Padres @ Cubs, My First Time at Wrigley & Recent Pickups

How's everyone doing? Thought I would share my recent trip to Chicago as well as my recent pickups. For the last couple of years I've wanted to go to Wrigley with my Dad for a Cubs Padres series to see Chicago and Wrigley Field for the first time and it all came together in 2012. All in all the trip was a blast. Wrigley field was awesome and the city of Chicago was great too. I had started a thread after I booked my flight asking for advice and I'm glad I did. A fellow member suggested the Days Inn and it ended up being a great hotel in a great location. Not too far from Wrigley and bars and restaurants all over the place. Stumbled across the Wiener Circle in my first fifteen minutes being in Chicago and witnessed a chocolate shake, quite the welcoming to Chicago. Also went to Millennium Park and walked around downtown on the Sunday before the series started. Got to go to the "beach" in Chicago which was cool.

Coming in to this series both the Cubs and the Padres were playing like crap. Cubs on a twelve game losing streak and the Padres were awful as well. I figured it would be a competitive series. Unfortunately it wasn't as the Cubs swept the Padres, it was still awesome though. I was surprised at how well the ball carries at Wrigley, really puts Petco Park in to perspective, as the only other ball park I visit yearly is Dodger stadium where the HRs are stingy too. The Padres hit four home runs on Monday which I'm pretty sure they haven't done all year. Carlos Quentin made his Padres debut in the series and had a monster series. Padres pitching let them down in all three games including the Cubs walk-off win on Wednesday.

Some random thoughts. Maybe it was a combo of being Memorial Day weekend and a 100 degrees out but everyone was out and partying. It was an awesome time. The Cubs were in last place but no one seemed to care. At Petco, half the stadium is empty, half of the fans are rooting for the other team, and half of the Padres fans are trying not to fall asleep. Complete opposite at Wrigley, I swear every fan was decked out in Cubs bear and drunk. Everyone was nice too which was nice. Another observation was how many Cubs fans were going to Wrigley for the first time. They have this first time at Wrigley booth and it was packed with Cubs fans everyday. The atmosphere was so cool and even though I hated the damn Go Cubs song I couldn't get it out of my head after Wednesday. Also, since we got the Wrigley early every day we figured out where the Padres came in to the stadium. I don't like to get IP autos at games but it would have been very easy to as I was hanging out with all the graphers. They said it was pretty easy to obtain autos like that before all games, even for the good teams. I'll have to look into where the opponents go in to Petco.

Anyways, here's some pictures of the trip. Me and my Dad got on the Fox Sports San Diego feed which was pretty cool. I've never had that happen.











Now on to my recent pickups. Mostly just picking up Austin Hedges as I think he has a really bright future. Also, stoked on the last pickup of San Diego's finest. Thanks to jbmm161 for the deal.











Lastly, I'm trying to change my signature and I'm resizing the picture in photobucket but it's still coming out gigantic when I paste in in my profile. Is it something with the new site? Am I doing something wrong? Never had trouble before. Thanks for the help and the read.

Cool stuff man. I always wanted to go there. My grandfather was a pitcher in the Cubs system.

You have a lot of haters of Wrigley Field, but more lovers for the most part. To me there is no other atmosphere I would rather see a game in. Not a bad seat in the house and the rooftops are even great too. Glad you enjoyed it.

I love sitting in the left field bleachers.

Nice pictures!

I am glad you enjoyed the trip to Wrigley and Chicago itself. Wrigley was my office for 7 years and I loved every minute of the time I worked there. The place is old and needs some updates but it has sports history poring out of every nook and cranny of the ballpark. The neighborhood rivals any in sports and Cubs fans will show up regardless if the team is in 1st or last place.

I laughed out loud at "beach" Andrew. West coast!

Glad you enjoyed the trip with the old man.

Game 2 Thursday?

Glad your first experience at Wrigley was highlighted by your team getting swept,:twisted: those memories will last a life time :lol:

And I to laughed at your beach comment. We are here just call it going to the lake, for which it is only a lake and not the east or west coast

Yea, every part of Wrigley was awesome. All the views were good, the surrounding area was awesome and the Old Style was bad but good at the same time.

The beach was definitely different haha. Obviously salt water vs fresh water and waves vs no waves but it was cool how it was right next to the city. My friends from Chicago told me to go to the beach with the ship but we never made it there.

Ps. Anyone know how to resize the signature on the new site?

Wow, looks like an awesome experience, totally jealous. And awesome pickups, I've been eyeing a Spangenberg but can't seem to oull the trigger.

I wonder what happens if Grandal and Hedges make it.

Good stuff. Glad you had a good time. Although, I am not sure you can have a bad time at Wrigley, unless you are a Sox or Cards fan.

gonzagacubs said:

Good stuff. Glad you had a good time. Although, I am not sure you can have a bad time at Wrigley, unless you are a Sox or Cards fan.

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Well the whole time I was thinking what the atmosphere must be like when they play the Cardinals or have a meaningful game. I mean the place was electric against the last place Padres.

PadresFan86 said:

I wonder what happens if Grandal and Hedges make it.

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I'm thinking they would keep Hedges as he would be cheaper and better defensively. Grandal may have trouble hitting for power in Petco, hopefully not though. Can never have enough catchers. I'm still waiting for the Padres to eventually flip some of their excess prospects for an MLBer although that may be a year or two away.

padremurph said:

I'm thinking they would keep Hedges as he would be cheaper and better defensively. Grandal may have trouble hitting for power in Petco, hopefully not though. Can never have enough catchers. I'm still waiting for the Padres to eventually flip some of their excess prospects for an MLBer although that may be a year or two away.

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I seriously doubt any thing significant is going to happen until the new owner buys the team. Shame on Moores for what he's done to the Padres.

I'm really pulling for Hedges. I think Grandal is already ready.