I don't have any construction update photos for you today, so I thought this would be a good time to begin this series.
I've got hundreds of photos of the old bleachers -- the ones that existed from 1937-2005 -- and their demolition and reconstruction in the 2005-06 offseason, nine years ago.
Today, I begin a series that will show you, in chronological order, how that happened. This first installment has photos of the bleachers as they existed in the summer of 2005, the last season of the original bleachers that were built in the summer of 1937. You can see the outer walls of the ballpark that were on Waveland and Sheffield that were constructed in the 1920s, and views of the bleachers both of the seating area and below that exist now only in our memories.
The last four photos are from the final home game of that season, September 28, 2005. The Cubs lost to the Pirates 3-2 on a miserable, gloomy, rainy afternoon that seemed to match the mood of everyone in the bleachers that day. The final photo is of my group's bleacher bench, taken not long after the final out of that game. I think it sums up perfectly how we all felt that day.
Enjoy this series as you counterpoint it with the photos taken so far this fall, and those to come the rest of this offseason.