AMARILLO, Texas -- So I'm here in my hotel room in Amarillo, about halfway home to Chicago, and I guess I missed all the excitement at Wrigley Field Wednesday afternoon as the famous red "WRIGLEY FIELD" marquee was restored to its original position at the main entrance of the ballpark.
Neither Mike Bojanowski nor David Sameshima could make it to the park during the day due to work commitments. So, I had to find other sources. Fortunately, the Cubs were willing to share some photos with me so I could post them, and many thanks to Alyson Cohen, Cubs Coordinator of Public Relations, for sending me the first seven photos in this gallery.
BCB reader Debbie Harrison also reached out to me with some photos, the final three in this gallery.
I have to say, I think they did a fantastic job on the restoration. It does look like new, and with the red terra cotta beneath, it brightens the whole place up.
If I'd had my druthers I'd have liked to see them go back to the original blue/green color of the marquee. Think of all the new merchandise they could have sold. But, the marquee has been red longer than it was green. It was originally installed in 1934, and switched over to red in 1965. So that's 31 years as green/blue, and 50 as red, and I think most modern fans would think it looked odd in blue or green. I hope to have more photos of the completion of the installation to post here tomorrow morning, when I'll be back on the road again, hoping to arrive in Chicago just about the time the Cubs and Diamondbacks take the field in Phoenix.