Wrigley Field History 1914 - 1922 ⚾️ Cubs Park - Weeghman Park (Federal League Baseball Park) 【4K】

Featuring the ballpark’s 1st opening day, April 23, 1914. Ground breaking day for the park was March 4, 1914. It was built in less than two months before the 1914 season opener. It was originally called Weeghman Park after the team’s owner "Lucky Charlie" Weeghman. In 1916 he bought the Cubs to replace his team, the ChiFeds(1914) & Whales(1915), after the outlaw Federal League in which his team played went bankrupt. The park then became known as Cubs Park. In 1926 William Wrigley bought the team and ballpark, then it became Wrigley Field. This video shows some of the early modifications to the ballpark. The detail in the opening panorama is incredible. At 1:52 you can spot a photographer on a rooftop, he is taking the 2nd panorama in this video at 3:21.
More Info:
“”Before the 1915 season the park was again expanded. The residential buildings on the north edge of the park were torn down and the occupants relocated (hopefully in the reverse sequence). The ballpark's northern boundary now extended all the way to Waveland Avenue. The purpose of this additional northern expansion was to permit the replacement of the RC-CF bleacher with a new and larger set of bleachers that were built behind the new LF-CF fence. This also required the second relocation of the scoreboard, this time from left center to center field. The new bleachers ran from the left field foul pole to the left edge of the scoreboard, which was now in center field. The center field scoreboard was at a diagonal to the LF-CF bleachers and faced home plate. The left edge of the scoreboard joined the back of the right edge of the LF-CF bleachers, and was entirely behind the RF-CF fence, and thus was completely out of play.
The new LF bleachers provided a net increase in capacity of several hundred seats. The removal of the RC-CF bleacher also increased the area of fair territory in RC and CF as the estimated RC distance (again at 30 degrees) went from 307 to 344. The park now had an overall north-south dimension estimated to be about 565 feet while the east-west distance along Addison Avenue remained unchanged (estimated at 515 feet). The total park size was now about 6.7 acres.
The park underwent a major expansion and reconfiguration in the1922-23 off-season. The Cubs employed the park’s original architect, Zachary Davis, to design and direct a massive rebuilding effort. The most significant change was effected by jacking up and placing on rollers the 3B portion of the grandstand and the 3B pavilion, and moving them 60 feet both to the west and north.
The grandstand section near home plate was moved 69 feet to the west. Many of the remaining sections of the grandstand were rebuilt and new sections added on the south and west sides behind the relocated home plate. This moving of part of the grandstand meant the western boundary of the park was now Seminary Avenue. and Clark Street. The southwest corner of the ballpark was now at the intersection of Addison and Clark. The remodeling plan called for an increase in the home plate-to-RF fence distance of 61 feet (from 300 to 361). However, this move did not increase the RF dimensions by 61 feet, because new RF bleachers were built in front of the preexisting RF fence.
The playing field was lowered by four feet, and the field was also reoriented by moving home plate about 60 feet to the west and the foul lines were rotated about four degrees to the left. When the remodel was complete, seating capacity was now about 30,000. The new dimensions became LF 325, CF 447, and RF 318."
Early Wrigley Field: Weeghman Park, 1914-23
Written by Ron Selter
Published in 2007 Baseball Research Journal
____________
The moving was done by means of two horse driven capstans, one opposite each end of the structure. With a long continuous steel cable between them, which, in a series of pulleys and blocks hauled the curved section of the old stand back 91 feet in two hours
May 1923 issue of Popular Mechanics
___________
In the early 1890s “Lucky Charlie” Weeghman descended on Chicago as a teenager seeking fame and fortune. A natural salesman, he soon became one of Chicago’s best-known restaurateurs and a celebrity man about town. Then the baseball bug bit. Perhaps more than any other individual Weeghman was responsible for even the limited success of the Federal League. His big-dollar signing of Joe Tinker away from Organized Baseball gave the new league its legitimacy and kicked off the war for players. By putting a new ballpark and his team on the North Side, he created the flagship team for the Federal League and a lasting legacy for baseball in Chicago. The team led the league in attendance and excitement, and likely outdrew the rival Cubs, still located on the city’s West Side. When the Federals shut down after 1915, Weeghman bought the Cubs and moved the team to his stadium on the North Side, the ballpark now known as Wrigley Field.
sabr.org/biopr...

[@ejhickey]

about time for another world series in Wrigley

[@MFPhoto1]

I can still see some of the original work in Wrigley today, though the ballpark looks so different. Foul territory was much larger then. Notice the overflow 1914 crowds standing in the outfield. I have a photo of Wrigley Field taken in the 1930's. Center field is 440 feet from home plate, but the original bleachers, which were field level in left-center and right-center, are just a short fly ball away.
Thanks for the video.