Warm Weather Welcomes Fans To The Friendly Confines For Cubs Home Opener
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot might be a White Sox season-ticket holder, but she threw out the first pitch at Monday's Cubs home opener.
David Bote caught the ball and snapped a photo with Lightfoot.
CBS 2's Jim Williams reports from the Friendly Confines where the Cubs pulled off a 10-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
One year after the Cubs home opener was snowed out, Monday's dress code was shorts and short sleeves.
Can't recall a Cubs opener with better weather. Fans in short sleeves. Remember, it snowed last year. @cbschicago pic.twitter.com/YeYKk04cf3
— Jim Williams (@JimWilliamsCBS2) April 8, 2019
"It's absolutely perfect. You have great weather, Wrigley Field and Cubs baseball. You can't ask for anything better than that." said Cubs fan Brittany Dole.
Longtime fans couldn't remember the last time the weather was so beautiful to kick off the season at Wrigley Field, including WXRT's morning man and Cubs expert Lin Brehmer.
"We've done 26 opening day broadcasts and it's never been like this," Brehmer said. "Last year you'll remember I was wearing goggles and knit hat."
The sun and warmth eased the sting of the Cubs surprising 2-7 start. That, and perspective fan Sean Rowan insisted...
"It's the start of the season. Come June if we had a 2-7 stretch, nobody would even be worried about it," Rowan said.
Fans arrived at the ballpark to see more Wrigleyville changes.
The Captain Morgan Club at Addison and Sheffield is gone. Across Addison Street, a seven-month-old apartment building offers views of home plate.
Inside the ballpark, more evidence that this is not your granddad's Wrigley Field.
The new Catalina Club is nestled under the press box. The new Maker's Mark Barrel Room is near the visitor's dugout. Season ticket holders only here. In the left field bleachers, a new area for fans to stand.
Not everyone liked the transformation of the Friendly Confines and the surrounding area.
"It's now an amusement park. It's no longer a ballpark," said one fan.
But it did win praise from Chicago's mayor-elect.
"I think they've done some tremendous things for the city and I'm going to be a big supporter," Lightfoot said.
She added that perhaps the areas around other sports venues can have similar economic development.