I decided to head over to Wrigley Field Thursday morning, a chilly morning, only about 45 degrees outside after a few days in the 80s this week. Such is October in Chicago.
There were quite a few construction workers around. Most of the activity surrounded bringing in the equipment that was on the truck you see in photos 2, 5 and 22. I’m not quite sure what the purpose of that equipment is, or where it was going.
One of the most interesting things done so far is the removal of the “LEFT FIELD GATE” sign that had been placed over the previous Gate K opposite the firehouse (photo 4). There’s going to be some reconfiguring of this area, from what I understand. Signage was also removed from the main ticket windows on Clark Street (photo 20), though no work was going on in that area.
The Ron Santo and Billy Williams statues have been removed from their perches at the corner of Addison & Sheffield. There is supposed to be a complete reconfiguring of that area and entrance. Here is a 2013 rendering of that corner:
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Many parts of this project have changed since the original renderings, but this corner might wind up looking something like the above, or similar.
We’ll have more photos from the ballpark in a few days. In case you’re counting, it’s 179 days until the Cubs open the home season against the Pirates April 8, 2019.