USA TODAY SPORTS WEEKLY NOVEMBER 20—26, 2013 5

This is the conclusion of our “In the Ballpark” series the current 203 ballparks in use for the major leagues, IN that featured a every week as we counted spring training and the affiliated minor leagues. He is down the major leagues’ 30 parks from worst to best. the author of Joe Mock’s Ballpark Guide and numerous Joe Mock from BaseballParks.com, an affiliate of USA articles. THE TODAY Sports Digital Properties, served as the tour For more information on ballparks, visit . BALLPARK guide. BaseballParks.com or follow Mock on Twitter Mock has been reviewing and photographing @baseballparks. Ranking the across the big leagues ballparks over the last 15 years. He has visited 202 of This week, we feature Mock’s No. 1, .

WRIGLEY FIELD Wrigley Field: One of a kind 400 feet 368 feet 368 feet Fans flock to 355 feet 353 feet Cubs’ home win or lose, rain or shine The basics By Joe Mock BaseballParks.com Where: 1060 W. Addison St., , IL 60613 CHICAGO — Sometimes a last- Architects: place team can finish first. Cost to build: $250,000 The were cellar First MLB game: April 23, 1914 dwellers in the Capacity: 41,019 Central this season, finishing 31 Ticket info: Call 800-THE-CUBS games out of first place. Their ball- in , 866-652-2827 outside park, though, wears a crown, as Illinois, log on to Cubs.com/tickets Wrigley Field finishes in first place or visit the main box office at the in our season-long countdown of home-plate entrance. It’s open the 30 parks in the major leagues. during the season, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. “I believe this recognition ac- Monday through Friday and knowledges Wrigley Field is more 9 a.m.-4 p.m on weekends. than a ballpark,” Cubs owner Tom By Brett T. Roseman for USA TODAY Sports Ticket price range in 2013: $9- Ricketts told USA TODAY Sports. No. 1 block party: The Cubs will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the “Friendly Confines” during the 2014 season. $294. The Cubs use dynamic ticket “It's a great sports icon that is con- pricing, so pricing varies. nected to 's storied history. give in,” Shea writes. Construction structures that surround the park tioned wells in the outfield wall are 2013 average attendance: It’s also a testament to our fans who started at and Addison, with are called Wrigleyville. unique. “Welcome to the Friendly 32,626 (12th in the majors, down make Wrigley Field a great place to local architect Zachary Taylor Davis With the possible exception of Confines” is painted on top of the from 10th in 2012). watch baseball.” (who had designed ) , no sports facility has first-base . And the ivy on With Wrigley’s 100th anniversary providing the plans. better-known bounding streets the outfield wall lets you know in 2014, it’s instructive to look back Four months later, April 23, 1914, than Wrigley: Clark and Addison on exactly where you are. to its inception. The Cubs tried to 21,000 fans crammed into the the infield side of the ballpark; If you can’t score a bleacher seat, prevent the park from being built. 18,000-seat ballpark for the first Waveland and Sheffield on the try the upper deck for fewer ob- As Stuart Shea writes in Wrigley game at Weeghman outfield (bleacher) side. structions and a wonderful view of Field, The Unauthorized Biography, Park, named for the main financial the surrounding neighborhood. the Cubs and White Sox pressured backer of the team, local restaura- EXTERIOR the owners of land at Clark and teur Charley Weeghman. The exterior walls of the park FAN AMENITIES Addison streets not to allow a stadi- And it would be Weeghman who aren’t its strong suit, but take the Wrigley is a place where tradi- um to be constructed there in 1913. would bring the Cubs to his ball- time to walk all around the outside tions die hard. It was the last major That’s because the facility would be park. When the Federal League of Wrigley. Examine the statues of league ballpark to have lights, and used by the well-financed Chicago disbanded after two years, he pur- , and the the singing of Take Me Out to the Ball entry in the upstart Federal League, chased controlling interest in Chi- immortal . Check out Game during the seventh-inning That’s a lot of dough: This 2-pound which was in competition with the cago’s National League franchise the famous Cubby Bear bar directly stretch is not to be missed. pretzel costs $17. National and American leagues. and moved it from a deteriorating across the intersection from the Though it has the highest ticket The Chi-feds (one of many names wooden park on the West Side to home-plate entrance. Visit the prices in the NL (per the 2013 Team Food favorite used by the new team) fought back his concrete-and-steel showplace numerous souvenir stands. And Marketing Report) and the league’s North Side Twist by obtaining an option on the ball- on the North Side. Weeghman Park witness the excitement of the pre- second-worst record last season, Available only at Wrigley, this park the White Sox had vacated became Cubs Park in 1920, and six game crowds on Waveland and fans flock here. According to atten- massive pretzel tips the scales at when they moved up the street into years later it adopted its current Sheffield as batting-practice balls dance guru David Kronheim, the 2 pounds and is served warm with Comiskey Park three years earlier. name. drop into their outstretched hands. Cubs’ 2012 attendance was the three different dipping sauces “(Faced with the) frightening possi- Inside Wrigley Field: most by a team that lost 100 games (spicy mustard, creamy cheddar or bility of the new Federal League INTERIOR that year and their 2013 total was cinnamon frosting). Cost is $17 at club intending to compete just four SITE The hand-operated the most for a team that had lost the Blue W stand behind-home blocks from the White Sox’s current To baseball fans, the blocks with atop the center-field bleachers is as 90-plus games for three consec- plate. location, the major leagues had to bars, restaurants and residential iconic as it gets. The oddly posi- utive years.