Here's your surprise: tonight, the Cubs offered those of us who are bleacher season ticket holders, a one-hour tour of the new facilities, before the craziness that will be Opening Day tomorrow.

And let me say... I think they did a terrific job. While it is new, there are still many, many familiar things. The old beer shack that David photographed the other day, is now a souvenir hut. The old troughs are in the men's room (grandfathered in), but there are also new and larger restrooms for men and women. There are larger and newer concession stands on the lower level, with a wider selection of food. And there is a huge patio area behind CF (the one thing I didn't get any pics of), where people can socialize and watch the game on TV monitors. There are still a few small areas of standing room, in addition to the areas adjacent to CF where people can stand (that area wasn't touched by the construction).

We were met by Cubs Executive VP of Business Operations Mark McGuire. First thing he asked was, "Is Al Yellon here?" I identified myself and he said that Cub and Tribune execs have been following the progress through David and my photos on BCB, particularly on weekends when they didn't come to the park.

You're welcome. Anyway, he guided us through the whole place, showing us the new corridors through which bleacher ticket holders can now enter the rest of the park (no, sorry, you won't be able to get out there if you have non-bleacher ticket. Bleacher ticket holders will be scanned in AND out of the bleachers if they go to the other side), through the new Batter's Eye suite, and the patio area, concession areas and restrooms. We also went past the "knothole", which WILL be open during games, so people on the street can watch -- that is, if there aren't any paying fans in front of the knothole. It will be possible for a bleacher fan to go to the lower level, and watch the game through the knothole -- though, the fence is covered by what we used to call a "windscreen", now called something else by McGuire, but for the life of me, neither Jeff nor Howard nor Mike nor I could remember the term he used! -- which will make the fence look green when viewed from home plate.

Then we were free to wander, and Howard, Mike, Brian, Jeff & I went to a couple of different areas (since our old bench area no longer exists) to choose our new seat. You can see it below.

One scoop I got today: sometime later in the year, during a roadtrip, the bare gray concrete is going to be painted green. You can see where the old concrete, some of which was left, meets the new. All the new benches are metal -- which is going to be cold in the spring, hot in the summer! The old benches were left in the CF bleachers, though.

All in all, we were very, very pleased to see that they did do this with some thought, with consideration to some fan requests that were made, and with comfort in mind (there are also a couple of wheelchair sections). We'll see how it feels for a ballgame tomorrow, but as of now -- a job well done!

Top: view from the "Batter's Eye"; LF bleachers; view of "Batter's Eye" from RF; "bleacher boxes" (note, some of those seats have partially obstructed views)

Middle: lower-level concession stand; RF bleacher section; wide view of LF bleachers; wide view of RF bleachers

Bottom: another view of RF corner "bleacher boxes"; CF batter's eye showing new TV camera house (room, according to McGuire, for three cameras side-by-side); us in our new home (top: Mike, me, Howard; bottom, Brian & Jeff); wider shot of us in aisle 313, our new right field home

Photos by Al

One day to go -- and the job's pretty much finished. The new bleachers will be ready to open, and I congratulate the construction crew on a job well done.

It remains to be seen, of course, how it will look and feel inside to those of us who will be watching the games from there.

The timeline has also been updated.

Among other team notes, Jerome Williams will change his uniform number from 32 to 57. Players, a superstitious lot, often do this to try to change their luck. The last Cub to do this during a season was Henry Blanco, last year. He proceeded to go on a hitting tear.

I'm in favor of this move mainly because of the record of the last player before Williams to wear #32.

BCB housekeeping note: I have fixed the threading problem that used to occur when there are more than 200 comments on a post.

Top: bleacher entrance area. Vendor carts now going into position; this is an access gate that was open, just west of the bleacher entrance, on Waveland Ave. There is a new food concession stand, under left center field, on the ground floor; another photo, of the scene in the previous photo. The structure above the food counter is the new center field TV camera shack. Also note the sign for the women's room; a side view of the new elevator.

Middle: view of the new left field corner stairwell, being spiffed up; blurry photo, of the back, of the left field bleachers. Are those television monitors, mounted behind the seating area?; wide view of the bleacher entrance. Note the concession carts now in the new patio area; the new position of the beer shack. The top of the shack is visible, just to the left of the Sheffield Ave.street sign.

Bottom: view inside the Waveland Ave.wall, looking west; view underneath the new bleacher box seating area, in the right field corner; view of the "knothole" gate, also underneath the new bleacher box seating area, in the right field corner. Note that screens have now been attached to the interior fence, that faces the playing field; view inside the Sheffield Ave.wall, looking north.

Photos by David Sameshima

It sure started out well, but Glendon Rusch and Jerome Williams showed why they really should be bottom-of-the-rotation starters today. The Cubs hit three homers but lost to the Reds anyway, 8-6.

And seriously: Bronson Arroyo hitting a HR? The guy was 4-for-55 lifetime at the plate coming into the game and hadn't had a hit in over four years. There's just no excuse for giving a guy like that a pitch to drive.

Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and John Mabry homered for the Cubs today. The best news about those HR are: they accounted for all the runs, which means, unlike last year when it seemed every homer was a solo job, at least people are getting on base before the long ball. Mabry's a good hitter; his HR was to dead-center field. I think we are going to like having him on the bench.

In addition to Rusch and Williams (who was particularly bad, not being able to find the plate), Michael Barrett had a day he won't want to remember long -- he was 0-for-4 at the plate with a strikeout, and the Reds stole three bases on him.

Or, I should say, Ryan Freel stole three bases on Barrett. Freel's a pest. When guys like that are on your team, you love them. When they're opposing you, they're worse than Albert Pujols. Freel walked twice, had a hit, the 3 SB and scored three runs, including an insurance run in the 8th on an infield out. While Barrett's not a great defensive catcher, give Freel some credit. He's a good player. I wish the Cubs had thought about trying to trade for him -- he can play five positions, draw walks, steal bases.

So, the Cubs come home at .500, and thank heavens Greg Maddux and Carlos Zambrano will throw the first two games against the Cardinals (Jeff Suppan will face Maddux; Chris Carpenter vs. Z).

And they'll find brand-new digs waiting for them. After a warmer-than-expected-and-usual winter, the construction crews are putting the final touches on the new bleachers. Yes, there's a sign for that beer that's "sponsoring" the bleachers. It can easily be ignored. David sent these photos, taken Tuesday evening:

Top: presenting the "Bud Light Bleachers" (Ugh!); Waveland Ave., behind left field. Note the strip of soil, at the base of the new wall. This strip extends around the entire bleachers; photo taken at the bleacher entrance. View inside the right field wall, looking south; the "knothole" gate, on Waveland Ave., in the far right field corner.

Bottom: view from Sheffield Ave, looking north; view inside the gate, at the new left field corner stairwell; view inside the bleacher entrance; view inside the gate, at the new right field corner stairwell. This is the passageway inside the Sheffield Ave. brick wall, looking north.

Photos by David Sameshima

You'll see in some of the photos that there are several surfaces yet to be painted. Maybe I ought to wear a poncho on Friday. I hope they're done -- in 1946 the old Boston Braves were forced to host the Phillies at Fenway Park because they had painted their seats and they hadn't yet dried.

Now, David's report and photos from Monday evening, April 3:

I will say one thing about the way the structure is built. Look in particular at photo "h", the last one on the bottom row. I sure hope the steel superstructure is strong enough to hold all the people who will be sitting behind the back brick wall, and on the walkway.

Just sayin'.

I haven't yet updated the timeline; I'll try to get to that tomorrow. - UPDATE [2006-4-5 8:27:34 by Al]: The timeline has been updated, Wednesday morning.

Top: view of the "knothole" gate area, with both the inner and outer gates, in the lowered position. This is in the right field corner, on Sheffield; the new bleacher entrance. View looking south, down Sheffield; the Waveland Ave. side of the new bleacher entrance; the Waveland Ave.side, behind the center field scoreboard. You can see how wide the new patio area is, behind the scoreboard.

Bottom: for the ballhawks. View from Kenmore Ave., behind the left field bleachers; behind the left field bleachers, looking east down Waveland; top of the new left field corner. Note part of the new fence still awaiting a paint job; view of the new left field corner, looking east down Waveland

Photos by David Sameshima

Since David took the current photos (Saturday afternoon), I'll let him fill you in on what was going on -- here's what he emailed me:

The timeline has also been updated.

Top: new upper level, above the bleacher entrance. Note the "Frozen Drinks" sign, to the right of the elevator; bleacher entrance, viewed from across the street; view from the CTA Addison St. L station. Note that the new benches are visible in left field; new bleacher entrance.

Middle: view looking north, down Sheffield Ave. Note new speakers being installed, at the top of the photo; view of the new stairwell, in the left field corner; view of the new "deluxe" television camera shack, in center field. Photo taken from Waveland Ave; new bleacher entrance.

Bottom: for a change, something old. The return of the beer shack, now located on the new walkway, behind right-center field; view of new fencing material, still being delivered; area around the peephole gate, in the right field corner. Note the bricks still being laid, in the new sidewalk; view of the new knothole gate; view of the right field corner, looking north.

Photos by David Sameshima

David also notes:

Bonus! David's friend Donna went with him yesterday, and so here are four shots of "the photographer at his craft":

Photos by Donna Wakefield

They're making progress.

No, really. Look at the speed with which the walls went up around the new stairwell. And, the entranceways -- nice fences, incidentally -- are nearly complete.

There's just ... one ... small ... detail.

As you can see -- most clearly in the first two photos -- there aren't any benches yet! There are going to be butts waiting to occupy those seats a week from Friday.

I know they'll make it. The construction crews have been hardworking and done a terrific job. But I'll bet they're working right up to the last minute.

If you have clicked on the timeline in the last two weeks, you know that it was messed up. I finally figured out the trouble and fixed it -- the timeline is now also updated.

Top: new wall in place, around the left field corner stairwell; top of the new left/center field area. Note the new emergency exit signs, that have been installed; Waveland Ave side, behind left field, looking east; for the ballhawks. View from Kenmore Ave.

Middle: bleacher entrance area, Waveland Ave.side. Note the section of fencing being lowered in place, on the right side of the photo; Waveland Ave., behind the left field bleachers, looking west. The rebuilt emergency exit/employee access stairwell is visible, in the top of the photo; new bleacher entrance area; another photo of the new bleacher entrance area.

Bottom: Sheffield Ave. side, below the right field bleachers, looking south. Note the new sidewalk; view behind the right right field bleachers. Note the visible gap between the bleacher boxes, on the left, and the regular bleachers, on the right. Also note the sidewalk has not yet been rebuilt in this area; view behind the right field bleachers, taken from across the street, on Sheffield Ave. This is the view directly behind the area also seen in previous photo; view of the new brick wall enclosing the new right field corner stairwell.

Photos by David Sameshima, taken Saturday, March 25

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona -- Just because I'm in Arizona, doesn't mean the top-notch BCB Photo Team isn't there documenting the bleacher reconstruction.

David took these photos around noon Saturday, March 18; you can see that things are getting close to completion. They're going to have to be -- the place opens for business in 18 days!

I'll post a game thread later today.

Top: view of the new stairs, in the far left field corner. Note the brick wall being built, to enclose the base of the stairs; update for the ballhawks. View from the center of Kenmore; top of the new left field bleachers. Note the opening for the aisle, on the left side of this photo; Vaveland Ave. side, below the left field bleachers, looking west. Note the new sidewalk.

Middle: Waveland Ave. view of the left field bleachers, looking east; bleacher entrance area, viewed from Waveland, looking south; Sheffield Ave side view of the emergency exit/employee access stairwell, in right field; empty dumpster being dropped off on Sheffield Ave.

Bottom: view of the gap between the new bleacher box seating area, and the main bleacher seating section; view of the knothole area, on Sheffield; view of the right field bleachers, from across Sheffield, looking north; another view looking north, on Sheffield.

Photos by David Sameshima

Three weeks from Friday... this has to be finished, or at least finished enough for people to walk in, sit down, get things to eat and drink... and use the facilities. Looking at photo #7 (third one in the middle), I wonder about the last item in that list.

I'll post a game discussion thread later on today; thought you would enjoy the photos now! Photos taken Sunday morning, March 12.

Top: new stairs, in the LF corner. View looking east, down Waveland; view underneath the new stairs, in the LF corner; view looking east, of the new Waveland exterior. Note part of the original street curb, visible in the lower left corner of the photo; view looking west, of the new Waveland Ave.exterior, toward the new stairs.

Middle: top of the left/center field bleachers. Note the new bleacher extension that rises higher than the level of the new catwalk; another photo for the ballhawks. View from Kenmore; bleacher entrance, viewed from Waveland; bleacher entrance, viewed from across the street.

Bottom: new stairs in the right field corner; view from across the street, of the new stairs, in the right field corner; close-up view of the new stairs, in the right field corner; view of right field, looking north on Sheffield.

Photos by David Sameshima

It was hardly worth the trip to Tucson today -- the Cubs lost to the Rockies 6-2, and no one did much. They managed only four singles and two doubles. Of course, only two of the projected starting eight (Matt Murton and Jacque Jones) played today. Jerome Williams got pounded. That's not good news.

The other interesting thing about today's game was the attendance -- only 3,734, less than half capacity at Hi Corbett Field. When I went to Tucson last March, the game drew a sellout of 8,587. Yes, that was on a weekend, and the Tucson weather (63 and cloudy) wasn't so great today. But I do believe this shows that attendance is down in general for the Cubs in the Cactus League.

Also, Mark Prior faced hitters today and is still in line to start a Cactus League game next week.

Now, what you have been clamoring for -- new photos of the bleacher construction project! You'll note some significant changes in the last week, including a staircase at the western edge of the LF bleachers (last photo in 2nd row). And the reason there wasn't an extra update last weekend was -- David has been sick, and couldn't get his photos to me. He promised to send me some this weekend.

The timeline has also been updated. (If you looked last week, it wasn't -- I forgot! But it is now updated with both last week's and today's photos.)

Top: walkway behind CF & top of new elevator; view of what will be entranceway (note: no work has been done on lower level restrooms yet); wall on Waveland (in background, the restaurant); scoreboard & walkway in LF. This photo is significant because of the clock -- for several months it was stuck on 7:55, but 10:28 is the time this photo was taken, and the clock did move while I was there. This indicates that power has been restored to at least part of the bleachers.

Middle: photo taken from Kenmore at the request of one of the Waveland ballhawks. Note that although the new structure is large, it isn't all that tall. I doubt it will make much difference at all in the number of balls reaching the street, either in BP or during games; LF walkway showing new green/white paint job; this stairway in LF has gone up in the last week. Not sure where it is going to lead to; concrete work on Sheffield

Bottom: more wall work on Sheffield; wide view of entire RF structure; the "knothole" (this view is likely to vanish soon as they complete the wall); the far south end of the structure on Sheffield

Photos by Al

Cubs win!

And so what, really. The Cubs beat the A's 8-7 today. That's meaningless, because the seven runs (and three HR) were off Bryan Corey, who has absolutely zero chance of making the major league squad. And even the winning run was generated by people (Dopirak, Pagan, Reyes) who won't be in the majors this year.

Mike Wuertz threw a scoreless ninth for the win. That's good. Felix Pie hit a triple. That's good. Carlos Zambrano threw two scoreless innings and now heads off to the WBC. Attendance was 7,717 -- rather small by Ho Ho Kam standards over the last few years.

And I wasn't listening during the seven-run A's fifth inning. This goes along with what I wrote three years ago about me not listening to spring training games on the radio, resulting in wins. We'll see if tomorrow's game is different, as there is no WGN broadcast.

About the bleachers, they will open five weeks from tomorrow... I sure hope they're done!

Actually, given some nice weather the next few weeks, they should be done, although the entranceway hasn't been started, the sidewalk areas are still mud, and as you can see in the last photo, there are no benches in yet.

For a different perspective, I decided it was worth $1.75 to go up to the Addison L stop to take a photo... you can't see much from there, but you can see that there have not yet been any benches installed.

Top: workman placing plastic sheeting over new wall; back fences behind both seats and walkway; closeup of wall on Waveland; another view of wall on Waveland

Middle: closeup of gap in wall in photo above; this is where the entrance will be; wall on Sheffield; work on Sheffield wall (location: south of previous photo)

Bottom: another view of work on Sheffield wall; wider view of entire structure; view behind CF to where "private box" will be; view of construction from Addison L stop (note: LF padding still not replaced)

Photos by Al