1975-08-18 Jarry Park — A small, interim park (Jackie Robinson played there as a Dodger minor leaguer) where the Expos played until they moved to Olympic Stadium in 1977.
1977-05-28 Yankee Stadium — First season of the refurbished "House that Ruth Built". In this game, Lou Piniella hit a home run! And Ken Holtzman pitched for the Yankees! Player of the game was Lance Johnson (4 RBIs).
1987-08-14 Fenway Park — The four of us sat in the 4th row on the first base side, basically, right on a line with first and second base. We were so close we could hear the ball pop in Dwight Evans mitt. Even after many years at Wrigley, Fenway was still very impressive as "the other shrine". The park is in a nieghborhood, but right near downtown and the expressway. Coming in we walked through shouts and smells of "Italian sausage". The inside was pretty dark and dingy (smaller than Wrigley).
1988-08-15 Dodger Stadium — Emmie keeps score for the very first time! Andrew calls this pitchers' duel "the most boring game ever".
1989-10-01 Busch Stadium — Last game of the season! CUBS are Champs! Harry sings!!
1990-07-08 Comiskey Park I — 7/8/1990 (got to our seats at 12:34:56 7/8/90!)
1990-09-14 Comiskey Park — Emily's first and last old Comiskey Park game. Ellis Burks went 0 - 4. Sammy Sosa hit a home run (for the ChiSox of course!)
1991-08-06 Comiskey Park II — Yankees get 5 runs on 6 hits in the 1st inning, and then only 3 hits the rest of the game.
1992-06-11 Comiskey Park II — The whole family attends thanks to "Straight 'A' Day" tickets!!!
1993-06-09 Comiskey Park II — Em (and friend) make posters for their favorite player: Frank "The Big Hurt" Thomas. He responds with a home run!
1993-06-22 Three Rivers Stadium — Wendy takes in a game while on a business trip!
1994-06-07 Comiskey Park II — Early June: Temp: 50; wind chill: 40! Sox get 4 in the first and that's all.
1994-08-07 Milwaukee County Stadium — The Brewers were still in the American League. Cal Ripken played in his 2006th consecutive game (only 124 to go to tie Gehrig). The sausage race. Bernie Brewer. BIG LEE SMIFF pitched for the Orioles!
1997-03-03 Hohokam Park, Dwight Patterson Field (Spring training) — Harry Caray's birthday! Sammy homers in the first. Note: I also played on this field in 1993 at CUBS Fantasy Camp, but that is a whole 'nother story!
1997-05-23 Humphrey Metrodome — No, Kirby Puckett was not in the line-up that day, as he had been forced to retire in 1995 due to an eye problem. But this was the day his number was retired! And, it was also the day that Jackie Robinson's #42 was retired throughout all of Major League Baseball. Andrew and Wayne were there on a college trip. This was also our first game in a domed stadium! Since the roof is "inflated" you are kind of "spit out" by the revolving doors when you exit!
1998-07-12 Milwaukee County Stadium — A real oddity: A scorecard from Milwaukee with a picture of Wrigley Field on the cover! Why? The Brewers switched leagues and are now our N.L. Central Division rival. Scott Servais hit a home run and Andrew called it! And Mark Clark pitched a complete game, 3-hitter!
1998-07-16 Ballpark in Arlington — Ripken still going!
1998-07-25 Kauffman Stadium — Emily was at this game. And they played "Doo-wah-diddy" after the top of the 6th!
1999-06-16 Comiskey Park II — Player of the Game: EMILY RHODES!! As the DHS Marching Band takes the field to play the National Anthem!!!!!
2001-05-25 Kauffman Stadium — A Memorial Day Weekend game on Andrew's and my drive to Tucson! During the pre-game ceremonies, a Stealth Bomber slowly, silently cruised over at about 300 ft! Players of the game: Ichiro (2-for-5, great throw), E'gar (4-for-5 with a HR)!
2001-06-01 Miller Park — Our first trip to the new domed Miller Park. The game started at 7, but due to traffic, we didn't get in our seats until 8! So we missed the first 3 innings! But the CUBS won, so it was worth it. Players of the Game: White, Wood, Gordon. The park has a strange feel (maybe it's the sliding roof or the windows).
2001-06-10 Comiskey Park II — Biggest Comiskey crowd ever (to-date)! The CUBS were in 1st place, 5 up, 15 games over; Sox: 11 out, 6 games under. Complete game by Lieber.
2001-06-24 Network Associates Coliseum — A nice park with good sight lines, but a huge, empty upper deck.
2002-05-29 Shea Stadium — Em, Wayne, and Pumpa took the #7 train to Shea. What a dump! Cold and ugly.
2003-09-07 Miller Park — A 3-day attendance record of 132,000! CUBS sweep the series and go 7 - 0 in Brewtown! Players of the Game: Simon (2 homers, 5 RBI's), Sosa (home run, 2 RBI's).
2004-03-06 Hohokam Park — Cubs get Derrek Lee after he killed us in the 2003 NLCS. Also…the return of Greg Maddux!
2004-07-06 Miller Park — The debut of Brendan Harris and the first (of 2 total) hits and only RBI he got as a CUB.
2004-08-18 Miller Park — Patterson hits a 2-out 2-run homer in the 11th!
2005-07-03 McAfee Coliseum — Same park; new name. Mom, Dad, Em in attendance on a 90 degree day.
2005-07-23 Busch Stadium — Last season for old Busch Stadium. Our first true besbol road trip! A typical 96 degree St. Louis scorcher - too hot for batting practice. Players of the Game: Ramirez, Lee. Game ends on a Pujols line drive double play!
2005-07-24 Busch Stadium — Truly a wild one! Sunday Night Baseball from St. Louis. Game time (7:05) temp: 98! Each time the temp dropped a degree the crowd went wild. By 10pm it had "cooled off" to 91!. Prior gave up home runs to 3 of the first 5 batters in the 1st! The CUBS were up 4 - 3 in the 9th, with 2 out, none on, and a 3 - 2 count. Ball 4! Next thing you know it is tied. But then, in the 10th, little Neifi Perez hits a GRAND SLAM!! The ball actually stuck in the wall where it hit!
2006-06-18 Tokyo Dome! — The ballpark is part of an amusement park. They do not sell scorecards! Everyone is very polite; no screaming or standing, just nice applause! Except the outfield section where they sing and play instruments for each batter! When one finishes eating, one brings one's garbage to the nearest receptacle. Cheerleaders between innings. "YMCA" for the 7th inning stretch! Nets down the 1st and 3rd base lines. A truly unique experience!
2006-07-03 McAfee Coliseum — A year to the day after our last visit! This time the whole family enjoys a great game followed by Holiday Fireworks! ("When the lights….go out….in the ci-tay…")
2006-08-26 (New) Busch Stadium — Hill pitched a great game and left after 7 with the score tied 1 - 1. But the Cards won it in the 9th off of Novoa.The new park is very nice - good view of the arch. Nice sight lines; fan friendly. And this time we took the train from Chicago (with a stop in Springfield to see the Lincoln Museum; well worth it!).
2006-08-27 (New) Busch Stadium — After appearing in 7 games in 2003 for K.C., Les Walrond makes his N.L. debut…and gets pounded for 6 runs in 2 2/3 innings. In 10 games for the CUBS (and the end of his MLB career), it was his only decision.
2006-09-02 Busch Stadium — A brief stop on our New Orleans Road Trip!
2007-03-03 Hohokam Park — An SRO crowd!
2007-09-28 Great American Ballpark — A big birthday road trip to Cincy to watch the CUBS clinch! Players of the Game: Zambrano, Jones, Soriano. CUBS in 1st, 2 games up with 3 to play. We win, and people are ""dancing in the streets"" (yes…otherwise the streets would be empty!) and then we jam into a bar / restaurant with hundreds of other CUBS fans to watch the Brewers lose!!!!! WE'RE #1!!!!
2007-09-29 Great Am. Ballpark — Day 2: Rich Hill pitches a fabulous game! A no-hitter until 2 outs in the 6th; ends up with a 1-hitter!! (Harang struck out 13 CUBS!) We wait at the hotel to greet the CUBS after the game and they come in wearing costumes! Sam Fuld was a SuperHero, Hanco Blanco was a cop, someone was in a dress (hard to tell as they whizzed past us into the elevator). How fun! (about 35,000 CUBS fans)
2007-09-30 Great Am. Ballpark — CUBS finally lose, but no one really cares. Soriano hits his 7th lead-off homer...in September! The ballpark is very strange: the whole "riverboat" theme. It is near the water, but not on the water. It looks like it was built "by committee"; very little character. The next morning, while checking out, we talked with Hill, Wood, Trammell, etc. Wendy got many autographs! Almost got arrested for intercepting Marmol on his way out the door!
2008-06-28 Petco Park — Our big West Coast Road Trip!!! Andrew joined us for game 1. A mostly steel and cement park; very little character. A good thing (that all 3 parks did): ushers will not let people walk back down the aisle to their seats while the batter is up! Great idea. Bad idea: they sell scorecards, but do NOT sell pencils! (How ironic that the scorecard specifically says "Use a pencil so you can erase mistakes"!) Of course you can get a souvenir Padres pen for $12! They have the Friar mascot, and also another monster one called "FrankenFriar". Tres bizarre. Cheerleaders, t-shirt slings, big, glitzy scoreboard, fan cams. Also, an "evacuation plan" announcement and directions on the PA and scoreboard (likewise in S.F. and Seattle). Ichiro: 0-for-4! Ouch!
2008-06-29 Petco Park — Ichiro: 5-for-5! That's more like it!
2008-06-30 AT&T Park — A beautiful ballpark! One of the best! Great structure, beautiful setting (right on the water), but…this is San Francisco, so it was freeeeezing!!!!! They have a female announcer, a really lame mascot ("Lou Seal"; looks nothing like a seal), big scoreboard, same loud music and t-shirt slings.
2008-07-01 AT&T Park — Celebrating 50 years of Giants baseball in San Francisco. (Mostly CUBS fans in attendance!)
2008-07-04 Safeco Field — From the outside the park is very unattractive: lots of steel beams, the sliding roof hangs way over in the back. The area is pretty seedy and surrounded by highways. Inside, it is very nice! The concourse is nice and has a good view. There is a museum inside mostly focusing on baseball in the northwest. Lots of very interesting food booths. A place with a fake outfield wall where you can have your picture taken as you make a great leaping catch. The Mr. Moose mascot is cute. Same cheerleaders, t-shirts and big scoreboard as the other parks.
2008-09-12 Chase Field — From the outside the park is not too attractive; all boxy and steel. There are some graphics and a few statues around the perimeter. Instead of a snake, their mascot is a cougar (?) named "D. Baxter" (get it?). They have the cheerleaders, large scoreboard, lots of flash and glitter, but also have the swimming pool in right field! All during the game, the signs told the fans to Make-D-Noise! Get Red, etc. The whole family (the four of us) was there to celebrate Pumpa's 80th birthday! Brandon Webb got his 20th win of the season.
2009-08-01 Zephyr Field — A typical minor league park. Nice scoreboard, great concessions, a pool and jacuzzi in right field, and a levee in center field where you can sit on the grass. The mascot is Boudreaux, a huge orange-teethed "nuchie rat" (nutria)! Don't ask me why, but I guess it's hard to have a zephyr mascot).
2009-09-03 Citizens Bank Park — From the outside the park is not too attractive; all boxy and steel (a lot like Phoenix and San Diego). A typical ballpark of this era: concourse where you can still see the game, jumbotron with stats, trivia and games (kissing game!), but nothing memorable at all. It is in a complex with the football and hockey arenas, so no river / bay, no view of the city, no mountains, etc. Perhaps the best mascot (Philly Phanatic), for those fans needing such a thing.
2009-09-04 Citi Field — A very nice ball park! Lots of brick on the outside; steel on the inside, but felt much "warmer" than Citizens Bank Park. The Jackie Robinson rotunda is a nice touch. Standard bag check upon entry, but also everyone gets frisked! Small elevator or LOTS of stairs to the upper decks. Holdovers from Shea: the pop-up Big Apple (now in center field), Mr. Met (the WORST mascot), the song "Meet the Mets" (terrible).
2009-09-05 Citi Field — See previous game.
2009-09-07 PNC Park — A really great park!! Nice setting (downtown, bridsge, rivers), lots of bricks, banners and statues outside. Great sight lines. The Parrot is a good mascot. Excellent scorecard. Wonderful videos on the scoreboard! Derek Lee hit 2 more home runs!! But the big story (on a rainy, dismal day) was that this loss gave the Pirates a record 17th straight losing season! That is almost worse than our 101 years without a championship.
2010-09-03 Busch Stadium — Em and dad road trip back from NOLA. Reds in 1st place, Cards 8 back. Bad blood since Brandon Phillips "We hate the Cardinals" interview 2 weeks before. Fans booed him mercilessly and actually shouted "Throw it back!" when he hit a FOUL BALL into the stands!
2013-03-28 Hohokam Park — Last Cubs home game at Hohokam Park!!! Next year they move to a new field. Maybe that will herald in a new era?
2014-03-27 (New) Cubs Park — Last spring training game at the new Cubs Park! A beautiful field…with a lot of touches of Wrigley, but a nice Jumbotron screen in left. With this game, the Cubs set the all-time spring training attendance mark. Cubs looked good on the field and even had a challenge call upheld by replay (new this year)!
2015-03-30 Sloan (Cubs) Park — Cubs looked really good as they slugged 15 hits, including 2 by pitcher Kyle Hendricks. And for the first time, they actually have a printed scorecard available!
2015-06-16 Comerica Park — The outside of the park is adorned with Tigers-with-baseballs-in-their-mouths gargoyles, plus a huge fierce Tiger at then main entrance. Very impressive. The inside is OK, but there is a lot of shtick (including an on-field hostess / emcee!) and a lot of distractions (e.g., a Ferris wheel) to make the game just part of the overall circus. As for the game: Frazier and Bruce hit back-to-back homers and then Frazier hit another in his next at bat.
2015-06-17 Progressive Field — Pretty bland from the outside and the inside. Nothing really memorable…except for this game! ONE OF THE BEST CUBS GAMES EVER! Biggest margin of victory in an interleague game ever. The Cubs only scored in 3 innings, but they were 6, 4, and then 7 in the 9th innning (including Bryant's first GS.off of left-fielder David Murphy)! And, on the other side, Wada pitched a great game. For some reason there were LOTS of Cubs fans among the 15,000 in attendance. It was almost as if this was a pennant clinching series! Another highlight was the first MLB start for Kyle Schwarber, called up for this road trip to be the DH. He got a triple the first time up, then 2 singles and 2 RBIs for the night.
2015-06-18 Progressive Field — This one featured a 1h20m rain delay, so as soon as they put the tarp on we walked back to our hotel (1 block away! We could see the park from our window!) and watched the rest on TV. Schwarber again had a big night, going 2 for 3 including a HR and 2 RBIs.
2015-06-20 Rogers Centre — A fabulous park on the inside (outside, a big box), with the dome and the CN Tower looming overhead. We were in the club area, so had waitress service and cushioned seats. The fans (40,000+) were really into the game, and the scoreboard had great graphics and facts. Game-oriented rather than a diversion. Even the two Jay mascots, Ace and Junior, were good. In the 7th inning they sing the "OK...Blue jays...Let's Play Ball" song...and everyone sings. Then, "Take Me Out To The Ballgame", and I think we were the ONLY ONES singing! Only downside: to get the scorecard, you have to buy the whole program for $5! Although, on the plus side, it even has boxes for the temp and attendance!
2015-06-21 Rogers Centre — A wild game! O's got 7 in the top of the 2nd; Jays got 6 in the bottom half! Both starters lasted 1.1 innings. Jays eventually went up 9 - 7, then the O's tied it. Stayed that way for a few innings until the O's got 4 in the top of the 9th!
2015-08-02 Miller Park — Clayton Richard was the POG as he held the Crew to 1 run and retired the last 10 batters he faced. Russell and Strop retired the next 6, but then we had to hold on as Rondon gave up 2 in the 9th and got the 3rd out with two on base. With this win the Cubs went to 10 over .500 for the first time since '08.
2016-03-28 Tempe Diablo Stadium — Our first Spring Training game at a visitor's park. A beautiful day and the Cubs pounded out 13 hits. Heyward and Rizzo homered for us; Trout and Pujols went b2b for them. Cubs led by two going to the bottom of the 9th, but an error, a walk and a couple of hits netted the Angels a tie.
2016-03-30 Sloan (Cubs) Park — Arrieta had a rough first, giving up 4 hits and 2 runs, but struck out the side. Cain was tough early, but Cubs go a 20run homer from Young in the 3rd. A big 4 run 6 put the Cubs up 6 - 5 and it was 7 - 5 going into the 9th. 3 HR's later, the Giants were up 10 - 5!
2016-03-30 Sloan (Cubs) Park — The Cubs offense looks really powerful! Before all the regulars checked out after the 5th, they got 12 of their 17 hits, including 7 in a 7 run 4th, highlighted by a home run by JOHN LESTER!!!!! David Ross had two doubles in that inning (and 3 for the game!)! Once again the Cubs set a new Cactus League season total for attendance. THIS IS THE YEAR!!!!
2017-06-23 Marlins Park — On the outside, the park was surprisingly nondescript and characterless, almost sterile. Inside it was loud, colorful, loud, frenetic, and loud. But the Marlins fans were hardly interested in the game. Of course, because it's Miami, the park has a retractable roof, which was closed during all 3 games. Cubs pitchers only gave up 3 hits, but that was enough to beat us.
2017-06-24 Marlins Park — Lester gave up 3 in the first, and then settled down for the next 6 innings. Once again we only gave up 3 hits. This time we had 11 and Javy got 3 RBIs.
2017-06-25 Marlins Park — Again, we gave up 3 in the first (Montgomery) and could never climb out of that hole.
2017-06-26 Nationals Park — Our favorite of the three parks. Nicely laid out, with lots of baseball photos and monuments (including Senators) touches. Unbelievable selection of food (smothered tater tots anyone?), and excellent quality. Great sight lines, and comfy padded seats in the Club section. And of course the Presidents Race! A nail-biter early, but then we got 3 in the 9th to go up 5 - 0! Should be enough, right? Almost blew it...so it ended up as a nail-biter anyway!
2017-06-27 Nationals Park — Each team got a run in the first, but Cubs only managed 2 hits against Scherzer et. al.
2017-06-28 Nationals Park — Lackey got pounded and Strasburg struck out 13. The only bright spot was a Contreras 2 run homer.
2017-06-29 Nationals Park — Lester had another good outing. Once again a close one…1 - 1 for most of the game. Then Candelario's first MLB HR put us up 2 - 1. CJ came in a gave up 3! So it was 4 - 2 with 2 outs in the 9th and we amazingly came up with 3 runs!! The big blow was a John Jay 2-rbi triple.
2017-06-30 Oriole Park at Camden Yards — The first of the "retro" parks...hard to believe it is 25 years old. Outside, there is the fan walkway on Eutaw Street by the repurposed warehouse, and the Monuments Park outside of center field. Otherwise, the other 3 sides are just plain brick.
2018-03-17 Sloan (Cubs) Park — Cubs managed one run on a Zobrilla HR. Butler looked good until 3 straight walks in the 4th. Minch came in and served up a GS to Roberto Perez.
2018-09-23 Guaranteed Rate Field — Cubs holding on to 1st in the Central (up 2.5 with 8 to play). Got off to a quick start with 3-1-2 runs in the first 3 innings! It was the Kyle and Kyle show, with Schwarbs hitting a HR in the 2nd and Hendricks throwing 7.2 innings with 4 hits and 1 run.
2019-03-24 Peoria Sports Complex — 24 runs!!!!! None of the regular starters played, except Russell. Adames and Evans each had 5 rbi's as everyone had at least one hit and scored a run. A true laugher!
2019-03-26 Sloan Park — The World Champion Red Sox came over from Florida (the World Champion Cubs had played at their park in 2017!) for the last two games of Spring Training. The Cubs jumped on Price early and never looked back. Only an 8th inning GS by the Sox made it even remotely close.
2019-05-27 Minute Maid Park — Mom, dad, and Em took a road trip from NOLA! The roof was closed (as it is most of the year), but it didn't feel like a domed stadium! Very good sight lines and amenities. Cubs jumped off to an early 2-0 lead in a battle of the Coles (Gerritt and Hamels). Our Cole had one bad inning (gave up 5 runs), and a 9th inning rally by us (2 solo HR's) fell one run short. Cubs also struck out 17 times!
2019-05-28 Minute Paid Park — Cubs hit 5 HR's, including 3 in one inning, and a pair of B2B's, but 4 of them were solo shots. 11 more K's and lack of clutch hitting told the tale.
2021-08-29 Guaranteed Rate Field The Sox have a super team and lead their division by 10 games. The Cubs are in a rebuild after dumping the core at the trading deadline. For the second time in as many weeks, Hendricks got bombed. Another embarrassing loss.
2025-03-02 Sloan Park - The Cubs were 8 - 0 going into this one, so of course they looked totally flat and got outplayed.