Wrigley Field Tours let you take to the field of the legendary Chicago baseball Stadium

Wrigley Field tours are the best way to see Chicago’s Wrigley Field, one of America’s classic baseball stadiums. Dating back to 1914, the home of the Chicago Cubs is hallowed ground. Literally. It was originally part of a seminary! Sadly, it has been home to the most cursed team in the league until recently.

Starved for professional level baseball in Australia, since moving to the U.S. we have completely embraced the sport, spending as much time at Yankee Stadium as we do at work. Simply put, we can’t get enough of the game and we have made it our mission to visit as many ballparks as we can and can now tick the home of the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field, off the list.

On our recent whirlwind trip to Chicago, we managed a pre-game, pre-coffee tour. As we arrived at our designated meeting point, the streets surrounding the ballpark were already buzzing with Cubs fever; vendors setting up for the day, fans queuing up to take their seats and police officers starting to re-route traffic.

There’s an element of folklore to America’s classic stadiums. The old weathered photos from the Depression, the trading cards, the characters and the stars. Like Fenway Park in Boston, this field stays relatively true to its original format, heavy on wood and in the case of this stadium, red brick.

Wrigley Field Tours take you onto the hallowed turf of this iconic Chicago baseball stadium.

After a quick trip through security, our tour started with a walk out to the field, getting to see an all-star high school “Cubs” practice and the junior league Q&A with the Cubs’ mascot, Clark. After taking a few selfies, we were led up to the grandstand seats to learn more about the history of the field and it position in the suburban setting. Interestingly and quite peculiarly, the stadium is quite small and local residences have been transformed by leasing their roof space to a company who uses them as additional grandstand space – some complete with bar and wait staff, to capitalize on the game day action.

As it was game day, unfortunately, this version of Wrigley Field tours did not go through the locker rooms or press boxes. Instead, we were whisked away to the newly renovated area that used to form part of the sidewalk around the park, which took us on a journey of all club logos since its establishment and also contained cases holding historical memorabilia.

We then visited the bleacher seats. Unlike other ballparks, the walls surrounding the bleachers are not straight, instead they are constructed with a basket-like edge to catch those spectators who fell off the wall their race along the (now slanted) edges in the hopes of winning a cold beverage and a heart. The walls of the outfield are covered in ivy and have been known to act as somewhat of a time capsule, holding the remains of generations of lost balls and goodness knows what else that has accumulated since it was attached to the wall 1937 (in just three days in a bid to impress investors).

Finally, we were led up to the “nosebleed section” for an uninhibited view of the famous scoreboard, a job, we learned, that is highly coveted and in some instances, handed down from generation to generation. With every second that passed, we were drawing nearer to the first pitch and we could start to feel the energy and love of the community for their Cubs.

Clay, our guide on one of the daily Wrigley Field Tours, did a great job of keeping the group entertained for a little over an hour. We thought we had peaked by visiting the two most well-known stadiums first, Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium, but this was definitely a highlight on our trip to Chicago. We would certainly recommend this tour for those looking to experience good ole’ American sporting nostalgia.