (making his first ever visit to Chicago) around the outside of the entire stadium to see it from all angles. Make sure you check out the Harry Caray statue which is beyond the center field fence, and get a pic in front of the famous marquis behind home plate. It’s ok to “tourist it up” sometimes, folks. Another striking element is the rooftop bleachers across the street. I’ve always thought those would be a cool thing to experience one time. But you’d be sacrificing a night of actually being inside the park if you did that and, wow, are those things far away. Horrible sightlines too, thanks to scoreboards and the like.

Anyway, after walking around (and this is before the middle game of the series, fyi), we entered the “Gallagher Way” area along the third base side. None of this existed the last time that I visited Wrigley, and so I wanted to make a special trip through it. They’ve got a statue garden out there and a big turf area for kids to play on. You can also access some bars and a gift shop. I did notice two empty pedestals along the line of statues, so don’t be surprised to see our old pal Ryne Sandberg get a statue sometime soon. I know we’re all excited about that one.

On the inside, things are still spectacular. The ancient concourse has gone through a major renovation since the last time I was there, and they’ve done a nice job modernizing it while also keeping the historic look and feel that you would expect at this place. It’s still small compared to what we’re all used to at Citizens Bank Park, and you can literally walk the whole main concourse, basically from one foul pole and back behind home plate to the other foul pole, in a few minutes. Keep in mind that the outfield bleacher area is an entirely separate section with a dedicated entrance for those ticket holders. I’ve never done it, so I can’t comment on what it’s like out there. The bathrooms have also gotten a big upgrade, although some of them do still feature “the trough,” which is a nice bit of nostalgia and really takes you back. I bet you didn’t expect trough mentions in an article, did you?

When we pop out from the concourse to go to our seats, one of the ushers immediately hands me a Heathcliff Slocumb card. Wait. What? Do they give out old cards to fans wearing visiting team paraphernalia? Is this just some rogue usher who thinks it’s funny? I’ll probably never know for sure, but I will cherish this card always for the sheer random nature of it. Upon arriving at our row, there is a younger guy in seat 7 and it’s vacant other than that. We have seats 5 and 6 so we do what I assume you all do; we sit a few seats down from him in preparation for ultimately sitting in our actual ticketed seats right next to him once the crowd fills in. We all do this, right? Just checking.

As for the guy himself, we got to talking and the conversation quickly turned to the NHL draft, the first round of which was happening as we spoke. It had dawned on me just a day or two before that I would be in Chicago when the Blackhawks officially selected Connor Bedard, and so I braced myself for it to be mentioned on the scoreboard at Wrigley at some point that night (which happened a few hours later). As the draft went on and first pitch approached, we were all checking our phones to get the latest scoop on who picked who, and I also saw the guy recording brief video snippets and narrating over them. I guess he has his own podcast or something? Anyhow, he’d do it throughout the night, too. Eventually a friend joined him, which made the whole thing a little less weird, but the guy overall was very strange despite being outwardly jovial. He reminded me of a younger me, except with zero self-awareness. And not nearly as entertaining, of course. He also seemed legitimately shocked when I made a joke about how bad Drew Smyly was.

The actual game started off pretty crazy. I won’t go into a whole breakdown since you just watched it recently, but the Phils jumping all over Smyly really hushed the Cubs crowd. There were Phillies fans celebrating, of course, but not as many as I had expected. We were also sitting downstairs behind home plate under the overhang of the upper deck, so I couldn’t accurately gauge how filled in things were above me and how many Phillies supporters were in tow. Oh, and in case you were wondering, comedian Jim Gaffigan threw out the first pitch and sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at the 7th Inning Stretch. I’m not sure if those things always correlate like that, but they did on this night.

As you all know, the Phillies won this game 8-5. It was comfortable for a lot of the game, but things got hairy when Aaron Nola was struggling just to get through five innings to qualify for the win, and then again when Jose Alvarado got into trouble in the ninth. The Phils prevailed, though, and the Cubs’ organist broke into a rendition of “You’ll Be Back,” the King’s song from Hamilton, after the final out. I just thought that was a cool capper on the night after a Phillies W.

We were back at it again the next night, as the Phils tried for the sweep. We had seats almost directly above where we had sat the previous night, and so we had a higher vantage point from which to take everything in, not too far from the press boxes up behind the plate. As an aside, I only got a pretzel to eat during this game because we were still pretty stuffed from going to Lou Malnati’s for lunch, but the concessions by and large were outrageously priced. Sadly, it’s never cheap to buy things at a professional sporting event, but things seemed even crazier than usual to me. They do have something I’ve never seen before, though. When you grab your food and go to pay, you put it on a scale-type area and it correctly identifies what you’ve placed on it (a hot dog, nachos, etc.) before you tap or swipe your card. No scanning required. I guess this software helps them figure out an exact inventory. If it’s successful, I’m sure we’ll see it everywhere soon.

Back to baseball, and on this particular night there was a nice family in front of us—mom, dad, two young girls. The dude got one of those beer bats and was working on it at the start of the game. In the bottom of the first, he asked me a question and I was immediately jarred because he had a very thick Australian accent. Eventually I realized he was asking me what the “(S)” next to Ian Happ’s name on the scoreboard meant, and I briefly explained switch hitting. He even made a cheeky joke about “swinging both ways.” Yes, with his daughters right there. Several other times during the game, I was asked to explain some baseball basics. I wasn’t bothered at all; it was refreshing to break things down in such a way.

If you’ll recall, the final game of the Cubs series was the one where Schwarber went yard on the first pitch of the game. The Cubs later tied it, but Harper’s 2-run single in the third inning was the end of the scoring in the 3-1 Phils win. It was pretty anti-climatic and very fast (2:11) after the previous night’s game had taken three hours. The short runtime didn’t stop the Australian guy in front of me, however, as I counted at least five beers for him. And that’s counting the beer bat as one beer, because I don’t know how many ounces that thing is. He was a big dude and could handle it, though. I assume.

This also happened to be NASCAR Night at Wrigley, as the first ever Chicago Street Race was happening that weekend. (We had no idea about this until we had arrived in town the day before and saw the setup over by Grant Park.) They had three different NASCAR drivers throw out the first pitch, and I couldn’t pick them out of a lineup. The same dudes sang a disappointing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at stretch time, standing too deep in the booth for us to get a good view from our seats. You’ve got to get to the front and lean out like Harry Caray, people. Also on this night, the song contest they ran all had “driving/road” themes to them. In the most predictable result of all-time, John Denver’s Country Roads won the fan vote. Felt like we were in Dixie that night.

A fun trip overall, with two Phils wins in the bag. In my mind, the only drawback was that both of the games were at night. Getaway day really should have been an afternoon game, both to see the park in a different context and to also free up the evening for us. But I’ll refrain from any further complaints. If you’re a Phillies fan who has gone to see them in Chicago, I hope you enjoyed your trip(s) as much as I have mine. And if you’ve never made the trip, do yourself a favor and go sometime for a pure baseball experience. It’s too early to say if my next trip to Wrigley will be next season or sometime after, but the organist’s rendition from Hamilton was right. I’ll be back.

Exclusive new artwork from Ragnaroktopus Ink.

Tweets of the week.

Love this sound bite from All-Star Nick Castellanos. He discusses his comfort level this season vs last season:
https://twitter.com/rkuestnernbc10/status/1675629888810696704?s=20
Craig Kimbrel won NL Reliever of the Month for June. First time he’s done that since 2017. Also, I kind of love how he gives no f**ks about the pitch clock:
https://twitter.com/JomboyMedia/status/1669475090352750592?s=20
Happy belated Bobby Bonilla Day to all who observe:
https://twitter.com/spotrac/status/1675122217909207081?s=20
This year, Bonilla Day coincided with massive twitter issues:
https://twitter.com/emmabaccellieri/status/1675221290301390850?s=20
Aaron Nola really needs to show up for Tuesday’s game:
https://twitter.com/destiny_lugardo/status/1675662114826907654?s=20

This week in 2008.

The 2008 Phils were 46-39 at the end of July 2, in first place by two games.

On June 26, the Phillies lost the rubber match of a series in Oakland, 5-0. They followed that up with a frustrating 8-7 loss in Texas. Jayson Werth hit a home run to lead off the 9th inning in that game, and Pat Burrell hit a double two outs later. Pinch runner Geoff Jenkins advanced to third on a Ryan Howard infield single, but Greg Dobbs grounded out to end it.

The L marked the Fightins’ eighth loss in nine games.

The Phillies won the next night in Texas. Cole Hamels outpitched old friend Vincente Padilla. Here was Charlie Manuel’s stacked lineup that day; Note Jayson Werth batting eighth.

The Phils’ bats fell silent again on June 29 in a 5-1 loss to Texas, and the team’s lead over Florida in the NL East shrank to just one game. Mets were three games back.

Overall, the Phillies went 12-14 in June. But they started July strong in Atlanta. Kyle Kendrick picked up a win on July 1, aided by home runs from Pat Burrell (20) and Shane Victorino (3). Burrell hit another home run the next night, and Ryan Howard matched him at 21 dingers with a three-run shot in the third inning. Chase Utley had 23 home runs at this point, giving the Phils three 20+ HR hitters before the All-Star break for the first time in franchise history.

Spoiler alert: The Phillies would win all nine of their games in Atlanta in 2008, and go 14-4 against the Braves overall.

Phillie you forgot about.

Wiley Piatt pitched in three seasons for the Phils (1898-1900). He built a 56-39 record with a 3.59 ERA in those years. As a rookie he went 24-14, throwing 33 complete games in 37 starts and leading the league in shutouts with six.

Piatt’s most interesting accomplishment came with Boston in 1903. On June 25, he became the only pitcher in the 20th century to pitch two complete games in one day and lose them both.

He retired after that season at the age of 29… I don’t blame him.