There must be an easy answer to this, but I’ve yet to find it. So, why do they?
I would assume it is because they were the last team to add lights to their stadium, so until August 1988, ALL of their home games were day games.
Night games were added as a revenue/attendance booster, but the tradition of day games remains.
Because they want it that way.
There are a million reasons for it, but basically Day Baseball in Chicago is a tradition, and Wrigley field is packed for most day games. Combining its location, the ballbark, and the atmoshphere it likely will never become a predominant night game ballpark. As you likely know lights were only installed in 1988, prior to that 5,687 consecutive day games played by the Cubs at Wrigley.
A better question is why did they install lights at all. It’s because in 1984 the Cubs were in the playoffs, and were entitled to homefield advantage over the Padres. The Cubs opened the first two games in the day on the weekend, and won them easily. The league then decided that since the possible 5th game would have to be played in Wrigley on a weekday day, they’d rob the Cubs of the home field advantage and give the Padres 3 consecutive home games. Apparently TV ratings were more important than the rules of fair play. Anyways, partly due to the loss of home field the Padres managed to come back from 2-0 winning 3 conceutive home night games (winning the best of 5 series). The league told the Cubs that they would be forced to play any future postseason games in Busch Stadium in St Louis. So the Cubs ultimately installed lights in Wrigley to accomodtae the league and benefit from TV right to the occasional Primetime National telecast. Beyond those games, the Cubs play almost exclusively in the day, because the fans want it that way. The organization fears taking away day baseball could ruin the tradition that stands, and then the Cubs would be no more popular than the Sox. All of it is in theory of course, but I’m hard pressed to watch a night game there.
Anyways, I’m sure that there is a contract in writing somewhere with the league that outlines how many night games they play, and who decides which ones, I don’t know where you might find it. But, the short of it is that the Cubs aren’t your typical baseball team, and tradition while profitable, still holds some weight. Wrigley field offers them the ability to do things the right way. Not to mention baseball isn’t right if you’re not with your shirt off getting a tan.
Just a little additional clarification:
The Cubs added lights not for attendance reasons, but more for television contract reasons. They were drawing plenty of people at the gate because the anachronism of having no lights was part of Wrigley Field’s charm. However, television stations were demanding that games be televised in prime time. The Cubs wouldn’t want to be denied a slice of the pie for regular season games, and playoff and World Series (ha!) games, the networks can’t control who they televise. So up went the lights, with a few night games scheduled…but they don’t want to make it a regular thing for fear of losing that anachronistic charm that still draws many in.
The Cubs are limited to 18 night games a year by law. When the Cubs originally wanted to put up lights the people in the neighborhood around the ballpark were against it as was the Chicago City Council. In a compromise the Cubs agreed to play only 18 night games a year, and thus they got permission to play at night.
Well, all thanks for the info. I realize that I’m not the author of the OP, but waddaya gonna do?
This, however, by cmkeller:
Is just cold. Y’know, Chaim, your team hasn’t done so well in over a decade.
Waste
Flick Lives!
Day games give Cub fans a shorter period of time in which to become intoxicated.
Night games in Chicago are attended by either: 1) the very cold or 2) the very drunk.
You go to Wrigley to look at the shrubbery. You go to Comiskey to watch baseball.
If by “to watch baseball” you of course mean “to dodge bullets, pay people to not steal your car, wonder why all those ants down there are wearing baseball uniforms, and fear the guy sitting next to you” then, yes!
And my understanding of this is precisely because Wrigley field is smack in a residential neighborhood. No outlet-mall type parking; no bright-light big-box stores or new car auto-malls nearby. Lights and night games would thus disturb the sleepy ambiance of the neighborhood.
I’m not from Chicago, so feel free to correct if necessary. Also, wasn’t the number of games (18) originally stipulated allowed to creep upward over the years? Just a vauge memory on this.
At least White Sox fans (both of them) seem to pay attention to the game, while the average Cubs fan just shows up to be seen and to get completely tanked.
But I suppose the rampant drunkeness gives Wrigley its “charm.”
I’m completely confident that no one wants to start a Great Debate in General Questions. Even about the Cubbies and Sox.
Right?
Getting off my debating soap box, I will say that the Cubs were allowed to play 8 night games in 1988 and can play 18 per year through 2002, when the Chicago City Council is supposed to revisit the issue (or may have for all I know).
If a night game goes past 10 pm, the Cubs stop playing their organ and sharply limit the number of announcements on the PA system.
Sorry for stirring up trouble. I don’t even live in Chicago. I was just offering my perceptions as a visitor to both stadiums.
divemaster, I can’t say for certain without seeing the legislation (and the is indeed actual legislation), but I don’t think the number is intended to increase. It may, but as of now all parties concerned (except TV) want games to stay most predominantly day.
One of the “millions of factors” I refered to, was the parking considerations. Having a dozen friends living a stones throw from the park, I know the situation. There is no field parking, only several dozens of private lots (usually converted store parking lots) and the occasional resident making a buck renting out their garage. In addition to this there is on-the-street parking, it is typically plentiful enough to accomodate the game during the daytime. Most residents are at work, and the streets are fairly sparse. At night however they neighborhood needs to squeeze in residents’ cars and fans’ cars. Doing this 60 times a summer would hurt the neighborhood. As it is its one of the best places in the area to live, a large part of that due to the ballpark. Having days games makes it a benefit, not a liability.
oh, and one more thing…there is nothing sleepy about Wrigleyville!
The parking/residential neighborhood thing you just described also applies to Fenway and (to a lesser extent) to Baltimore’s old Memorial Stadium. And, I’d guess, to at least some of the other older fields still in use.
Do places like that have fewer night games than someplace like Camden Yards that were built to handle full houses full of drivers?
I think Wrigley Field’s situation arose because the residents of Wrigleyville were able to successfully lobby the Chicago City Council for many years.
Dodger Stadium, although almost all of its parking is inside the stadium grounds is smack in the middle of a residential area. Until recently, the residents were never able to get the Dodgers to listen to them. However, when Peter O’Malley tried to speak to the residents about possibly building a football stadium in the same area, he was met with strong opposition.
While the Dodgers play a lot of night games and usually only play day games on Sunday, the local residents were able to get the Dodgers to change the traffic patterns coming in and out of Dodger Stadium so it doesn’t clog up the streets that the residents need to get to their homes.
“Lights and night games would thus disturb the sleepy ambiance of the neighborhood.”
The sleepy ambiance of Wrigleyville? WRIGLEYVILLE?! I really don’t think so!
Don’t get me wrong. Wrigleyville is a good neighborhood, nearly indistinguishable from trendy Lincoln Park to the due south. But that’s the point: as in Lincoln Park, the population is leavened with a lot of college students and young professionals, and the main streets are lined with bars, restaurants, and other nightlife magnets. Some are related to the ballpark, but most do business whether or not its a game day or even baseball season.
Plus there’s the four-track main elevated line of the CTA, with trains rattling through literally 24 hours a day.
All in all, quiet or sleepy are words you wouldn’t apply to Wrigleyville, ballfield or not.
manhattan said:
Oooh! Oooh! I do! I do!
GLWasteful:
Granted, but there’s a difference between 15 years and 50 years.
I mean, there’s a reason why the TV networks didn’t require the Cubs get lights until after they saw the Cubs make the playoffs with their own eyes, rather than demand it based on the possibility that it might happen.
Chaim Mattis Keller
*Standing up in front of group . . . *
my name is NothingMan, and . . . I’m a Braves fan.
But, I love the Cubs.
For the history, Slammin’ Sammy, and the best announcers of live baseball.
As others have said, there are many reasons for afternoon games - one more I can contribute : more kids get to come to day games. Baseball should be a game for the the young.
Go Cubbies !
Except when they are playing my Bravos.
I was under the general impression that during April, May, September, and October kids are attending school. Perhaps that is not the case in Chicago.