BCB's David Sameshima found one surprising thing on his Saturday visit to Wrigley Field:
They were pouring concrete in right field when I arrived. As a result, the Sheffield Avenue gate was open during parts of my visit to allow trucks to pass through. I was able to take some photos when the gate was open.I wasn't surprised to see a Budweiser sign go up above the main bleacher gate. I was surprised to see "GATE 10" signs mounted on both sides of the main bleacher gate. This gate had always been officially designated "GATE N." I wonder if all the gates will eventually be re-designated with numbers when all the construction is done. I saw that in addition to the work being done to enclose the back of the left field video board, they are now painting the framework green as well. They have rolled the batting practice net in front of the board, out of the way of the painting.As I passed the firehouse, I spotted a bicycle tour group heading toward me. I was surprised to see the tour leader have the cyclists dismount as they reached the Waveland Avenue sidewalk. When I have previously seen these bicycle tours, they would continue riding down the sidewalk. I ended up talking with another bleacher regular on the sidewalk. When I was done, I spotted the tour group's bicycles locked up near Murphy's Bleachers. This must have been a stop on their tour.Since there was no truck traffic outside of the triangle lot, I was able to easily walk up to the work gates, to take many photos today.
Wrigley Field has had gates with letters as long as I can remember -- as David notes, the main bleacher gate was always Gate N, and in recent years with season-ticket holders having a VIP gate entry, that gate on Sheffield was designated Gate R. The main Clark & Addison gate is Gate F, the gates on Waveland are J and K, and the Addison/Sheffield entry is Gate D.
However, this apparently wasn't always the case. Here's a photo taken October 4, 1935, the date of the first World Series game played at Wrigley that year:
Photo: Chicago History Museum/Getty Images. Click on photo to open a larger version
You can clearly see signs saying "Gates 1 and 2 - Addison & Sheffield" on the facade, and signs that have a "3" on them, designating the gates beneath them. The Cubs have stated that the "model" for the restoration of Wrigley Field is how it looked in the 1930s, considered the "heyday" of the ballpark. Here's another photo clearly showing the gate numbers.
Given this and that they have now officially designated the main bleacher entrance as "Gate 10" (and I have been unable to find any photos of the bleacher entrance as it was in the 1930s), I'd think that David is correct, that once the renovation/restoration project is complete, Wrigley's gates will have numbers instead of letters. Tempus fugit.
Finally, regarding that "Hanover Acres Nursery" truck, I saw that truck parked on Kenmore every day during the last homestand. They didn't seem to be making any deliveries of supplies from a nursery -- I'm guessing that truck simply belongs to one of the construction workers.
We'll have more photos here tomorrow.