Today's Article - Wrigley Field

This article is for quizzes on Monday September 21st...

Wrigley Field is a baseball park located on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two Major League Baseball (MLB) franchises.

It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales. The Cubs played their first game at Weeghman Park on April 20, 1916, defeating the Cincinnati Reds 7–6 in eleven innings. In November 1918, Weeghman resigned as team president. Chewing gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr. acquired complete control of the Cubs by 1921. It was called Cubs Park from 1920 through 1926, before officially becoming Wrigley Field for the 1927 season.

Located in the north side community area of Lakeview, Wrigley Field sits on an irregular block bounded by Clark (west) and Addison (south) Streets and Waveland (north) and Sheffield (east) Avenues. Wrigley Field is nicknamed The Friendly Confines, a phrase popularized by "Mr. Cub", Hall of Famer Ernie Banks. The current seating capacity is 41,688. It is the oldest National League ballpark, the second-oldest active major league ballpark (after Fenway Park on April 20, 1912), and the only remaining Federal League park....

The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that played its first season in 1913 and operated as a "third major league", in competition with the established National and American Leagues, from 1914 to 1915.
The Federal League came together in early 1913 through the work of John T. Powers, and immediately challenged the operations of organized baseball. Playing in what detractors called the "outlaw" league allowed players to avoid the restrictions of the organized leagues' reserve clause. The competition of another, better paying league caused players' salaries to skyrocket, demonstrating the bargaining potential of free agency for the first time.