Watch Wrigley Field’s bleachers get torn down as part of ballpark renovation
Looking something like a Transformer robot wrecking Chicago in a Michael Bay movie, a human-operated crain grabs impossibly heavy steel girders and rips them out of the ground, leaving only an ivy covered brick fence standing. That’s how the demolition of the bleachers at Wrigley Field continued this past week.
As part of Wrigley’s $500-plus million renovation project, the Chicago Cubs are ripping out the iconic bleachers in left and right field — even though that part of the ballpark already has been renovated just eight years ago — and “improving” them so that the granstand might support a big new scoreboard, more lights, more fan amenities, more advertising, more etc.
Hey, you’ve got to pay somehow for Joe Maddon to manage, for Rick Renteria’s buyout and for Ozzie Guillen to coach third base.
All that will remain in left and right — the brick fence. The center-field bleachers, including the scoreboard installed in 1937 and still operated by hand, mostly, will stay. Although, center field presumably will have some work done as well:
Wrigley Blog, which also has a must-follow Twitter account, has been documenting the changes. Here’s a recent update that says a lot:
Of course, there’s a lot to question in the name of progress, including why Cubs ownership isn’t saving souvenirs from the demo. They appear to be throwing remnants away:
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David Brown is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter!
