About Us
OUR STORY
While being called a ‘sports bar on steroids’, what has always set our bar apart from anywhere else is the people. Regardless of the sheer size of Sluggers, it has always had that neighborhood bar feel. The essence of our bar is that EVERYONE is welcome. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, what you look like, or how old you are, everyone checks their egos at the door to meet up with people they know, and get to know those they don’t.
For over 35 years, Steve Strauss' Sluggers World Class Sports Bar & Grill has been family owned and operated, and has established itself as THE premiere sports bar in all of the city of Chicago, and one of the most well known sports bars in the world.
With over 40 TVs including great sight lines to 6 10 foot big screens and perfectly placed HD TVs throughout the bar, there is no better place to watch a Chicago, let alone ANY, sporting event. With tons of memorabilia and memories covering the walls, our full bar, extensive beer list, and regular drink specials, you'll never be bored! On our SECOND LEVEL we have a full indoor sports complex with our WORLD FAMOUS BATTING CAGES, ELECTRONIC BASKETBALL, SKEE-BALL, AIR HOCKEY, ARCADE & VIRTUAL DRIVING GAMES, and much more!
We have a full menu that includes WINGS, BURGERS, PIZZA, SALADS, and a huge selection of the best APPETIZERS in Wrigleyville! We even have an outdoor patio for those beautiful Chicago summer days. Whether you’re in the mood to hit the dance floor, sit and watch a game, or just plain enjoy a few cocktails or beers, there truly is no better place to go before and after every Cubs Game, all football season, and all year long and feel like you’re at home, than to come and hang with thousands of people who call Sluggers just that, home. You never know! You just might end up being another one of our regulars!
Come once, or come everyday, there truly is no other place on Earth quite like the one and only, Sluggers World Class Sports Bar, Chicago!
Steven Strauss
At the beginning of 1985, multiple bar owner Steve Strauss had an idea and opened up a business at the corner of Clark and Eddy that not only cemented his legacy in the heart of Wrigleyville and the Lakeview neighborhood, but the great city of Chicago as well. Of course, this business is the World-famous Sluggers World Class Sports Bar & Grill.
Steve opened Sluggers World Class Sports Bar & Grill at 3540 N. Clark Street in what then, was just an auto body garage in an area that only had a handful of other bars, and one of the most famous baseball stadiums in the World. In those days, the moniker ‘Wrigleyville’ wasn’t applied to the neighborhood just yet, but Steven loved Chicago, baseball and sports, and watching people have a good time! He also had the foresight and sense of innovation to include an indoor entertainment emporium that would be anchored by what are now the World-famous indoor batting cages on the second level. Eventually, he went on to open a Sluggers in Vernon Hills, Orland Park, and across from Coors Field in Denver. At the end of the day though, his heart and soul were always at the corner of Clark & Eddy where his passion and love for hard work and going to work every day were a call back to his time as a child delivering beer for his father.
Sluggers has been the epicenter for celebrating iconic Chicago sports moments throughout the past 35 years. This includes 2 Chicago Bears Super Bowl appearances, 6 Chicago Bulls NBA titles, 3 Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup titles, 1 Chicago White Sox World Series title, and of course 1 Chicago Cubs World Series title. That only scratches the surface when it comes to other moments in Chicago sports history that didn’t include titles. Along with sports, Sluggers has cemented its status as a staple in Chicago, and pop culture history with appearances in films and TV, visits from athletes and celebrities known around the globe, and of course, the countless number of patrons that have flocked to Sluggers from all over the world.
The neighborhood has certainly changed. Businesses have come and gone. Patrons and employees have moved or passed away. If there is one constant in Wrigleyville though, it is that Steve Strauss, Sluggers, and the Strauss family will always be at the corner of Clark & Eddy with arms wide open to welcome our first-time customers, people who haven’t visited in years and are coming back, and those who have never left that make Sluggers such a special place.
Ultimately, Steve’s goal in life was to one day just be the customer, but if there was anything that the three quarters of a century of his life, and 35+ years of business at Clark & Eddy had shown, it was that the day was never to come as he loved his work, job, and business too much!
It’s hard not to have loved, admired, and respect the man. He was salt of the earth and good to everyone, whoever they are, wherever they are from, whatever they are into, and whatever they look like.
