Dibble has fond memories of visiting Wrigley Field

Rob Dibble

Dibble has fond memories of visiting Wrigley Field image

I have so many great memories from playing at Wrigley Field it would take way too long to write them all, so I want to tell a story about what it was like to play a typical game and how my day went as a visiting player.

(Keep in mind: In 1988,when I played my first game at Wrigley, all the games were still played during the day).

The bus ride from the hotel is short but really cool. You travel along a route that takes you by Lake Michigan, where people are out early, walking and running and loving the outdoors. There are a few parks where you see kids playing soccer, softball, maybe a baseball game. There really is nothing like it around either league.

As you come up to the gates you pass the trains, with the tracks up above your head, and you feel like you've been transported back 75 years.

You get off the bus at 9 a.m. You walk up a flight of stairs to the locker room. What's totally awesome is that if you walk out the back of the locker room you are on the second level right in the fan seating area. Take a right turn and there they are: The field, the old scoreboard. And now you can't wait to get down to where the brick outfield walls are covered in ivy and buildings surround the outfield walls.

You walk up the tunnel, into the dugout, up the steps and the sun greets you along with Harry Caray.

(Even better than playing baseball is getting to know the people who surround the game. Harry Caray was the legendary voice of the Chicago Cubs when I was playing. When you came into his house he greeted you.)

He sits with me in the dugout and wants to know everything about me, things no media guide can tell him, so he can tell viewers during a broadcast.

Now it's time to go shag some BP fly balls. Stretch, get your arm loose, all while enjoying the field that time forgot.

By 11 a.m., the gates are open, fans are there and we have 50 minutes to hit. The fans — and I will always say this about Cubs fans — are amazing! They make a day game atmosphere seem like a carnival. Running a few foul poles and sprints to get loose is always fun.

The place is packed. Monday, Thursday, it doesn't matter, it's packed. I settle into the bullpen. It's along a brick wall down the first base foul line. The season ticket holders know you by name and bring brownies and cookies. Be careful not to eat too much; I think they are trying to make me fat and slow. OK, sometimes after a rough night, some 1 p.m. sugar doesn't hurt.

Sitting in the sun, watching a ball game and knowing people came to see the Cubs vs the Reds, totally awesome. They leave work early, skip school, drive hundreds of miles just to enjoy a ball game this afternoon. At no other field in baseball are opposing players  treated with this much hospitality. Nowhere! And it isthe only place I don't have stuff thrown on me, poured on me and verbally spewed at me. It is Cheers for a baseball game.

It's the seventh-inning stretch now, time for me to get loose, time for Harry Caray to fire up the fans...we laugh, they sing. It's like a family reunion!

But now it's my time, late afternoon. Here come the shadows creeping in on home plate while the pitching mound is still in bright light. You cannot script a better time for a hard-throwing Nasty Boy from Connecticut to do his thing.

One of my favorite stadiums in the big leagues to play in. Awesome! Happy Birthday, and many more!

 

Two-time National League All-Star and veteran broadcaster Rob Dibble is a Sporting News contributor.

Rob Dibble