Wrigley is definitely a fun place to watch a game, but to be honest, baseball seems secondary to the general atmosphere of having a good time. In other words, it doesn't seem to matter if the Cubs win or lose as long as the beer is flowing.

I've been to Fenway several times, including games against the Yankees (at one such game, I can recall Dwight Evans and Rich Gedman in uniform standing in a public area) and games that were far from a sellout. If you get a good seat, it's a great place to watch a game, but if you end up in the bleachers or down the foul lines, you might as well watch it in one of the bars across the street. Unlike Wrigley, however, I've never really sensed much of a vibe on the street. Usually, it was just a mass of people heading to their cars or to the T. Maybe that has changed in the last few years, but I didn't notice it at the time. All in all, I find Fenway to be too cramped...it's charming and intimate if you visit once or twice, but I don't think I'd enjoy the experience as much attending 20 or so games.

I agree. Fenway was too cramped for my liking.

But I love Wrigley. My first game at Wrigley was in the summer of 98 when Sosa and McGwire were chasing history. Much more exciting then than it is now.

Anyway, it was a night game against the Phillies. Sosa hit 2 bombs and a rookie pitcher named Wood struck out 11 AND hit his very first ML home run. I've been back a few times. Sat in the bleachers in the sun. Wrigley is a magical place.

Went to Fenway once, in the early 90’s. We were near the visiting bullpen and I was able to get Mark Gubizca and Flash Gordon’s autographs. I always appreciated that about that park, when all I really had to compare it to was YS. I highly doubt visiting relievers do much fraternizing with the current type of Sox fan.

Have been to Wrigley 3x, all in the last 2 years. Once in the bleachers, once in some good box seats, and once on a rooftop across the street- I highly recommend all three, unique experiences each of them. What a place. If I ever moved to Chitown, I’d be broke because I’d be at every other home game. Wrigleyville is a zoo, right on the borderline of fun and intolerable. Too many people just making the scene, rather than enjoying baseball.

But that said, aside from Stan’s/bowling alley, it’s the most fun pre-game place I’ve been with regards to baseball. The Bronx pregame is great because you get the feeling you’re about to go watch something “Big” and get fired up for it, while The Cubby Bear and their brethren feel more like the beginning of an all-day party.

I've been to one game at each park. I concur with William in that the game is secondary at Wrigley. That greatly annoyed me as I was way up in the left field upper deck and felt like I was the only person trying to pay attention to the game. Half of the faces were turned back and facing my way as they talked to their buddies about everything but baseball. Beautiful ballpark, though. Wrigley has a trapped-in-time vibe that Fenway lacks because of the modern additions (including the press box in the photo above). Still, I wouldn't pass up a chance to go back to either park.

Oh, and the two games I caught:

8/15/03: Cubs 2, Dodgers 1, Mark Prior CG win, Sammy Sosa 3-for-4 with both Chicago RBIs.

9/2/01: Yankees 1, Red Sox 0, Mike Mussina perfect for 8 2/3 innings.

No wonder I want to go back . . .

My first Fenway game was also '99 . . . I think I've been to about 10 or so since then. Alex, you ought to go back to Fenway, because the place is so different in so many ways now, between the Monster Seats, the extended deck on the RF roof, the concourses, and (as Cliff says) the press box, and so on. Yes, the seats in 90% of the park are horribly cramped if you are taller than 5'5", but even the bleachers are an excellent view. (Sorry, william, we'll have to agree to disagree. I've sat there many times and have always been very pleased.)

The seats behind the pillars (obstructed view), or in the non-alcohol section way down the LF line (you have to crane your neck to the right to see the pitcher and htiter)? Not so much. Though in the "good old days" before every game sold out months in advance, you could walk up, buy one of those obstructed view tix for $20 and end up in damn fine seats well before the game was done. I'm wondering if the bad economy will finally make it possible to just walk up and buy halfway decent seats at a reasonable price. Its been a long time since you could do that at Fenway.

I've never been to Wrigley, but I'd sure like to go.

Dodger Stadium - We're No. 3!

I've been to Fenway once. My girlfriend is a very casual Sox fan who lives in Boston (long-distance relationship) and her boss is a season ticket holder. This past May, we used his tickets for a Sunday afternoon game against TB: Kazmir vs Lester. It was her first baseball game and it turned out her boss' seats were about 8 rows back, slightly behind the lefty batter box. They were easily the best seats I've ever had at a MLB game, and I tried many times to convey to her how much we should appreciate the seats we had. The crowd wasn't as obnoxious as I expected (I deliberately did not want to go to a Yanks game there), but I was really wowed by just how old the place really is. From the moment we walked through the gates, it felt like I was really going back in time and, my opinions of the home team aside, really enjoyed the experience.

About a month later, I took her to Yankee Stadium to see a heartbreaker against the Royals (Moose pitched a gem, but Mo got the loss). This time, we were in the upper deck sort of behind home plate. I'll never forget her reaction, though, just as we came out of the tunnel and she saw Yankee Stadium open up before her for the first time. A quiet exclamation of "Wow".

Around that same time, her sister was living in Chicago and she wanted to go visit. She asked me if I'd come with her and even suggested taking in a Cubs game while we're there. I, of course, said yes, but plane tickets were too expensive so we never went. Her sister since moved away, so now I'm not sure when I'll be back in Chicago, but I'd love to go to Wrigley at some point.

Never been to Wrigley, but I've been to Fenway park a few times. The first time I was there was back in 1997 for a Yanks-Sox game. Doc Gooden got shelled, and Willie Banks came in relief and hung in for the win.

Atmosphere was much different then. I sat in the bleachers, and wandering around the park, didn't encounter much if any hostility. Matter of fact, a Sox fan bought me a beer. Don't remember any "Yankee Suck" chants, even when Gooden was getting hammered.

Lately, my trips to Fenway have been for the "Futures at Fenway" Minor League doubleheaders (2006 & 08). It's great, I sat a few rows off the 3b line for $20. Good luck getting those seats during the regular season, at that price. It's well worth the trip, and I'll be there again this year as well, hopefully.

I was at Moose's almost perfect game and his last game where he won his 20th in September. I also was at Game 5 of the 99 LCS that clinched the series. The Fenway experience varies greatly depending on your seats, importance of the game, etc. Some of the grandstand seats have a terrible view of the field and the Yankee bashing wears thin after a while.

But, the intimacy of the park is great, and there are usually plenty of Yankee fans if you can seats near the 3rd base dugout. I had seats there for the Sept. Moose game and I moved down for the end of the 99 LCS.

I agree that Futures at Fenway is a great low-key way to experience the park, especially if you are bringing kids.

I've been to both parks, and loved them both. I've been to Wrigley twice. The first time was in 1977, when I saw Giants-Cubs in the afternoon and Yankees-White Sox at night. The second time was in 2006. I loved it both times, and didn't have any sense of the game being incidental.

I've only been to Fenway once - 2005, the game where Schilling came out of the bullpen for the first time and A-Rod beat him with a home run. I sat in the center-field bleachers, and thought they were great seats. Among other things, I liked being able to look at that beautiful old grandstand.

I'm been to Riverfront (yawn), Bank One (an airplane hangar with a shopping mall in it ... and ... oh yeah ... a baseball field), Safeco Field (a BEAUTIFUL place to watch a game), Shea (yawn), pre-1976 Yankee, post-1973 Yankee, Jack Murphy Stadium and numerous minor league parks.

Gotta get to Fenway, Wrigley, Dodger Stadium and PNC at some point.

I've been to Riverfront, Fenway, The Kingdome, Tiger Stadium, Comerica Park, Three Rivers, PNC Park, Veterans Stadium, Yankee Stadium (post '76), Shea Stadium, The SkyDome, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Jack Murphy, Anaheim Stadium (pre '97), Jacobs Field, Olympic Stadium and Turner Field.

Sadly, I just realized that most of the parks I've been to are no longer in use.

Current: Camden Yards, Fenway Park, Jacobs Field, Rogers Centre (when it was still called the Sky Dome)

Defunct: Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, Cleveland Municipal, Three Rivers, Veterans Stadium

People are correct about Fenway. My first time there, in the early 70's, I thought it was a minor league park, and that my friend who took me was playing a joke on me. It is historic, small and intimate, and with a good seat, is a great place to watch a game.

But, in general, it's very uncomfortable. It's a lot better now then just 10 years ago, and they replaced many of the old wooden backbreaker seats with plastic ones (benches in the bleachers). Don't sit down the lines or you will have a sore neck for a week. I had to use the bathroom at Fenway back in '71, and I haven't used a stadium bathroom since. The memory still terrifies me.

It's like an ugly baby. If it's yours, you grow to love it. But compared to the Stadium, it was very bush league to me. Its much improved and you can enjoy a game there, but man... thank God I'm a Yankees fan.

I used to live in Chicago. People would ask me if I was a Cub fan and I would generally say "no, but I'm a huge Wrigley fan." I think that's a decent way to sum up baseball on the north side.

I once shot an ad at Fenway. They let us go inside the Green Monster. There are hundreds of names written in magic marker on the concrete walls inside. Pretty cool, actually. My name is one of them. They seem to let anyone who goes inside sign...

Alex-- there is a creepy statue of Harry Carey outside of Wrigley.

My one visit to Chicago was in January so no games. My girlfriend at the time was from Wheaton, 30 mins from the city. She asked what I wanted to do in Chicago, I said there were really only two essential things..go see Buddy Guy,a dn go to Wrigley Field. Even in January, walking round the park was awesome. It even distracted me from the Siberian-style weather (seriously, how do people live in Chicago in the winter? Makes NYC seem like Miami..)

One of the cooler parks I have been too was the old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. It was in the north part of the city in a real "local" neighborhood. Fairly small park with great views all around. The fans were amazing, VERY knowledgable and not at all hostile to me and my crew in Yankees gear. We drank beer and debated who was better, Eddie Murray or Don Mattingly (obviously Murray, but I had to represent!)

Camden Yards gorgeous too, hard to believe that it's the oldest of the new "retro" parks..

Wished I could have seen a game at the Astrodome, major park of my youth for obvious reasons!

Random Q: I don't follow all the various contract/free agent statuses (Type A, etc)..but is Andruw Jones out there now that he's been released by LA? How about bringing him in with an incentive-based contract? Or can he not even play good D anymore...always loved his game..

[18] There is not a single player on the 40 man roster that I would risk losing to sign Andruw Jones, even if he cost league minimum.

[19] Can he really have just lost it completely though?? With Nomar it was the injuries (or "change of diet"..) but with A.Jones..I don't recall anyone falling off faster than this guy..

[20] Did he fall off that quickly? First of all, he was never *that* good. He only had one truly outstanding offensive season (2005: 136 OPS+), and three very good seasons (2000, 2002, 2006: 125, 127, 126 OPS+). By comparison, Bernie had 7 seasons of 130+ OPS+.

Andruw batted 88 OPS+ in 2007, then fell off the table last year with injuries.

He's entering his age 32 season, but his body seems to be going on about 36, whether because of injury or steroid withdrawal or birth-certificatitis. I suspect the last one.

Never been to Fenway. Went to Wrigley once, probably a Thursday or Friday afternoon game. Yes, the game is secondary. What I really liked about Wrigley was that there was not incessant noise coming from the speakers. So often stadium operators feel they have to assault fans visually and aurally constantly. Wrigley was more like let's just sit here, drink a beer, have a good time and talk, oh, and there's a ballgame too. Rizzuto was the same way.

I went to a lot of games at Wrigley when I lived in Chicago in the mid to late '80s, particularly when they played the Mets of Darryl and Keith fame. You got a lot of the same knee-jerk NY-baiting and inferiority complex from the Chicago fans that you do from Boston fans, but in general, it's a great place to watch a game. I also managed to watch the first two night games at Wrigley, which were events in and of themselves...but there is nothing quite like a mid week day game.

I do agree that the game is largely secondary at Wrigley, though some of the Mets-Cubs game I saw definitely had a charge to them. Every time Darryl went up to the plate, there was always a murmur in the crowd, and it was like everyone dropped the party atmosphere to pay attention.

I've also been to several games at Fenway, including games against the Yankees, and the current ownership has definitely improved the general atmosphere around going to the game. I've never liked it as much as Wrigley, though, even though it's a more serious place to watch a game -- cramped, mostly lousy food, crappy rest rooms, just kind of dingy overall.

One time I went I had great seats provided by a corporate sponsor, and that was probably the best experience -- but most of the time, it's the fans and the general intensity of the game that makes the place.