Saturday was another busy day at Wrigley Field. Unfortunately, it was construction instead of baseball.
BCB’s David Sameshima visited the ballpark on Saturday and filed this report.
I ended up visiting the ballpark in the late afternoon. The temperature had dropped, and the winds picked up, as expected. I did wear a winter hat, but regretted not bringing gloves. The sun just began getting hidden by clouds right after I arrived.
They were starting to chip away the concrete in the right field corner, above the Wintrust Gate (former Gate D) area. The machine equipped with the jackhammer device at the end of its arm was working in tight quarters. They had to open up the fence on Sheffield, directly behind where they were working. The machine had to occasionally back out slightly out onto Sheffield Avenue, in order to maneuver. A worker and security guard had to remain behind the machine, to momentarily stop traffic.
I now know the purpose of the scaffolding erected at certain points, outside the ballpark. They are using cranes to lift dumpsters up the platforms set up at the top of the scaffolding. On the Clark Street side, they are also using the deck above the Gallagher Way Gate, to hold a dumpster. As I was walking down Waveland Avenue, I also caught a crane lifting a dumpster into the ballpark, along the third base side.
Taking a walk around the bleachers, I saw them dismantling the staircase that was located in the bleacher left field corner. This corner has looked unfinished since the 2014-2015 reconstruction. This was likely done intentionally, as they have been planning to reconstruct the left field corner in a later phase of the project.
Finally, they have removed the construction fences in front of the main bleacher gate. This corner will be now be available for photo ops during the off season.
We’ll have more photos from Wrigley Field upcoming early in the week.