Chicago area teen knocks it out of the park with this mini Wrigley Field in his backyard

ByJesse Kirsch Localish logo
Saturday, July 4, 2020
Teen builds mini Wrigley Field in his backyard
Chicago area teen, D.J. Dick, knocks it out of the park with this mini Wrigley Field in his backyard.

Baseball fans--you're not going to want to miss this!

One Chicago area teen came up with an idea to build mini Wrigley Field in his backyard, and he knocked it out of the park.

"I just started it, it was a spot for me and my friends to come back here and play every summer," said D.J. Dick. "And this summer with everything and quarantine and COVID-19, I thought I could just make it into something that I really wanted to, cuz I've been a Cubs fan my whole life."

No surprised based on what he put together in Palatine: a copy of the iconic scoreboard with flags flying in the wind, ivy (fake because he didn't want the hassle of caring for the real stuff) hanging off the wall, and a replica marquee.

All of it ready for Wiffle ball day and night--oh yeah, he put in lights, too.

"Our neighbors have been great about it," said David Dick, D.J.'s dad. "D.J. and his friends will play out here until about 10, 10:30 at night with the lights shining and all of our neighbors will come and watch when they can. And some of them even come in and play. So it's been very communal in terms of how everybody approaches the field itself."

"The detail came as his creativity grew," said his mother Jennifer Dick. "I have to say, I wasn't on board at first with the ivy because he had to paint my fence, and change the look of our backyard, but I will say it is absolutely cool now that it's up."

You might wonder how much money it costs to put something like this together...

"Uhhh," D.J. Dick said through a smile. "Probably more than my parents would have liked but I think now that it's all done they're alright with it. And that's all I'm gonna say."

Play ball!