With the trade deadline looming at the end of this week, I didn't have a chance to post this photoset from BCB's David Sameshima until today. These photos were taken at Wednesday's game, and before and after the game. Here's David's report.
As usual, I went overboard taking photos. When I was invited by a friend to use his box seat tickets, I figured that this would be a good opportunity to take some photos of the triangle lot, from inside the ballpark. (Thank you Bill, for the tickets!) Instead of just a few photos, I ended up with a complete travel log of a day at Wrigley.There were customers walking up to the Wrigley Field Premium Ticket booth on Addison looking for tickets. It was a pretty good crowd, with many groups taking advantage of this now rare weekday afternoon game. There were many youth groups and senior groups in attendance. I know this put a strain on the ballpark staff to assist these groups. With no elevator available in the grandstands, there was definitely a demand for wheelchair assistance.Construction was most definitely in progress in the triangle lot. There was a cloud of dust floating along Clark Street coming from the work site. I saw a few concrete trucks working on site.Once I went inside, I decided to stay around my seats for a while in the left field corner. I hung around to take some photos here, before heading to the west side of the ballpark, to photograph the triangle lot. I did see new pitcher Ben Rowen's (No. 51) sidearm delivery, when he was throwing in the bullpen. I always loved seeing sidearm pitchers at work, when I was a kid. These photos might be unique, as Rowen has now been designated for assignment.I did finally wander up to the fence along the west side of the ballpark. I walked around for a quite a bit, and took photos from as many different angles as possible, to quench your curiosity about what the triangle lot currently looks like.When I returned to my seats, someone was playing catch with a kid in left field. It was Cubs coach Brandon Hyde (No. 16). The boy was wearing a No. 16 Hyde jersey. These two have done this often this year; it appears to be Hyde's son. Very cool sight to see them having fun on the field.I didn't plan this, but I decided to photograph the video boards so you can see how they are being used during the game. This helped build up my photo count today. This was fun for me too, as I normally sit in the right field bleachers. I have no view of the right field video board when I am in the bleachers. Before the game started, I noticed the countdown clock was on, just before 1:00 p.m., likely being tested before the game.When the Cubs lineup is announced, they now put a replica of the player's autograph on the right field video board. When Kyle Schwarber was announced, they just displayed his uniform number. They must not have his autograph programmed in their database yet. Another interesting sight before the game was when they displayed the scoreboard on the left field video board. That just looked odd.I also have a couple of cupholder photos. I had noticed that there are cup holders on the back row of the grandstand seats. That looked odd, until I saw that they use the space behind the back row for ADA guests. Now those guests have the option to use the cup holders in front of them. I also noticed that some of the advertising decals on those cup holders, were missing or falling off. I had an usher tell me that besides coming off, some guests love to pick at those decals.I had a friend with me who is also a photographer. When he is at a game, he likes to hang around for a bit, to take photos after the end of the game. I decided to stay as well, and walk around with him, when the game ended. This added to my photo count. We took a quick walk to the upper deck, where I did get some more interesting photos. In one photo, you can see how much work is still being done on Waveland Avenue. We went by the west side of the ballpark, where he had previously found a small gap in the fence, that has a great view of the triangle lot. This is photo 97. My thanks to George Nagata for showing me this spot.Outside the ballpark, the privacy curtain on Waveland was actively being used. The fire station got a call, so they had to clear the street to permit Engine 78 to go out on a run. As soon as the engine cleared, the staff quickly closed up the curtain, for someone who wanted to walk through.Since the Cubs were heading out for a road trip, the team equipment truck made its way down Waveland to Gate K. They did allow fans to wait for player autographs at one end of the gate, while the truck backed up to the other side of the gate. Since the Cubs were only traveling to Milwaukee, there was no team bus to shuttle the team off to the airport. The players were probably going to return at a later time, to catch the team bus up to Milwaukee.
When the Cubs travel to Milwaukee for a series like the one this weekend, that begins with a night game, they generally leave the morning of the first game of the series, to give the players an extra night at home. For this set the team bus left Thursday morning.