OT: Wrigley Experience

...that included Wrigley. I purchased all of my tickets in advance and bought “best available” seats for the five stadiums I went to (both Chicago stadiums, Milwaukee, Kansas City and old St. Louis). By far, the worst seat I got was at Wrigley, so you’ll probably want to try and get tickets ASAP if you’re trying to get close to face value. I’ve never been one to buy scalper seats, so I don’t know how much luck you’d have – I’m pretty sure the stadium is close to a sell out on most days.

Before the game I wandered around the neighborhood for about an hour and a half – the park itself is really tiny from the outside and really cramped on the inside. Before the game, you’ll see a ton of people beyond the left field wall looking for BP homeruns. There are tons of baseball shops around the area (much like Fenway if you’ve ever been there). Overall, it was one of the best ballpark experiences of my life – the crowd is awesome, the park is really cool (although it’s a dump by today’s standards), and it’s just a really fun place to watch a game (even if you’re subjected to crappy NL baseball).

But there were always plenty of tickets to be had from scalpers right in front of the park. You can get some really good deals right before game time, although be wary that some of those scalpers are not above shadiness. Beware of the ol’ switcheroo & skidaddldoo.

Anywhere on Waveland is nice. But you gotta get there early.

Obviously, you want to go to a day game. Weekday day games are best.

If you want to do something touristy, go to Mother’s (where they filmed About Last Night). And Buddy Guy has a cool blues club on the South Side. It is not in the bad part of the South Side, though.

I just realized most of my suggestions were kind of obvious. If they were, my apolgies.

I’m going to New York next month for some Yankees/Mets/Concerts. I’m staying in Midtown Manhattan. I already have my tickets for the games but was curious to see if anyone had any hot spots I should check out.

gotta go to the billy goat tavern

http://www.billygoattavern.com/home.html

the best location is the orig – its under michigan AVE
Billy Goat Tavern Original
Near Tribune Towers and Wrigley Building
430 N. Michigan Ave at Lower Level
Phone: 312-222-1525
map: http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=search&countryid=250&addtohistory=&country=US&address=430%2BN.%2BMichigan%2BAve&city=Chicago&state=IL&zipcode=&submit=Get%2BMap

its one of my absolute fav places in the city…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Goat_Tavern

got my tickets from somone right outside the gate for face value, but he wasn’t a scalper. There were plenty around however. I ended up sitting in the LF corner, right by the foul pole (not bleachers) and had a blast. I was in the middle of a group of guys that knew the beer vendors by name, etc. and everyone around was friendly when they found out I wasn’t a local.

If you aren’t taking public transit to the game, park at their remote shuttle lot on the DeVry campus. It save me much time and $$ and was very easy in and out.

Appreciate all the insight…I’ll probably try to find a scalper for Friday’s day game

day of the game – go down the street, grab a 32 oz. soda from a 7-11 type store, buy a fifth of jack daniels, pour the latter into the former, walk right in and have yourself a blast. by the 5th inning, you can grab a seat right behind home plate…

at least that’s how it worked for me 2 years ago…

Did anyone else think, just for a split second when they saw this diary on the front page, that it was about gum, and think how odd that there was a diary about gum on LSB?