Wrigley Perfection

As part of the research for The Cy Young Catcher, I interviewed Greg Maddux and asked him several questions about what it was like working with Charlie O'Brien as his catcher.  As the interview wrapped up, I asked him about pitching in a day game at Wrigley Field.  His response: 

"Almost like you're a kid again, and you're out playing again for sheer kicks.  Just the history in that ballpark and the fact that they didn't get lights there until '88.  This is how baseball was a hundred years ago.  You come out here, and there's no lights, you've got to play in the game.  The weather always played an impact on the game there, whether the wind was blowing in or out, whether it was forty degrees or ninety degrees.  The weather plays a role in that ballpark more than any other ballpark that we played in.  Just the fans.  It was always sold out.  Always a lot of fans.  Batting practice:  fans came early there, so batting practice was always kind of fun.  It's always fun to go out there for batting practice when fans are yelling at you and yelling for you, however you want to look at it, and just the atmosphere there was good.  They didn't have the Jumbotron, the TVs, and all that stuff.  There were no gimmicks.  You just went there and played baseball.  There was an organ and a PA announcer, and that was it."

Perfect.