Personal Narrative: Wrigley Field

About three weeks ago, the Packer Varsity baseball team beat Berkeley Carroll school for the first time in twelve years and in glorious fashion. Tears streamed down my face as our winning run crossed the plate in extra innings, dust flying up as my teammates and I mobbed each other at the plate. Yet a few short days later, our team was blindsided by the news that St. Ann’s had pulled off back to back upsets to squeak their way into the playoffs ahead of us - just as our season seemed to be looking up, it was over.

I have loved baseball for years, but by the time I was a freshman at Laurel High School, I had precious little experience. The chances of me playing baseball in most high schools were slim, but this was Laurel. America’s favorite pastime was treated there as a vestige of years long forgotten. The athletic director ignored us, the students didn’t support us, and the school funded us just enough to say that they had a baseball program. Tucked away in a forgotten corner of the campus in the gloomy shadows of the tower from which football games were announced, the baseball diamond was the school’s disgrace. The dugouts were dismal cinder block bunkers with peeling paint and a propensity to flood. Grass was scarce where it was supposed to be and

Ever since I could remember, I have always had a great interest and love for the game of baseball. As a kid, I would spend countless hours in the backyard with my grandfather, or even by myself, tossing, hitting and fielding a baseball. When I wasn't in the yard pretending to be Nomar Garciaparra I would watch the Boston Red Sox games on TV with my Grandfather.  Even in my early adolescence, as impatient as most are, I had the patience to sit there and watch the Sox.With my eyes glued to the screen with a look of anticipation fixed on my face ready to mimic my grandfather with the excitement of a home run hit or the frustration of Mo-Vaughn striking out. Call me crazy, but I was addicted, even as a young boy, to Boston Red Sox baseball.

As soon as I made my very first varsity baseball appearance, I knew that I had to be the very best I could be or there was never going to be a chance of ever putting on that white and maroon crisp cleaned dri-fit Russel number 18 jersey. My heart was beating beyond faster than it should be at my first at bat because I had always heard “Just wait you haven't seen nothing yet, wait till you face them varsity pitchers.” Players older than me had constantly been saying that throughout my freshman season and it kept repeating over and over in my head like a broken record. Although I had studied the pitcher and had seen with my very own eyes, he wasn’t as good as everyone talked him up to be. I was still overawed and very nervous about messing up.

Not only has Dodger stadium hosted baseball games, it has also held concerts and soccer tournaments and even charity events. The stadium had a huge capacity of 56,000 that makes it the largest than any other MLB stadium. Many fans see Dodgers stadium with admiration because of everything it has accomplished and has been part of. What many do not realize is the suffering of many families that had to take part in order for the Dodgers to have a home and this stadium to take place.

I step up to the plate. The hot lights of the Mets stadium hit my face. Clayton Kershaw was pitching. He is the best pitcher in the MLB. The pitch comes. It was a slow hanging curveball right over the middle. I swing will all my might. I hear the crack of the bat and I see the ball fly over the fence. I trot around the bases and I am approaching home plate. I step on home then I wake up.

First, I walked through the gates and smelled the great food and could see the amazing field. Then, we had to find the suite where my friend’s dad’s business had bought for their employees for the game. We had to climb a ton of stairs to get to our seats because they were way high

I was dropped off the travel baseball team? “How could this be” I asked my dad, he replied “I don’t know Josh you didn’t put that much effort into your last game and you don’t try in practice”. The travel baseball team is the most prestigious youth baseball team when I found out I had been dropped I was heartbroken I wanted to crawl into a hole and cry. My dad tried to talk me into trying to try out for different team I just turned around and didn’t say a word. I ran outside, grabbed my baseball glove and threw it in the pool I never wanted to see a baseball glove or bat again.

Some things on this earth are just magical. To some it may be the beach at sunset, to others it may be as simple as the drive to work in the morning. For me that place is Fenway Park in Boston Massachusetts.

It was Wednesday, November 2nd, 2016 when the cubs won the world series. Now to be honest with you I’m not a big baseball fan. Ok, i'm not a big sports fan at all. For some reason this year I got really into baseball making me and my family extremely nervous for this game but they did it. The Chicago cubs won the 2016 world series. Jumping ahead to Friday, November 4, 2016, I set my alarm to wake me up at 4 a.m. I was not ready for the crazy day that was ahead of me. I had somehow managed to get up at 4 considering I went to bed at 1 a.m that night. The train was at 5 so it gave us about 45 minutes to get ready and go to the train station. Once we got to the station, along with all the other very excited cubs fans, we sat down and waited for the train

The start of the Cubs: At first the Cubs were called the Chicago White Stockings they joined the MLB in 1876. The White Stockings General manager or President back then was William A. Hubert and the manager was A.G. Spalding. The White Stocking first game was on April 25th, 1876. Their first game was also there first win 4-0 over Louisville. They first played on the Southside of Chicago. Their first Stadium was at 23rd and state. (cubs.com,2014) (Dave Kingman,ND)

PNC Park opened in the spring of 2001. It was built to be a classic-styled ball park that was to embrace the progressiveness of Pittsburgh. Saluting the spirit of new ballparks

With two outs and the tying run on second base, Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant scooped up a slow dribbler down the third base line and fired a rocket over to Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo for the final out of the 2016 Major League World Series. Not only did that throw end one of the greatest baseball games of all time, but it also ended a historic 108-year World Series drought for the Chicago Cubs. Packed with intrigue and more drama than a Shakespearean play, this memorable contest had me on the edge of my seat for over five and a half hours, one of the longest games ever played in the postseason. By the end, I was exhausted but rejuvenated, feeling the joy alongside the Cubbies. I did not feel this way because I am a fan of Chicago, but a fan of baseball and of life - which is meant to be filled with drama and excitement.

I always consider myself to play Major League baseball; as I grew up; I realized that I would need a backup plan. By the seventh grade I noticed that I liked to do hands on activities and problem solve difficult tasks. I displayed all the interests of an electrical engineer. I believe that the interest really may have started at an even younger age. My father has been a maintenance technician for almost 25 years. In say that, I enjoyed watching my dad fix things which sparked my interest in fixing things, or at least look into the engineering field.

William Wrigley Jr. Company is exploring whether it is optimal to recapitalise with taking on $3 billion of debt. Three options are revised; borrow and repurchase shares, dividend payouts or continue to function with full equity. Debt will provide a tax shield of $1.2 billion given the tax rate is 40%, this should increase the market share price to $61.53 per share. The viable method for the company is to utilize this debt to repurchase shares. The will not only increase Wrigley’s market value, via the debt shield, but also signal to market that management believes Wrigley’s is undervalued, something the dividend payment won’t achieve.