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For the first time in nearly two years, thousands of Cubs fans returned to the friendly confines to take in the unbeatable sights and sounds of a sunny day at Wrigley Field. Don’t let the mid-30s temperatures distract you: It’s Opening Day in Chicago, and it is indeed glorious.

Fans bundled in jackets with faces covered by masks took to the Wrigleyville streets Thursday to celebrate the first major sporting event to allow fans in the stands since the start of the pandemic last year.

One fan had a sign celebrating the fact that he’s attending his first game with a mask on. Another sign said what fans around the country are thinking as the season starts: “Thank God baseball is back.”

Here’s a look at the sights at and around Wrigley Field as the Cubs welcome fans back home:

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Shafkat Anowar/AP Photo

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

The Cubs also gave us a taste Thursday morning of what it looks like inside the stadium:

This story will be updated with additional photography.

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There are real-world pressures that can be much more profound than the pressure found in major-league baseball, which is to real life what the ukulele is to the cello. Paying rent, for example. Or having major surgery.

But there have to be moments when Tony La Russa experiences constricted breathing, excessive sweating and anything else related to being the White Sox manager and having one of the most talented rosters in the game. Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf should have some of those moments, too.

The questions about whether Reinsdorf made the right decision by hiring the 76-year-old La Russa as his manager can only be answered in the affirmative if the team has major success this season. That’s it. Nothing else. There are too many good hitters and too many good pitchers in the clubhouse for there to be any other expected outcome. The Sox made the playoffs last season. More, please. A lot more.

The baseball world is going to judge La Russa on wins and losses. If there aren’t enough victories as the season rolls along, the questions will press in harder from the outside. Does the three-time World Series champion still have it? Is he still sharp? Can he physically keep up during the trudge of a 162-game schedule?

And, most of all, what could Reinsdorf have possibly been thinking by hiring someone who hasn’t managed since 2011?

If La Russa succeeds this season, if the Sox get within breathing distance of the World Series, then Reinsdorf will look like a genius and his manager will look 20 years younger.

If La Russa doesn’t succeed, if the season is a disappointing ride, everybody will be wise to stand back. The abuse will be ugly.

So, no. No pressure. No pressure at all.

The Sox opened their season Thursday night in Anaheim, Calif., and for some reason it seemed right that La Russa’s first game as skipper of the 2021 team would come against the Angels’ Joe Maddon, the most recent manager to win a World Series in Chicago. Maddon won a title with the Cubs in 2016 and three seasons later was sent on his way.

He’s a reminder of how a manager can own this town, for a time, if he plays his cards right. Despite his sometimes-maddening, in-game decisions, Maddon was hugely popular in Chicago.

Will La Russa play his cards right? For now, it’s the great unknown and one of the bigger questions in baseball. He knew how to deal with the Cards, upper case, but his success in St. Louis feels like a lifetime ago. Now he has to deal with the baggage of an offseason DUI arrest, the possible burden of advanced age and the perception that Reinsdorf’s famous, sometimes infamous, loyalty is the only reason he has the job.

Looked at from any angle, it’s a lot.

La Russa is an extremely proud man, so expect him to come out with fire in his eyes in April. You could already hear some of it in his recent comments about perceived cronyism in his hiring. He managed the Sox from 1979-86, and Reinsdorf has said many times that OKing La Russa’s firing was one of the decisions he regrets most. The two remained friends, leading some to wonder whether that friendship got in the way of smart decision-making when it came to hiring a manager to replace Rick Renteria after last season.

La Russa is insulted by the accusations of cronyism, but I’m not sure what he expected. He wasn’t exactly a hot candidate for other managerial openings.

“The disrespect to the person that they’re commenting about is a very serious comment to make, and you have to have a lot of substance and proof to make that and they don’t,” La Russa told the Sun-Times. “Jerry Reinsdorf, he’s got trophies and a World Series ring. He loves the game. We’ve been close ever since I got fired. But it’s disrespectful and insulting to say somebody like Jerry, the owner of the Chicago White Sox, is going to put a personal relationship anywhere close to the priority that is the team’s chance to win. It’s an insult, and it’s disrespectful. You have to know Jerry better.”

Again, success in 2021 will make any potential ugliness go away. No one will be talking about an owner taking care of a friend. No one will be dissing the old-guy manager. There will be cover stories about La Russa proving that age is just a number (although, to be fair, so is the national debt). He’ll be lauded for getting the most out of a team that was without gifted hitter Eloy Jimenez, who is expected to miss most of the season with a chest injury.

That’s how the story will be told if a talent-heavy team wins big in 2021. If the Sox don’t meet expectations, La Russa will want to duck, provided he still has the flexibility and reflexes to do so.

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Wire, a music venue and bar, used to form with nearby FitzGerald’s a twin bill of live entertainment on Roosevelt Road in Berwyn. Then the pandemic hit, upsetting even the best-laid business plans.

The owners of Wire have been forced to put their well-equipped club up for sale. It’s been closed completely since March 2020 and co-owner Christopher Neville said he saw no other way out of escalating losses.

He said he hopes the two-story building can be sold to someone who wants to keep using it for live music. “It would be nice to reopen but we were just getting deeper into a hole,” said Neville, also a member and manager of the local band Tributosaurus.

“It’s been a great ride. As a musician, it’s been interesting to be on the other side of the counter,” he said.

David King & Associates

The building at 6815 W. Roosevelt Road is a former movie theater that dates from 1918. It’s marketed by Realtor David King of David King & Associates, who noted that Neville’s group undertook a gut rehab after buying it in 2012. Before that, it was a hall for a Teamsters union local.

“It’s set up as a music venue. The sound systems and the lighting systems are all staying. This is really a turnkey solution for someone,” King said.

It’s being offered with no upfront asking price. Property records show Neville’s group paid $205,000 for the building in 2012. King and Neville said there have been several inquiries since it was listed about seven weeks ago.

Neville said the space can be configured for 250 to 400 people, depending on the seating plan. At 8,500 square feet, the building includes a 35-foot bar and a second floor for VIP seating, according to the listing.

The region’s halting progress against the pandemic has caused confusion about when live events can return and be financially viable. FitzGerald’s, at 6615 W. Roosevelt Road, has gotten by with limited-capacity performances in its outdoor patio, but no such space was available to Wire.

Neville said he’d face costs to restart even in a modest form and that warmer weather isn’t the prime season for indoor venues anyway. “I’m just grateful to my investors for helping us get this far. We wanted to keep the place out of the tax sale,” he said.

His partners in Wire include musician Tracey Dear and sound engineer Jon Smith. Paul Bolger, part of the rock group Mr. Blotto, is a former partner, Neville said.

Wire’s situation continues a sad storyline for performing arts establishments. Chicago’s Second City comedy business has been sold and plans to continue, but the improv hub iO Theater and Mercury Theater Chicago have closed for good. The Chicago Tribune has reported that the Royal George Theatre may be sold for redevelopment.

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Police shot and killed a 13-year-old boy after an “armed confrontation” in Little Village early Monday, officials said.

Adam Toledo, 13, who lived in the neighborhood, was shot in his chest and later died in the incident, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

In a statement, police said officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert about 2:35 a.m. and saw two males standing in an alley in the Southwest Side neighborhood.

One armed person ran from the scene and was shot by a police officer during an “armed confrontation” in the 2300 block of South Sawyer Avenue, police said. Farragut Career Academy High School is located at the end of the block.

That person, later identified as Toledo, died at the scene, police said. An autopsy found he died of a gunshot wound to his chest.

Police shared a photo of a gun allegedly recovered at the scene.

Rafael Hurtado Jr., 30, who said he has lived a few houses down from Toledo’s home for years, called the shooting tragic and urged CPD to release any footage related to the shooting.

“It’s hard to take CPDs word for it” that he was armed, he said. “Especially with everything that’s been going on with the police shootings in other places.”

He said that “it’s tragic for everyone involved, for the family, for the kid because he was so young and for the officer who pulled the trigger.”

The other person who ran from police, 21-year-old Ruben Roman Jr. of Edgewater, was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest, police said. In 2019, Roman pleaded guilty to illegal gun possession stemming from an arrest in Evanston and was sentenced to probation, court records show.

The officer in Monday’s incident was placed on desk duty for 30 days while the Civilian Office of Police Accountability investigates the shooting, police said.

It wasn’t immediately clear if COPA would share video and evidence of the shooting. COPA is required to release body camera video of police shootings within 60 days of the incident, but department policy prohibits them from sharing video if the victim is under 18 years old.

COPA has not released details about the incident. A spokesman for COPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday morning.

Two other people have been shot by Chicago police officers this week. Early Wednesday, an officer fatally shot an armed man in Portage Park after officers chased the man on foot. An officer fired shots after the man allegedly pulled out a gun in the 5200 block of West Eddy Street, police said.

Less than an hour later, an off-duty Chicago police officer shot someone breaking into their home in Albany Park on the Northwest Side. The officer shot the man in his face about 12:55 a.m. as the man broke into the officer’s home in the 3100 block of Belle Plaine Avenue, police said. The man was rushed in serious condition to Illinois Masonic Medical Center.

Contributing: Cindy Hernandez, Frank Main

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.

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Please send corrections and additions to [email protected]

Thursday, April 1

CHICAGO LAKE STREET

Bowen vs. Corliss at Eckersall

Butler vs. South Shore at Gately

King vs. Fenger at Gately

CHICAGO MADISON STREET

Senn at Chicago Academy

Marine vs. Foreman at Lane

Pritzker at Taft B

CHICAGO MICHIGAN AVENUE

Dyett vs. Gage Park at Stagg

CHICAGO STATE STREET

North Lawndale vs. UIC at Rockne

ILLINI BIG SHOULDERS

King vs. Fenger at Gately

Hyde Park vs. UP-Bronzeville at Gately

ILLINI HEARTLAND

Rauner vs. Steinmetz at Lane

Juarez vs. ITW Speer at Rockne

ILLINI SECOND CITY

Vocational at Brooks (canceled)

ILLINI WINDY CITY

Mather vs. Von Steuben at Winnemac

CCL/ESCC BLUE

Loyola at Brother Rice

CCL/ESCC GREEN

Providence at St. Rita

CCL/ESCC ORANGE

St. Laurence vs. Benet at Benedictine (canceled)

Nazareth at De La Salle

CCL/ESCC RED

Marian Catholic at DePaul Prep

CCL/ESCC WHITE

St. Ignatius at Joliet Catholic

Fenwick at Marmion

CSL NORTH

Highland Park at Niles North

CSL SOUTH

Glenbrook North at Maine South

FOX VALLEY

Dundee-Crown at Jacobs

Cary-Grove at Crystal Lake South (canceled)

Prairie Ridge at Crystal Lake Central

ILLINOIS CENTRAL EIGHT

Herscher at Streator

Manteno at Peotone

Wilmington at Reed-Custer

KISHWAUKEE RIVER

Marengo at Harvard

Richmond-Burton at Woodstock

Woodstock North at Johnsburg

MSL EAST

Hersey at Prospect

Buffalo Grove at Wheeling

Elk Grove at Rolling Meadows

MSL WEST

Barrington at Conant

Hoffman Estates at Schaumburg

Fremd at Palatine

NORTH SUBURBAN

Warren at Waukegan

Libertyville at Lake Forest

Mundelein at Lake Zurich

Zion-Benton at Stevenson

NORTHERN LAKE COUNTY

Grayslake Central at Round Lake

Grayslake North at Antioch

Lakes at Grant

North Chicago at Wauconda

SOUTH SUBURBAN RED

Richards at Oak Lawn

Shepard at Eisenhower

SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN BLUE

Homewood-Flossmoor at Sandburg

UPSTATE EIGHT

Bartlett at Elgin

Fenton at East Aurora

Larkin at West Chicago

South Elgin at Glenbard South

Streamwood at Glenbard East

WEST SUBURBAN GOLD

Addison Trail at Downers Grove South

Morton at Proviso East

Hinsdale South at Willowbrook

WEST SUBURBAN SILVER

Downers Grove North at Glenbard West

Proviso West at Oak Park

NONCONFERENCE

TF South at Reavis

Lisle at Coal City

Argo at Evergreen Park

Friday, April 2

DUKANE

Glenbard North at Lake Park

Geneva at Batavia

St. Charles East at St. Charles North

FOX VALLEY

Hampshire at Burlington Central

Huntley at McHenry

SANGAMON VALLEY

Watseka at Seneca

SOUTH SUBURBAN BLUE

TF North at Lemont

Hillcrest at Tinley Park

Oak Forest at Bremen

SOUTHLAND

Rich at Kankakee

SOUTHWEST PRAIRIE EAST

Joliet Central at Romeoville

Plainfield East at Joliet West

Plainfield South at Plainfield Central

SOUTHWEST PRAIRIE WEST

West Aurora vs. Oswego at Plainfield North

Plainfield North at Minooka

Yorkville at Oswego East

SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN RED

Lincoln-Way Central at Lincoln-Way East

Stagg at Lincoln-Way West

Saturday, April 3

CHICAGO MICHIGAN AVENUE

Richards/Harper vs. Kelly at Stagg

CHICAGO STATE STREET

Collins vs. Clemente at Rockne

ILLINI BIG SHOULDERS

Dunbar at Lindblom

ILLINI GREAT LAKES

Comer vs. Johnson at Eckersall

Catalyst Maria at Goode

Ag. Science vs. Bogan at Stagg

ILLINI HEARTLAND

Prosser vs. Kennedy at Rockne

ILLINI LAND OF LINCOLN

Raby at Lane

Taft vs. Lincoln Park at Lane

Westinghouse vs. Phillips at Solorio

ILLINI PRAIRIE STATE

Young at Orr

Bulls Prep vs. Payton at Rockne

Clark at Solorio

ILLINI RED BIRD

Hubbard vs. Curie at Gately

Morgan Park vs. Kenwood at Gately

Perspectives vs. Simeon at Gately

ILLINI SECOND CITY

Julian vs. Washington at Eckersall

Harlan vs. Carver at Gately

ILLINI WINDY CITY

Sullivan vs. Lake View at Winnemac

Amundsen vs. Schurz at Winnemac

CCL/ESCC BLUE

Marist at Mount Carmel

CCL/ESCC PURPLE

St. Patrick at St. Viator

Marian Central at Carmel

CSL NORTH

Deerfield at Vernon Hills

Maine West at Maine East

CSL SOUTH

Evanston at New Trier

Glenbrook South at Niles West

DUKANE

Wheaton Warrenville South at Wheaton North

DUPAGE VALLEY

DeKalb at Waubonsie Valley

Naperville Central at Naperville North (canceled)

INTERSTATE EIGHT

LaSalle-Peru at Plano

Morris at Ottawa

Rochell at Kaneland

Sandwich at Sycamore

METRO SUBURBAN BLUE

Aurora Christian at St. Francis

Aurora Central at Elmwood Park

IC Catholic at St. Edward

Riverside-Brookfield at Ridgewood

Wheaton Academy at Westmont

NORTHEASTERN ATHLETIC

Walther Christian at Momence

SANGAMON VALLEY

Clifton Central at Dwight

SOUTHLAND

Thornridge at Crete-Monee

Thornwood at Bloom

SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN BLUE

Lockport at Bolingbrook

SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN RED

Bradley-Bourbonnais at Andrew

NONCONFERENCE

Clemente at Marshall

Thornton at Hope Academy

York at Hinsdale Central

Chicago Christian at McNamara

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