Play ball!

I have also put all the front-page stories on the project in their own BCB section, which you can find on the left sidebar. I also posted 12 other diaries with resodding project updates; as soon as I figure out how to move them into that section, I will, so that you can see the progress of the project all in one place.

Looks like they could play ball today, doesn't it? Look at the Chicago forecast for Monday and Tuesday -- that's better weather than we have for most home games in April (and early May).

On my other visits the ballpark this week, I was the only person there taking photos. Today, a small crowd of about a dozen people gathered near the knothole to watch the final few rolls of sod transported inside Wrigley Field. The new field should be completed sometime this afternoon.

Photos by Al

No captions necessary today -- photos are pretty self-explanatory. Note, however, in the first photo you can see the new building on Sheffield nearly completed. I also find it amusing that the forklift, as you can see in the second photo, appears to be called a "Donkey".

(as always, click on thumbnail to view full-size in new browser window. If you are using IE, you may have to click the lower-right corner of the image in the new window to expand it to its full size; in Firefox click anywhere on the image.)

It's barely 40 degrees in Chicago today, but with the new field at Wrigley nearly done, I decided to take another visit there.

I went up to the knothole to take a couple of photos as I did on Wednesday. There was a security guard standing there; he's mostly there to make sure people walking on the sidewalk don't get run over by the forklifts coming out to get the sod and bring it inside. I wanted to stand where he was to take a photo, so I asked him if I could do that.

Instead, he motioned me inside, where I took several of the photos below. He also told me the laying of the sod will be finished tomorrow, after which they will put that "cover" on which will keep the sod warm enough to "take" during the winter. They should be finished, as they had hoped, by Thanksgiving.

Top: Rolls of sod lined up at Gate D on Addison; closeup of a roll of sod next to the wall; work being done on the infield; Roger Bossard riding the "roller" in LF

Bottom: Another view of Bossard on roller; workers in left field; closeup of LF wall and warning track

Photos by Al

(as always, click on thumbnail to view full-size in new browser window. If you are using IE, you may have to click the lower-right corner of the image in the new window to expand it to its full size; in Firefox click anywhere on the image.)

Before I post photos from this morning, a couple of things of interest on an otherwise slow day:

• The photo editor at the Daily Herald emailed me (thanks, Bruce Miles, for the plug!) and asked if they could post a couple of the photos I took yesterday on the DH website. I gave my permission (no, they didn't pay me anything) and you can see those photos here.
• Also at the Herald, Barry Rozner confirms the reports made here and elsewhere that a huge ticket price increase -- on the order of 20-25% -- is coming for 2008, with a letter on the way to season ticket holders (if it comes today, I'll post on it later), and also mentions that PSL's could be in Wrigley Field's future. Right now, that's just speculation. I know many NFL teams, including the Bears, have personal seat licenses, but I do not know if any baseball teams have yet gone this route.

Closeup view of work along the 3B/LF line:

With the sod actually being laid today, I thought it was time to go to the ballpark and have a look at what's going on there.

The "knothole" is open, obviously to give the workers access, and as you will see in the photos below, to get the sod from outside to inside.

It was cold and windy, but it still felt like baseball.

Left to right:
Rolls of sod lined up along Sheffield
Closeup of a roll of sod next to the outfield wall
Closeup of the infield -- you can clearly tell that the crown has been leveled
Sod lined up inside park, workers installing sod in infield, closeup of RF wall -- the padding has been removed, to be replaced later

Photos by Al

(as always, click on thumbnail to view full-size in new browser window. If you are using IE, you may have to click the lower-right corner of the image in the new window to expand it to its full size; in Firefox click anywhere on the image.)

Sod!

(8:15 am CT, Wednesday)

It's unbelievable how lucky they've been with the weather for this project. Today and tomorrow, in fact, are forecast to be nice enough that if the field wasn't still all dirt, it would be pleasant enough to be a nice baseball day:

Nicer than a lot of April days at Wrigley. Anyway, work proceeds this morning (photos taken 8:15 am CT from the webcams):

I'm no expert in these matters, but it sure looks from these photos -- taken from the webcams at 10:45 am CT on Saturday -- that the sod could be laid in starting sometime next week.

That's a bit of a misnomer. These aren't today's headlines -- in fact, there really isn't any important breaking news today. Before I present a few things you might have missed over the last week or two, though, here's a new photo of the resodding project, taken from the webcam this morning:

Remember that lawsuit that MLB brought against fantasy league operators? Where they claimed fantasy leagues shouldn't be able to use stats/names without paying MLB a fee? Well, they lost. If you'd like to read the entire federal appeals court ruling, it's here. (link opens .pdf file)

Speaking of fantasy ball, a guy who I've been in a historical simulation fantasy league with for a number of years, who is a columnist for a newspaper in Mankato, Minnesota, thinks the Cubs might be a possible destination for Torii Hunter. To which I'd say, no thanks. Hunter's almost 33, and his career numbers look a lot like Jacque Jones'. We already have one of those.

Buried in yet another A-Rod opts-out article is a note that says that Japanese pitcher Hiroki Kuroda nearly signed with the Cubs last year, but decided to stay in Japan for "personal reasons". I'd say that if Jim Hendry nearly signed him a year ago, Kuroda's very likely to be sporting a Cub uniform in 2008.

They're going to be breaking ground in Glendale, Arizona, for the new spring training complex to be shared by the Dodgers and White Sox on November 16; it's going to open in February 2009.

Finally, remember Ria Cortesio, the female umpire from the Southern League who umpired a Cubs/Diamondbacks spring training game last March? Despite being ranked the top umpire in the SL before the 2007 season began, she's been let go.

Yawn.

No baseball again today. If MLB wanted to concoct a scheme to destroy interest in the postseason, they couldn't have done better than the 2007 schedule, with all its off days.

Phil Rogers is bored too -- says the World Series will be "a letdown". His theory is that since the last four Series have been dull, that the 2007 version will be, as well. Not sure I follow this tortured logic.

Meanwhile, the Cubs' resodding project, near approval, may be finished as early as December. And Paul Sullivan further writes that whoever buys the Cubs and Wrigley Field should take some lessons from what the Red Sox have done with Fenway Park.

Blogger "Richie Rich" at Home Run Derby makes a persuasive case for the Reds possibly signing Barry Bonds, now that his old enabler Dusty Baker is managing there. Plausible, especially if the few AL teams where he'd fit (Seattle, Oakland, maybe Detroit) all pass. It's further corroborated by this Sabernomics blog post suggesting that the primary reason the Reds paid Baker $3.5 million per year was to send the "message" that they are serious about contending, and might want to make a splash in the free agent market.

And at long last, to no one's real surprise after the death of Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz, Bill's son Rocky, now in charge, is already negotiating to put some home games on TV. Here's the official in-house memo sent to team employees from "W. Rockwell Wirtz" (his full name, and isn't "Rocky" better?) -- note: link opens .pdf file.

And, the Colorado Rockies are going to try again after yesterday's fiasco: Rox World Series tickets go on sale today at 1 pm CDT. Good luck to their computer servers!