Hlas: Wrigley Field still Wrigley Field, but with winning and mai tais

CHICAGO — Wrigley Field sure has changed, and it sure hasn't.

But whatever amenities have been added to the 102-year-old baseball park, here is what's truly and wildly different:

The Chicago Cubs are really good. Through Friday, they were 26-8, matching their best 34-game record since 1907. Which means no Cubs team at Wrigley has ever started a season like this. Nor had any of us ever thought one would.

So I did something Friday that I hadn't done in a long, long time, and went to a game at Wrigley as a fan, joining 37,478 others.

'Does anyone in Chicago work on Fridays?' a woman from New York asked as she got off the elevated Red Line train at the Addison stop and saw the sea of blue-clad fans below outside the stadium.

She and her family were making their first pilgrimage to Wrigley, and were about to learn it's a far better place to spend a few hours than the new stadiums the Yankees and Mets use.

In many ways, this felt just like the first time I came here. It's the same ballpark plopped in the middle of an actual neighborhood, the same ivy on the outfield walls, the same hand-operated center field scoreboard that now is 79 years old.

But it's also wildly different. Instead of just hot dogs and Cracker Jacks, Old Style and Budweiser, there are personal pizzas and garlic Parmesan fries, craft beers and cocktails. What would Harry Caray have said if you'd told him they'd one day be selling mai tais in the upper deck?

The 3,990-square-foot LED video board behind the left field bleachers is in its second year of operation. For a newbie to it, it felt as foreign as the substances sluggers gobbled the last time I was here, in the late 1990s.

Which reminds me, I saw a few fans wearing Cubs shirts with Sammy Sosa's name on them. But happily, I also saw a lot more Ron Santo No. 10s. Oh, if Santo could have seen this year's Cubs, huh?

Anyway, the video board has a lot of stuff on it besides videos, which have been a staple in the rest of the major leagues for a long time. There are enough numbers and factoids on that thing in one game to stretch all the way from Wrigley to Lake Michigan.

By being digital, it must mean you have to have as many digits as you can cram on one space. At times, it felt like finding old standbys like a player's batting average was like finding Waldo. If you were a casual fan and saw WHIP and WAR, you'd wonder if this were more video game than video board.

They stand for Walks and Hits Per Inning, and Wins Above Replacement, by the way, and who cares about either? They're both soldiers in the battle to use statistics to make our eyes glass over.

But, it's a great video board. I found myself watching it almost as much as the Cubs' 9-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, just to see which advertiser would show up next. A video commercial for Las Vegas in Wrigley Field? Times have changed.

The first umpteen times I came here, there was no advertising signage in the stadium. Philip K. Wrigley, who presumably sold a little chewing gum because of his name being on the ballpark, was against anything unseemly cluttering his friendly confines. Other than the play of the team he owned, that is.

The 2016 Cubs not only live in first place by a commanding margin in mid-May, but also reside in the real world. That means grabbing as many revenue sources as possible.

There is commercial signage here for tequila and vodka, for Toyota and Velveeta. The infield tarp is sponsored by Reynolds Wrap.

Well, whoop-de-do. Those players' salaries aren't being paid solely from the profit on the $8.75 12-ounce beers vendors sell in the stands.

What hasn't changed is Wrigley still is a great, intimate ballpark. The upper deck seats are just fine. I was on top of the game and had a view of that Great Lake in the distance on a comfortable, 65-degree sunny day. Once between innings, a seagull landed on the infield. There were far worse places for both of us to be.

As for the baseball, a 3-run homer has always been and always will be a good way to win games. Addison Russell and David Ross each hit one for the Cubs to sandwich a 2-run shot by Russell's fellow young phenom, Kris Bryant. The eight runs were within two innings of the middle of the game, helping the Cubs end their first 2-game losing streak of the season.

I sat there in disbelief, seeing how easily the Cubs broke open a tight game and how easily they've been tearing up the opposition so far this season. These are the Chicago Cubs, right? Right?

But some things haven't changed a bit. The man sitting directly behind me asked his young daughter 'Is that the best hot dog ever?' She nodded affirmatively with her mouth full.

On the other side of the dad, the girl's grandmother sat wearing a Cubs jersey, a Cubs cap, and a smile. You could almost hear Harry Caray saying you can't beat fun at the old ballpark, whether it's a gargantuan high-tech electronic board or mustard on your granddaughter's chin.