Why this ballpark lasted a century

Chicago baseball park Wrigley Field celebrates its 100th birthday on April 23. CNN iReport asked Chicagoans, baseball fans and travelers to share their memories and photos of the major league's second oldest ballpark behind Boston's Fenway Park.

Deb Gordils lived in Wrigleyville and grew up loving the Cubs. Her two daughters, now 12 and 16, also have a passion for baseball. This is an older photo of one her daughters batting up for Little League in her Cubs gear.

This 100-year-old pennant was made for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales. The Chi-Feds, as they were known, were the original occupants of Wrigley Field, which was called Weeghman Park when it opened in 1914. It was named Wrigley Field in 1926. Peter LaSorsa purchased the rare pennant for his baseball memorabilia collection.

Peter Bella has vivid memories of working as an usher at the ballpark while in high school. The 61-year-old remembers watching games for free from the best spots in the stadium.

Robert Ondrovic, far left, has been touring baseball parks for 25 years. Here, he visits Wrigley in 2006 with friends.

Ondrovic's favorite thing about Wrigley field? "The classic ivy on the outfield walls," he says.

Ondrovic took this photograph during a game at Wrigley Field. A lot of new features have been added to the stadium in the last 100 years.

Ondrovic also photographed houses in Wrigleyville, the neighborhood that surrounds the ballpark. Several residential buildings surrounding the park have bleachers on their rooftops.

Lifelong Cubs fan Matthew Briddick says the best part of Wrigley Field "is watching the game, eating a hotdog, peanuts and drinking lots of beer." He says the fans love the stadium as much as the team itself.

Wrigley Field is one of the last parks to maintain a hand-turned scoreboard. No batted ball has ever hit the 1937 scoreboard, though pro-golfer Sam Snead hit it with a golf ball from home plate on Opening Day 1952. Briddick shot this photo while on a tour of the park.

Briddick says everyone knows about the urinal troughs at Wrigley Field. "They are an odd feature that most men's rooms don't have," he said. "I took the photo because it was the only time I've been in the men's room when there wasn't a huge line with a ton of dudes."

This is a behind-the-scenes photo of the hallway leading to the Cubs locker room.

Herschel Pollard and his friend do an annual baseball trip around the country. They visited Wrigley Field in 2012. He says it was well worth the 8-hour drive from Nashville to Chicago.

One of Swathi Sridhara's favorite spots in Chicago is Wrigley Field. She was born and raised as a Cubs fan, and this year, for the first time, she has season tickets.

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• Chicago's Wrigley Field turns 100 this year


• It's the second oldest ballpark after Boston's Fenway


• CNN readers shared their Wrigley memories on iReport


• What's the secret to the park's longevity? Read on!

Follow the real-life drama of how Chicago's leaders, students and residents are transforming Chicago. The final episode of CNN's airs Thursday April 24 at 10p/9pC.

(CNN) -- Living around Wrigley Field has always felt magical to diehard Chicago Cubs fan Deb Gordils, who was born and raised in Wrigleyville, just blocks away from the famed ballpark.

The 53-year-old says her life was very much intertwined with the ballpark. She spent most of her youth daydreaming that she'd become the next shortstop for the Chicago Cubs, and she was devastated when she was told she couldn't play Little League baseball because she was a girl. But that didn't lessen her undying love for the Friendly Confines.

"I remember racing to the park after school to catch the last parts of a game," Gordils said. When she was much younger, she would watch some of those games from her childhood friend's apartment window, which overlooked the manicured baseball field. Some of those apartments still exist today.

Gordils is one of many Chicagoans, baseball fans and historians who shared their memories and photos of the renowned ballpark with CNN iReport in honor of Wrigley Field turning 100 years old on April 23.

The second oldest major league ballpark, Wrigley Field has become a cultural and historical institution in the Windy City since its opening in 1914. From its outfield walls covered in ivy, which was planted in the 1930s and has occasionally thwarted outfielders in their quest to snap up a loose ball during a game, to its manual scoreboard, which no batted ball has ever hit, Wrigley Field retains many of its original charming features.

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In an age when newer baseball stadiums are the norm, what's the secret to Wrigley's longevity?

Gary Gillette, co-chair of the Society for American Baseball Research ballparks committee and a baseball writer and editor, says the ballpark's history and assimilation into its community is a big part of what keeps Wrigley Field popular and alive and popular even today. He said it's the same for Boston's Fenway Park, which celebrated 100 years in 2012.

"There's a reason the neighborhood around Wrigley Field is called Wrigleyville. Wrigley Field is integrated into the neighborhood," he said. One of the park's features that he attributes to its neighborliness is its lack of parking spaces. That's right, no cars.

"Wrigley and Fenway, they're very tight knit. There's very little parking, most people take mass transit or walk and that's helps preserve them," he added.

Loving Chicago, despite it all

The Cubs' lack of success may have actually helped preserve the park as well, suggests Wrigley expert Stuart Shea.

"After World War II, the Cubs were a bad team for 20 years. And they didn't have a lot of attendance during that time," said Shea, who recently published an updated version of his book "Wrigley Field: The Long Life and Contentious Times of the Friendly Confines." "The fact that the Cubs weren't that good means there wasn't pressure to move somewhere modern or bigger."

Howard Katz, a Boston-based psychologist and psychoanalyst who has experience in sports psychology, says going to a ballpark evokes feelings of camaraderie, which can also explain why Wrigley Field has lasted. "I think that gathering with large groups of people in spaces where we celebrate something larger than ourselves is very meaningful for us. There is a kind of admiration for being all we can be in terms of human achievement."

That communal experience transcends generations. Herschel Pollard said he felt like he had "traveled through time" when he visited Wrigley in 2012 to see the Cubs play the Astros.

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"I loved knowing I was seeing the same sights, smelling the same smells, hearing the same sounds as every person who's attended a game at Wrigley over the last 100 years," he said. "Wrigley fulfilled every ballpark fantasy I had as a kid. This is how baseball should be seen."

Seeing that Wrigley Field has lasted 100 years, the question now is how much longer does it have left? Shea says realistically the ballpark has another 30 to 40 years before he predicts it will need some major upgrades.

"The one thing I worry about is that if new scoreboards were added, then that will reduce the city view, and you will lose the feel that makes it special. That open view of the city is the one of the most important parts of the park," he said.

The view of the Chicago skyline from the ballpark is one of those features that make fans, tourists, sports enthusiasts feel like they are a part of the city when they visit Wrigley Field, Shea explained.

Gordils, now mother of two girls, says that's one of reasons why Wrigley Field feels so irreplaceable. "I was born and raised around the ballpark. I attended school blocks away from the ballpark, and today my kids go to school blocks from the ballpark and my office is near Wrigley," she said.

"It was really magical living around Wrigley field. It was -- and is -- always home," she said.

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CNN's Daphne Sashin contributed to this story.