Anybody Miss the Wristband Lottery?

Back in the day (i.e., when the Cubs were good), the first day that tickets for single games went on sale was a BIG DEAL.  People trying to buy tickets on line would spend hours in the “virtual waiting room” until they were allowed on the Cubs website to actually buy tickets.  People trying to buy tickets by phone would clog up the telephone lines.  But mostly, there was the wristband lottery.

The Cubs couldn’t just let people line up at the ticket booths at Wrigley Field to buy tickets in person.  People would have been lining up for days ahead of time.  You think East Lakeview is bad after a Cubs night game now, consider people in tents waiting for days for tickets to go on sale.

So, the Cubs came up with the wristband lottery.  You would go to Wrigley Field the Wednesday or Thursday before tickets went on sale and get a wristband with a number on it.  Then, on Friday at 6:00 am, the Cubs would draw a number.  The drawing would be broadcast live on the Spike O’Dell show on WGN radio.  (Ah, the old days.) 

At 8:00 am you would get to line up at the ticket booth based on the number on your wristband and the number that was drawn.  They would start with the number that was drawn and go up to the top number.  Then they would go back to zero and continue.  Except that they couldn’t get through all the numbers.  If you weren’t close to the number that was drawn, it was back to the virtual waiting room – or wait until Saturday when you could just walk up and buy from what was left.  The problem was that the Cubs would sell hundreds of thousands of tickets on Friday, and the good games would be gone.

I remember one year I was within 100 of the number that was drawn.  It was fantastic.  Instead of going to work, I went straight to Wrigley Field.  I got some great seats.

Now, with the Cubs selling more season tickets, selling more special packages before single game tickets go on sale, and not having had a winning season since the first year of Barack Obama’s presidency, the virtual waiting and the wristband lottery are things of the past.

Oh well, maybe next year.