Last year, a lot of people typed a lot of words about the renovated bleachers and new video boards at Wrigley. Yeah, they obstruct much of the view from the rooftops across the street, but tough shit. The Ricketts have bought up most of that property by now anyway.
This year, there was a fair bit of work done on the exterior of the ballpark too. The famous marquee sign that was taken down shortly after last season ended and restored was finally re-installed earlier this week.
But by far the biggest change at Wrigley this offseason is just for the team.
It’s pretty well known that the Cubs had some of the worst locker rooms in the sport, in large part to everything being extremely cramped. Here’s a look at what the team clubhouse looked like last year.
And here’s a clip of the team finally getting their first looks at the new locker room. To call it an upgrade is an understatement.
Before:
Current:
And when it’s all finished, it will look roughly like this:
What used to be 11,000 square feet of arguably the worst clubhouse in the game is now a 30,000 sq ft thing of beauty.
Considering how much time players spend at the ballpark outside of the actual game, this is a pretty huge deal. There’s even enough space for Schwarber to stay with the team while he rehabs his busted leg…and he intends to…instead of him having to go through all of that process elsewhere, which would have been the case in previous years.
Eamus Catuli
Fan Interference 
Oh wow. Wow!
Couldn’t help but notice that Bryzzo are right next to each other, as are Lester and Lackey. Birds of a feather, etc etc…
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Yeah, there’s no way that’s an accident. And Ross’ locker is on the other side of Lester’s.
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Of course Lester and Lackey are together. Lester the Lacking and Lackey the Lesser, as it was written, so shall it be done.
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This is a really cool article. I’d love to see a comparison between all the clubhouses in the league.
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I know that when these facilities are all finished, only the Yankees will have a bigger clubhouse in terms of square footage.
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I’d like to see how this compares to a older facility like Oakland. I’m guessing it has a little less standing sewage…
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Well, yeah. I’d hope so.
Boston is a pretty old facility too…
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I believe I read an article the other day where they were talking about the oldest currently used stadiums, and I thought Boston and Chicago were the two oldest, which explains the much needed renovations in Wrigley.
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I’m about 99% sure that Wrigley and Fenway are not just the oldest ballparks still in use, but they are both something like 50 years older than anything else.
This year is the 100th season that the Cubs have played at Wrigley, and they’ll be wearing these patches on their jerseys all season…
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I believe you are correct. There was a bargraph and it was pretty silly looking at it.
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And it appears that Rizzo has adopted Starlin Castro’s walkup music from last year…which is outstanding. Everyone in the crowd and in the dugout loves that shit.
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When I made my pilgrimage to Wrigley last year, Castro’s walk up music was absolutely electric. Good on ya, Rizz.
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I am very excited to be visiting this ballpark this year. Do they do tours for fans?
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Sure.
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/chc/ballpark/tours/index.jsp
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It’s beautiful, but make sure you pick your seat carefully before hand. If you purchase a ticket for the outfield bleachers, you will not be allowed access to the other part of the stadium.
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My seats are in section 208. 🙂
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If I didn’t overlook something, Dodger Stadium is third-oldest. Fourth? The tire fire in Oakland, tied with Anaheim.
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I thought Kauffman was older than Anaheim?
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Royals started play in 69.
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And, Wiki says stadium wasn’t built until 1973. They played wherever the KC A’s played, until then, and that may have been the Blues’ old minors stadium.
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Huh. You learn something new every day!
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its a beautiful place
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Addison Motherfucking Russell with the hero bomb in the home opener. Lefty Like.
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grrrrrrr
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It could be worse. You could still have Samardzija on your roster.
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samardzija II wasn’t a bad trade. Bassett Phegley and semien. I still think Semien can be useful. Bassitt is interesting a good #3.
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just saw the video. I think I would get tired of changing inside a virgin airlines lounge.
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