Mini-Wrigley

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How cool would it be as a kid to play Little League ball in a replica of a major league field? Freeport, Illinois is making that dream come true for some.

Ron Santo Day was declared in Freeport for a fundraiser Tuesday at Read Park to
help build Little Cubs Field. Groundbreaking for the $250,000 field will begin in July. Organizers hope to open the field in April, on the same day as the 2007 Cubs home opener at Wrigley.

The field will measure 100 feet down the left and right field lines. It will be used for Wiffleball and for 7- and 8-year-old boys and girls in the Pee Wee divisions of Little League.

[snip]

“This has never been done,” Garkey said. “There is no miniature version of Wrigley Field anywhere in the world. We’re going to make it with real bricks that look like Wrigley Field bricks. We’ll have the basket over the wall. You can sit in the bleachers in left and right field. A replica of the center field scoreboard. The Welcome to Wrigley Field sign. The hand-operated scoreboard. The dugouts will look like Wrigley; we will even sink them in the ground. The Cubs even gave us ivy from their walls.”

[snip]

“We’re hoping it will be a big tourist attraction,” said Ronnie Bush, a member of the project’s board.

And that last part isn’t such a far-out notion. Lots of Chicago area residents go right past Freeport on their way to Galena. I bet a few might stop in to check out Pee Wee Wrigley.

For what it's worth Freeport has some of the nicest urban (if you can consider Freeport urban) parks I’ve ever seen. In addition to Read Park where Little Cubs Field will go up, Krape Park is simply amazing.