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Community America: Who Owns Wrigley Field?

2005; Routledge; Volume: 22; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09523360500286783

1743-9035

Holly Swyers,

American History and Culture

The bleachers regulars of Wrigley Field regard themselves as one of the ‘last true communities’ in the United States. Although on the surface, they appear to share only a love for the Chicago Cubs, closer scrutiny shows that their sense of community is well founded in deep interpersonal ties. This essay considers the ways in which Wrigley Field plays an active role in constituting and maintaining this community. I argue that the regulars have humanly appropriated Wrigley Field, making it into a social space that they affectively ‘own’. I go on to demonstrate how this sense of ownership shapes behaviours that promote a feeling of community. It is this feeling as much as any other factor that makes the community ‘real’.