The first baseball “nighter” was played in 1880, between two department store teams in Boston, one year after the invention of the light bulb. Finally, 108-years later, the first night game was played at Wrigley Field on August 8, 1988. And for all the dweebs… 1908 – 2016 was the 108-year championship drought the Cubbies snapped…under the lights…IN CLEVELAND. Damn. So close. *Tommy jumps on the Amtrak from Dweebville… Back to Wrigleyville.
Being of the old guard, Wrigley is in a residential neighborhood, which is of course named Wrigleyville. The last two teams to commit to lights were the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs. Which, not coincidentally, Fenway and Wrigley are both in neighborhoods. But, the Red Sox put up lights in 1947! And while P.K. Wrigley, gum dude, intended to put up lights in 1941, he literally scrapped the plans by donating the steel to the war effort after Pearl Harbor.
ANYWHO…
Night games at Wrigley are fantastic. They are only allowed 43 of them a season, which puts them with 11 fewer a year than your average MLB team. This doesn’t include playoffs of course, but it does create a sense of appreciation when attending one. You can feel the energy.
Wrigley + Night = Awesome.
I’m going to blog baseball a lot this summer. Until the next one, go check out @TheBullpenCreative on Instagram to check out the sports arm we are building with @anthony_ranaudo