Gallery – « Waiting for the Cubs

Gallery –

First half photo review. Signs tell the story …

We’ve assembled a collection of photographs that we shot but, for whatever reason, didn’t post during the first half of the season. We hope they express the ballpark experience for April through mid-July, 2010.

Heading to the ballpark from Addison and Claremont, we see signs of the free enterprise system at work. July 3, 2010.

Blackhawk-mania gripped Wrigleyville, and the whole city, for most of the first half of the baseball season. The shot below was taken at Eddy and Addison, just south of the ballpark, June 11, 2010.

Another entrepreneur below. Addison just west of Clark. May 27, 2010.

The photo below is not symbolic. Addison Red Line el platform, June 25, 2010.

Downstairs at the Addison Red Line station we find a mural of Billy Williams, just in case you didn’t know where you were …

As the season progressed (is that the right word?), it became easier and easier to find tickets at good prices, even over 4th of July weekend against the red hot Reds. Clark Street north of Addison, July 3, 2010 …

Big deals with sponsors made the biggest impression of the first half. Below is a series of shots from June 30, 2010, that illustrates the point.

Noodle? What the … ?

On one of the days we passed the infamous noodle on Clark, a young boy wondered what it was and why it was there. A Wrigley Field employee stood nearby, both to keep people from climbing on it (this problem is not unique to the Cubs; the other day we saw a security guard at the Art Institute scream at a tourist who climbed onto one of the lions to have her picture taken) and to explain just what it was there for. You don’t have to be a VP of Advertising to know that if you need to explain your ad, it ain’t communicating your message. However, we thought it worked in a Claes Oldenburg kind of way!

This sign needs no explanation, although when looked from behind, all of the letters read correctly and spell ATOYOT. Harry might have had fun with that one! Photo taken from Waveland Avenue …

This little marquee tells it all. Murphy’s Bleachers, Waveland Avenue side.

But Murphy’s simple request was rarely granted during the first half of the season. And so we were too often left with the blue “L” flag at the end of the game as the bleachers waited for the seagulls to clean up the mess. But where are the birds? Normally a flock begins to collect in the air above the outfield in the late innings and then swoops in as soon as the fans, and players, are gone. Apparently, the day before the photo below was taken, Wrigley Field employees set off some explosive charges to scare the birds away. Seems to have worked for the time being. This week we’ll find out if the birds return after they take their own All-Star break.

It’s hot in Chicago, and the weather services predict that the high temperatures will continue for another week or more. But baseball will be played, beginning today as the Cubs face the Phillies who are facing a battle in the NL East. A four game series. We’ll get to at least one of them and be back with more from Cubs ballpark, beautiful Wrigley Field.

Somewhere, Over the Rainbow

Photographed Wednesday, June 23, 2010, 8:16PM. Looking east, toward Wrigley Field, from Claremont and Addison.

Friday afternoon, April 9, 2010

Barriers and beer on Waveland Ave. Getting ready for the first day in the bleachers.

Rolling a cart from storage back to the ballpark. Enter Gate K! We’ll be there on Monday heading for SRO.

Delivering the goods.

Hooking up a banner on the roof of Steve’s (aka Son of Admin) old building.

And putting the final touches on the roof at 3639 N. Sheffield.

The sprinklers are on! The grass looks great!

The pennants are up above the Marquee.

Look Woo’s here!

See you at the ballpark …

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Around the ballpark, Opening Day (although the Cubs won’t be home for another week).

The scoreboard is ready! They’re even listing today’s “NITE GAMES”!

Is this guy already in line for SRO next Monday?

Sprucing up a “Sports Club” on Waveland Avenue.

Ernie and a worker.

Is Harry urging us to “Stay away from this ugly Captain Morgan Club!”?

Still working on the stucco.

Bleachers entrance with a newly painted scoreboard.

Watch for Part VI, the last “Off-Season” photo study, just before the home opener, April 12, 2010.

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Around the ballpark, March 29, 2010.

First, the supposed new walkway shown below in our March 17 post is not a walkway. Just a new chain link fence for the employees’ parking lot.

But it’s beginning to look a lot like spring around Wrigley Field.

The new stucco looks nice. Very white and bright. They’re almost done.

Here’s another view of what’s under the stucco. In a previous caption I wrote that it looked like large square bricks. From this shot we can see that it is really red terracotta tiles — they look a lot like the kind of roofing tiles you see in Italy (or, in my case, pictures of Italy, but also on the roof of St. Giles Church in Oak Park where I grew up.). It appears that the tiles were mounted and then filled with some kind of mortar to which the stucco was applied. Enough about building materials already.

Tables and chairs are out around the ballpark. Below, from the top: Bernie’s, Clark and Waveland; Captain Morgan’s on Addison; Murphy’s, Sheffield and Waveland (although is that a little Christmas tree I see on the left?)

Look closely, below, and you’ll see the scaffolding for the workmen who are fixing up the new PNC Club under the upper deck at the far end of the luxury suites along third base. Our view of the scoreboard from SRO is still there!

There was a film crew at the ballpark today, Monday! You can see their lights and scrims below. I was told they were shooting a pilot for Fox TV. Semis and dressing room trailers lined Waveland and Sheffield Avenues.

The Addison Street bus stop (at Southport) wears its Easter bonnet!

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Around the ballpark, March 17, 2010.

Let’s take a stroll and circle Wrigley Field, starting here …

View from the corner of Clark and Waveland. The skating rink is gone. This is the clearest I have ever seen this space. There is nothing there at all, except some parked cars which leads me to suspect that until they figure out what the “triangle building” is going to be, this will be VIP (expensive) parking.

The buildings on Waveland Ave. Rooftops look ready. Note the fire station door is open. It was a warm, beautiful day! The firemen are ready for baseball, too.

The buildings along Sheffield Ave. One building still under construction, visible behind the tree on the left.

Looking at the field through the Sheffield Ave. “knot hole.” The snow is gone and the grass is turning GREEN!

Corner Sheffield and Addison. The new Sports Corner building looks finished and almost ready for opening day.

Sprucing up the Captain Morgan Club on Addison. We hope this is the last year for this ugly appendage to the ballpark, or at least the last year for the hideous Captain Morgan branding. The statue of the mascot, of which I have a picture but will not post, is so out of place at Wrigley Field it should be outlawed as a violation of the ballpark’s status as a National Historic Site.

Scaffolding above Gate F at Clark and Addison. Workers continue to repair the stucco facade around the famous Red Marquee. Below are “before” and “after” shots of the work. Check out the large, pink, square bricks under the stucco, visible for only a short time as the work progressed. Also visible were layers of paint from over the decades — blue, red, gray and beige — which makes one wonder what the ballpark looked like way back when, and more way back when.

Before.

After.

Fans buying tickets.

Work proceeds on the offices inside the park, so the Cubs rolled in these temporary office trailers for their staff.

Constructing a new walkway from near Ernie’s statue, past the clubhouse entrance and players’ parking lot, to Waveland Ave.?

OUR SEATS! Above is our standing room ramp along the far left field line, viewed from the outside. Note the new red girder, probably installed as a replacement for an old one whose structural integrity had been compromised by the millions of fans who have walked that ramp to and from the upper deck.

Only 18 days until Opening Day, but they’ll be working on the park until the home opener on April 12, so we’ll post another round of pictures soon.