Demolition continues at a quick pace at Wrigley Field. When I visited the ballpark Thursday morning, loud demolition was going on in the area near the right field gate (the gate formerly known as Gate D). Here are two short videos:
As you can see in the videos, the former Draft Kings Sports Zone (was the Captain Morgan Club previously) is now reduced to rubble. Also, the concrete panels that once lined the entire exterior of Wrigley apart from the bleachers are gone. Those panels were added to the ballpark in 1958, so they were there for more than half the ballpark’s life. According to contemporary accounts, they were placed there to try to reduce noise coming out of the ballpark onto the street — yes, that’s right, P.K. Wrigley trying to be a “good neighbor.” In the late 1950s, most crowds weren’t even that large. It seems like a bad idea poorly executed, but now they’re gone.
There are large wooden boards in the left-field corner (photos 5, 7 and 8) that are covering up an area where seats were (and presumably will be again). I’m not sure what the purpose of these boards are, but I suppose we’ll find out eventually.
So far, the Cubs have had good weather to work in and there seem to be several dozen workers around the ballpark working on various parts of the project, so things are proceeding quickly. It’s 172 days (24½ weeks) until the 2019 Cubs home opener against the Pirates Monday, April 8, 2019.
We hope to have more photos here over the weekend.