Game 5 - 5/19 at Sheffield Baseball Club

IT'S FINALLY HERE!

After promising it for more than a year, I finally got my hands on a brand new camera. It wasn't the most expensive by a long shot, but it's miles ahead of my old one.

A day after I bought it, I took it to Boomers Stadium to see how it did during baseball games. For the following set of shots, I was sitting in the last section of seats, just past the infield dirt on the third base side.

The OPPOSITE foul pole, a good 450 feet away.

Then I moved to the other side, four rows back from the first base dugout. This was mostly to test the quality while zooming in all the way.

On the mound.

Just about at the shortstop's spot.

Random bleacher fan.

They may not look all that impressive since there's hundreds of better cameras out there, but knowing I could now get this quality by myself absolutely blew my mind.

Having the extra megapixels, and especially the extra zoom, came at the right time. The next afternoon, I would be sitting on my first rooftop ever at Wrigley with my favorite set of twins, Sean and Matt.

****

A few weeks prior to the day of the game, Kyra sent me a link to a Living Social deal. She's the one I really need to thank for all this. She loves websites like that, and without fail, sends me every single offer that has to do with baseball. There are actually quite a few deals put out there for different rooftop buildings and game dates throughout the summer, especially right at the beginning of the season.

Whenever I looked at offers in the past, I took price and day of the game into account. The past few seasons, all the ones I could afford ($60-$80) were terrible games in early April, usually for the first or second series. On the rare occasion they offered a weekend game or one in May, the price automatically shot up to $100 or more.

For those who have no idea why it's so expensive, the tickets are all inclusive. Yes, that does mean all you can eat ballpark food and beer. This particular deal was through Living Social. Not only was it within my price range of $70, but it was on a Sunday in the middle of May, when I would already be home from school. I quickly called up Sean since we'd been talking about a game like this for the past couple years. I was also happy to invite Matt. He isn't the biggest baseball fanatic, but enjoys a game from time to time and wanted to take advantage of the food and drink. They turned 21 in March, and my birthday was last September. This isn't to say we would abuse the free beer perk, but now we would be able to get what we paid for.

We had two options: the Wrigley Field Rooftop Club or the Sheffield Baseball Club. Even thought the buildings were connected and part of the same company, they operated independently of one another. After finding out Sheffield was closer to center field and would probably have less obstructions, we went with that one. In the following picture taken from the VIP gate last Tuesday, ours is on the left:

These buildings are the newest in the business. They were both completely redone in 2008, and seemed to have the nicest amenities. Buying tickets for this specific day was a no brainier.

****

Obviously, since I wasn't in the park, there would be no Ballhawking. Funny story though: In 2011, I saw a pair of  New York Mets see who could get one to stick on a roof first. They threw from right field all the way over to the top of 3609 Sheffield. Pretty risky and dangerous, if you ask me. That's the only time I've ever seen it in all my games at Wrigley.

After taking the Blue Line to the 152 (the first time in a long time for me), we arrived at the front gate, which was already opened,  just before noon. I knew what our plan was, and I told myself for the past week that everything would be okay, but it just felt so incredibly wrong to not be in there already.

Taking that feeling to the extreme, we weren't technically even going into the park! There's only been two other times I've been around Wrigley on game day and had no intentions to go in.

There was a little confusion on what time we should get there. The website FAQs said we can go up half an hour before the game, yet the 'Buy Tickets' page said a full hour before the scheduled start time. In the end, the three of us agreed waiting outside for half an hour would be a small price to pay if the alternative was showing up late.

See, after reading mostly Yelp! reviews, I became extremely uneasy. Some people said it was great, others said just okay, and some were disappointed with how much they paid, even though they were happy with their experience. That was all fine; each person expects something different. But the thing that was said over and over in the most negative reviews was how overcrowded it was. One lady said her game in August of 2012 was so oversold  that she couldn't even find a spot close enough to a TV to watch the broadcast of the game until the 7th inning!  Just a couple days after this deal began on Living Social, this game sold out at both facilities. Not only that, but the ticket price was considerably lower if you went through the Club website, too. For some reason, they wanted to fill it to maximum capacity. I was okay with missing some of the game to explore the facility and maybe give people our seats, but we paid a decent amount of money, and wanted to secure a spot. So that's exactly what we planned for.

We turned around the Captain Morgan Club and saw our building. It was really more exciting to see it the day of, and know we'd be up there in just a few minutes.

Here's the roaming Cubs band, just because:

We were in line just after 12:10. By the looks of how many people were already there, they were going to let us in an hour before the game. We had no idea what would be there once we made it to the top, but we knew we would be guaranteed seats for the entire game as long as all three of us didn't vacate them at the same time.

I wandered around and took some more pictures from the right field corner area. I took A LOT of them, just to see how crystal clear they were with the new camera.

After a couple anxious minutes of waiting in line, they opened up the gate and we hustled inside. We walked to the back of the building, and up numerous flights of stairs.

(That picture is from later in the afternoon, but for storytelling purposes, I'm not taking that into account).

The first level we had access to was an inside lounge area. It made zero sense to me why people would waste their time down here and not try to get a view of the live game. Regardless, for those odd folks, it was really nice.

The view when you first walk in. There are smaller TVs showing the game on the left:

Here's the best overview of the space. The booths are a nice touch for those fans that want to watch on TV. They had four of them on that wall altogether.

Here's the other side with more TVs, and where I assume the food is served (This was in the 9th inning, so everything was being cleaned up):

Just to the left, the bar for this level:

And lastly, the view outside the front of the building facing the field. The windows stay on for cold games, but this was absolutely fantastic weather in every single way. (Although I wouldn't have minded some clouds to avoid the wicked sunburn I got).

Not the best picture of it, but you get the point. Basically just a view of the outfield, if that. Really can't even see the game from there.

Now for the top level. Besides the few pictures above, all three of us were up here the entire time.

The area we first saw was where the food and beverages were served. It was a whole lot smaller than I expected.

That door on the left in the back, with the sun shining through, is where we came in.

To me, the food was nothing spectacular. But it wasn't any better than the stuff you would get inside the park. Plus, you could eat as much as you want. I munched down a chicken breast sandwich, a brat (complete with grilled onions), an Italian sausage, a hot dog, and a vanilla ice cream cone. They also had burgers and slushies behind the counter. Overall, it gets a thumbs up. It's not reasonable to think it would be something over the top while still being unlimited. (Yelp! reviewers have their standards set way too high).

The line for the food was never unbearable (another Yelp! misconception). The longest I waited was no more than 5 minutes, and at it's worst, Matt waited about 15.

Now, finally, the view from the top:

YES. Fantastic. A great view, sunshine, and plenty of seats to go around. Plus, I haven't mentioned yet, the bar and food service was open the instant we got up there. It only took me about 20 seconds to realize that Yelp! was completely worthless. There is absolutely no determent to showing up and hour before the game. Free everything, watch a little BP, and secure your seats. This was so wonderful it almost brought tears to my eyes. That's only the second time that's happened; the first was in St.Louis last season, which can be summed up in one picture:

Two pictures ago, you can see Sean sitting three seats in, about half way up. That's where we stayed for the entire game.

Turning 180 degrees from where I was standing, this is the view:

That is indeed another bar all the way back there under the canopy. That makes one on every level; a smart and convenient setup. There were also TVs up here showing the game, which you can see on the left and right as well as behind the bar. When the seats ran out, this is where people congregated to see the field.

I mentioned this building houses two different locations; the Wrigley Field Rooftop Club was identical, and right next to us.

I took a few minutes while it was still mostly empty to enjoy the views of downtown and Lakeview. It was the coolest thing to be half part of the hustle and bustle of the ballpark, yet be across the street and completely alone.

Then I did some zoom testing.

Woah.

After all this, it was finally time to start the game. Just one more picture, though, possibly my favorite out of every one I've taken in my entire life:

Travis Wood was on the mound again, just like my game last Monday. I was looking forward to it; he's pretty much the most unexpected piece of this surprisingly successful pitching staff this season.

His first pitch to Daniel Murphy:

Something I didn't expect that was a very nice touch was turning on 720 for the radio broadcast once the game started. That was literally the cherry on top of everything else that was so great about this place.

Obviously I was there and had my eyes on the field, but the actual happenings of the game was of minimal importance to me. Between getting up so many times, walking around, and talking, I never really knew the game situation. That's because nothing was happening. Half way through, in the middle of the 5th, the score was still 0-0.

However, in his second at bat, Travis Wood blistered a ball that went 420 feet into left center to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead. That's so unlikely, I have no words or a comment for it. I did see the tail end of it as I was coming back up to my seat, and didn't believe Sean when he told me who hit it.

David Wright knocked in Murphy in the 6th, but Ryan Sweeney retaliated with a solo homer in the bottom half. One double by Nate Schierholtz later, and Mets starter Dillon Gee's day was over.

Since it was such a perfect day, most of the other rooftops were packed, just like ours.

In the top of the 8th, Murphy broke a 3-3 tie to put the Mets ahead with a solo homer. The Cubs went 1-2-3 in the 8th and 9th, and New York prevailed 4-3.

If you couldn't tell, the baseball game wasn't the most important thing today. If you are considering getting up to a rooftop, I can't say enough times how great it is, especially at one of these two places. The price you pay is up to you, but for someone like me who has been looking across the street from the park for years, it was a great experience to finally be up there.

Thanks for coming guys!

STATS

• Time spent at game: 4 hours, 50 minutes
• Total time spent at games: 27 hours, 42 minutes