Changes in 1970 Made Wrigley Field 'Friendly Confines,' Says Author of New Book
illi News/10119730

CHICAGO - illiNews -- Changes to Wrigley Field in 1970 made it the "Friendly Confines" that Cub fans know and love to this day, says William S. Bike, author of the new book The Forgotten 1970 Chicago Cubs: Go and Glow, recently published by The History Press.

"Although Cub broadcasters had been using the phrases 'Friendly Confines' and 'Beautiful Wrigley Field' for years, as changes in American society and the Vietnam War increased Americans' anger at each other and people became rowdier, Wrigley Field was not exempt," Bike explained.

"In the late 1960s, people started walking and dancing on the flat tops of the outfield walls and actually jumping on the field," Bike explained. "In the last home game of the 1969 season, a woman ran onto the field and kissed New York Met third-baseman  Wayne Garrett, the fans tossed a smoke bomb onto the field, a fan climbed up to the iconic centerfield scoreboard, and fans stomped on the roofs of both dugouts and stormed the field after the game was over."

More on illi News

• MolecuLight "Lights the Way to Equitable Wound Care" at National Medical Association Conference
• Be Part of the World's Largest Art Biennale | Moons, Castles, Trees | Copenhagen Chronotopes
• SeedList Launching Institutional Crypto Crowdfunding Project to Empower Retail Investors and Disrupt the VC-Dominated Crypto Fundraising Landscape
• California Family Launches Billboard to Reach "Pardon Czar" Alice Marie Johnson
• MAZ6R CLAN Celebrated Our Exciting One Year Anniversary on July 1, 2025!

Things got even worse during the first home stand of 1970, when bleacherites continually pelted the field with garbage, jumped on the field again after the opener, and fights broke out all over the park.

"Wrigley Field was at a crossroads," Bike explained. "Management of several of the older ballparks around both leagues often gave up and let the rowdies and drunks take over, but not the Wrigley family."

After the first homestand, the Cubs installed the wire "basket" in front of bleacher seats "not only to keep garbage off of the field but to keep the fans in their seats," Bike said. The Cubs "also cemented concrete triangles on the outfield walls so people could no longer walk and dance on them and use them as a jumping-off point for overrunning the field," Bike added.

These were "almost unheard-of midseason changes in a ballpark's dimensions that Major League Baseball fully supported," Bike noted.

In addition, the Wrigley family "supplanted the gentlemanly, coat-and-tie clad ushers with extra security," Bike said. "All those changes kept Wrigley Field safe and comfortable. Instead of sliding into chaos like a lot of the old ballparks of that era, the 1970 changes helped make Wrigley Field the iconic fun, fan-friendly, happening place it became in the 1980s and continues to be today."

More on illi News

• Rent Like A Champion Acquires CollegeWeekends
• Sumter Landing Dental Care Launches Summer Special on Full Mouth Reconstruction
• Seligson Law Launches New Website to Support Cannabis Businesses in California and New York
• Waud Capital Partners Forms New Partnership with Experienced Healthcare Executive Bill Mixon
• databahn Announces Subscription Access to Fortune 500 GenAI Deep Dive Sales Intelligence Reports

The Forgotten 1970 Chicago Cubs: Go and Glow, published by The History Press of Charleston, SC, can be obtained https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Products/9781467149082. Bike is available for broadcast, internet, and print interviews. Email anbcommunications@yahoo.com or call (773) 229-0024.