An update on the Ron Santo and Billy Williams statues

Sunday, I noted here the Cubs’ announcement that the Ron Santo and Billy Williams statues near the corner of Addison & Sheffield were being removed and placed in storage. A sports book is going to be constructed at that location and the statues will return in a different location near Wrigley Field.

Mike Bojanowski headed over to Wrigley early Monday to hopefully get some photos of the removal, and when he got there the statues and pedestals had already been removed and placed on trucks. Here are photos taken at 9:40 a.m. Monday:

Grid View

• Statues being removed Mike Bojanowski
• Statues and pedestals on truck Mike Bojanowski
• Statues and pedestals on truck Mike Bojanowski
• Statues and pedestals on truck Mike Bojanowski
• Statue locations, fenced off Mike Bojanowski
• Billy Williams statue base Mike Bojanowski
• Ron Santo statue base Mike Bojanowski
• Harry Caray statue, still in place Mike Bojanowski
• Ernie Banks statue, still in place Mike Bojanowski

In the Sun-Times, Mitch Dudek posted this article which gives quite a bit of detail about what’s happening to those statues going forward. First, as noted in my article Sunday, this is the location of the new Wrigley Field sports book that will open “in 2023,” per Cubs spokesman Julian Green.

The Ron Santo and Billy Williams statues will return to the ballpark, to be placed in a new area on Gallagher Way on the west side of Wrigley:

The statues of Williams and Santo will be refurbished before heading to their new home outside the ballpark in an area known as Gallagher Way.

The new site of the statues will be known as “Statue Row” and feature likenesses of former Cubs greats, Green said.

The relocated and refurbished statues will be on display this spring, Green said.

The occasion will be marked by the unveiling of a new statue depicting Hall of Fame hurler Fergie Jenkins.

The Ernie Banks statue that’s currently beneath Wrigley’s iconic marquee will eventually be moved to Statue Row, too, Green said.

This actually sounds great — all the Hall of Fame Cubs with statues together, as they were as teammates for many years in the late 1960s and early 1970s. There’s no date set yet for the unveiling of the Fergie statue, but I’ll be sure to report that when it’s available.

The gallery above has a photo of Ernie’s statue as well as the statue of Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray. The latter is located outside the bleacher entrance at the corner of Waveland and Sheffield. That one will remain in place:

“Harry is looking good out there,” Green said.