Intimate Photos of the Cubs and Wrigley Field in the '90s

Inside the Friendly Confines

The late ’90s were a relaxed time in baseball, before the steroids crisis and camera phones put players on their guard. That’s when photographer Andie Giafaglione captured these poignant moments of the Cubs’ day-to-day lives.

By John Hardberger

October 7, 2016, 8:45 am

In 1995, after graduating from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, photographer Andie Giafaglione went out on a limb and wrote to the Cubs' then-photographer Steve Green.

In that lull between the 1994–95 players’ strike and the steroids crisis of the early 2000s, “people forgot about baseball there for a while,” she says. That led to an air of accessibility among players—a relaxed atmosphere that Giafaglione credits with both Green’s willingness to hire her off the bat, and the intimate tone of her photos.

A lifelong baseball fan who grew up seeing games on the AstroTurf confines of Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium, she remained with the Cubs (one of only a few women to work in the Clubhouse) from 1996 to 1999—four rollercoaster seasons. “I learned more about photography in that time than in any other class or job,” she says. “Shooting sports as a young photographer is a total trial by fire.”

Almost 20 years later, the Cubs are in striking distance of the World Series, and 35 photos from Giafaglione’s tenure at the Friendly Confines are on display at the GMan Tavern (3740 N. Clark St.). Per Giafaglione, they’ll remain there throughout the Cubs’ playoff run. “Maybe longer,” she says. “I don’t want to jinx it.”

Below, she recalls some of her favorites.

*Harry Caray with Jim Riggleman (Cubs manager from 1995 to 1999), 1997*
“When Harry was around, everybody stopped what they were doing to talk to him. He’d give you an earful about anything—sometimes he’d just narrate his walk to the field. He was really sweet to me, and even though he always recognized me, I don’t think he ever remembered my name. He’d just walk up to me and say ‘Hey there,’ and give me a big wet kiss on the cheek. The Cubs hired me to shoot his funeral, and so many people came out to pay their respects—former governors, mayors. It was a royal affair.”

*Third base press pen TV, 1997*
“On each side of the field, there’s this little area for the TV crews and photographers to set up their equipment. That’s Ryne Sandburg on the screen, who had come back from his first retirement for two more seasons with the Cubs. This had to be one of the last times he was out on the field at Wrigley—he retired, permanently the second time, at the end of the ’97 season.”

*Kerry Wood (braced arm), 1999*
“In 1998, the Cubs had this magical season, won the Wild Card game and made it to the playoffs. Pitcher Kerry Wood was a big part of that—he arrived as this pitching powerhouse, got like 20 strikeouts in his four or fifth career start. By the end of the season, though, he was having arm pains, and during spring training in ’99 he underwent Tommy John surgery and ended up being out of commission the rest of the year. It really devastated him—he was only 22 at the time—and it took him a long time to start throwing like that again.”

*Kevin Foster (alone in the dugout), 1997*
“Kevin Foster was the pride of Evanston Township High School, and since he was a local guy, he was so honored to play for the Cubs. He always very sweet, very quiet, and this picture is classic Foster; he liked to be alone before he went out on the mound. This was taken at the first Crosstown Classic to be included in regular season play, and Foster went out to win it right after this picture was taken.”

*Jim Bullinger at Family Day, 1996*
“Family Day always makes for some great photos, with all the players out there throwing the ball around with their kids. A lot of them like to get portraits done by the 400-foot mark, out in the ivy. Bullinger and his kid were messing around while I snapped away, and I caught this moment right before they looked up to smile.”

*Mark Grace and Luis “Gonzo” Gonzalez, 1996*
“The guys were such good friends. They played together in Chicago, and then again later on for the Diamondbacks. They even won a World Series together in Arizona in 2001. The little private moments like these are my favorites—now that everyone has a camera phone, everyone’s on-guard and ready to be photographed. Back then, I was just a fly on the wall—and these guys just never stopped being themselves.”

*Mark Grace in the Dugout, 1998*
“Grace was one of my best buddies on the team. This was actually in Philly—my hometown—while I was there visiting my parents. Since I was in town, I came down to shoot the guys before the game started. I said ‘Grace, give us a smile!’ and he gave me the bird instead. He’d didn’t mean anything by it, he was laughing the whole time—that’s just the kind of guy he is.”

*Andy Pafko (overcast sky), 1995*
“They called him Handy Andy. He played in the 1945 World Series. He was back at the field for a celebration of that ’45 team and I got to talk to him a little. He was an incredibly sharp guy—just a wealth of baseball knowledge—and to talk to someone who played in a World Series at Wrigley sort of felt like talking to a character from a book.”

*Bill Gleason (cigar and newspaper), 1998*
“Bill Gleason was this amazing South Side character. He was a sports reporter in Chicago for more than 60 years, usually covering the White Sox. He always wore a tie and blazer—usually a hat too—and carried a cigar and a newspaper. By the late ‘90s, smoking wasn’t allowed in the press booth, but he could get away with it. At least, I never saw anyone try to stop him.”

*The bullpen phone, 1997*
“That phone, to me, is the most quintessential artifact of Wrigley. They had it there so pitching coaches in the dugout could call down to the bullpen—it was originally a rotary, but some time while I was there they made the leap to push-button. Any time it rained, the phone stopped working and whoever picked it up would have to gesture wildly toward the dugout. It was like something out of Bull Durham—charmingly antiquated.”

*Sammy Sosa takes the field, 1998*
“There were a few times when I got to run out with Sammy when he took the field. I was always really nervous I would trip and fall in front of 40,000 people, and he always laughed and told me to relax. He probably the most helpful, accommodating person on the team.”

*Sammy Sosa in the dugout, 1997*
“1997 was a rough year for Sammy. He’d just gone 0 for 4 and was looking pretty melancholy. This picture always makes me a little sad, because for all the scandal that would surround him, he was the ultimate company guy through and through. He was always pulled 400 different ways, but he did what needed to be done. The Cubs have kind of tried to push his memory out the door, but he contributed so much more than just his time on the field. I think that deserves to be recognized.”

*Wrigley usher in the rain, 1997*
“This picture is a perfect symbol of the 1997 season to me. Before the game, it was raining off and on, and this usher was out there drying to dry off the seats when it started pouring again. It never really let up. It was kind of a wash [in ‘97]—just a long, lonely season.”

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