Postcard from Wrigleyville

I realized after posting my last blog about Wrigley Field, that I have never told you the story of the stadium’s famous scoreboard. Well, I am here to make amends…and as you will see, the facts and stories behind the scoreboard are interesting.

First, there are only two fully manual scoreboards left in the major leagues…and as you might guess, they are from the two oldest parks, Wrigley and Fenway Park in Boston. A few other stadiums have partial manually operated scoreboards, but its not the same.

In Wrigley, the board, which was installed in 1937, is operated by five guys behind the scenes. There is no heating or air conditioning inside, so right now the guys are freezing, but will be roasting in there come summer. And, as you can imagine, they are constantly moving, putting up scores from all over the major leagues.

Now, you noticed I said 5 guys…not a woman in site. The reason…there is no bathroom in there…however, there is a funnel attached to a hose which is used when the need arises. Imagine that in this day and age!

Now, if you examine the photo, you will see electric lights used to signify balls, strikes and outs. These lights are not controlled by the guys inside, but rather buy a fellow working in the press box, high above the field behind home plate. His name is Rick and has picked up the nickname of “Quick Rick.”I was lucky enough to visit the press box and see where Quick Rick does his work.

Now, Rick got his nickname because he is super-fast at posting balls, strikes and outs. In fact, he has studied the motions of every umpire in the National League and has the ability to put up a ball or strike before the ump has finished his arm motion. He is that fast.

But, one day, he was a little to fast. The Cubs were playing the St. Louis Cardinals one day and the Cards had two runners on base with one out. The next batter hit a fly ball to the outfield where Sammy Sosa made the easy catch. But Sammy forgot how many outs there were. So, as soon as he made the catch, he turned around to check the scoreboard.  He saw two outs posted and thought he made the catch for the third out. But Quick Rick had posted the out before Sammy turned around.

Sammy, thinking there were three outs, started jogging in towards the Cubs dugout. The Cardinal runners all scored before Sammy realized he had made a goof. The Cards won the game by one run. Oops. Legend has it that Quick Rick was told not to be so quick anymore.

There are lots of great stories about Wrigley like the Curse of the Billy Goat and others, but those will have to wait for another day. Next time, something different than baseball, I promise.