Lots of activity around Wrigley Field on Friday in various areas, so let me get right to the report from BCB's David Sameshima:
It was 47 degrees when I arrived, with a 41 degree wind chill. No surprise that the ballpark was busy on Friday. It was causing quite a traffic jam on Waveland Avenue. In addition to the ongoing construction work, now you add all the ballpark facilities staff trying to set up Wrigley for gameday. So much to cover.I'll start with the construction. They continued to work in the left field bleachers. More of those concrete forms were going in. As you can see in my photos, they were nowhere near complete when I left. They were adding something to the back row in the left field corner. I couldn't tell what they were. There was nothing fancy going on with the video board. All I saw were color blocks. There did appear to be a group conducting some inspection, or tour, on top of it.In right field there was touch up work going on, but nothing major. One large crane was packed up, and ready to depart on Sheffield. I did see conduit running up to the Budweiser sign in the far right field corner. On the ballpark operations side you had supplies be stocked, and the ballpark being cleaned up. Gate D is normally where ballpark supplies are delivered, and that side of the ballpark was not directly affected by this phase of the project. What did cause an issue was that the Cubs gear truck arrived. It needed to be unloaded on the Gate K/J side of the park. That's a problem when Waveland Avenue is narrowed, construction vehicles need access, and so does the fire department.New decorative tarps were put up to cover the broadcast cable bridge, and in front of the VIP/Players parking tent. Replacement tarp covers were being fitted over the faded logos on the tarp, along Waveland.Ticket sales were still being handled at the Cubs Store, but the regular ticket windows looked ready to reopen. Friday was the first time I had ever seen an access panel opened on the right side of the marquee. A sign maintenance person set the display to a test pattern, and was inspecting all the display lights. Pretty cool.
Don't forget to check out the GoFundMe campaign to help David replace his damaged/broken equipment, if you have not already done so.
Back in Chicago, I haven't been to Wrigley Field since late November and have been following the construction project along with all the rest of you via David's photos. I think I'm going to head over to the ballpark this afternoon. So... if David isn't there, I'll take some photos myself and post them. Either way, we'll have something here tomorrow as by then the park will be only hours away from Opening Night.