Knothole peek may pique interest
Revamped Wrigley bleachers will offer free view of field from street

By Paul Sullivan
Tribune staff reporter

December 12, 2005, 8:26 PM CST

During their feud with rooftop owners, the Cubs installed dark green wind screens on the back of the bleacher fences, partly obstructing the view of Wrigley Field for the 2002 season.

Two years into an agreement between the club and the local entrepreneurs, with the bleacher expansion project in full swing and less than four months before the 2006 home opener on April 7, relative peace reigns in Wrigleyville.

Not only are the Cubs trying to accommodate their neighbors, they have removed a metal gate from the wall and are leaving an open space in the right-field corner that offers passersby on Sheffield Avenue a free, ground-level view of the action.

The Cubs are calling it a "knothole," conjuring up a Rockwellian image of an old wooden outfield fence where youngsters peered through a hole in the wall.

Actually, it's a rectangular space about 20 feet long where a couple of dozen people can gather to watch the game behind a wire-mesh fence. The San Francisco Giants offer a similar view of games at SBC Park from a vantage point behind the right-field grandstand.

The idea of watching the Cubs for free, even if limited to a partial view of the field, is likely to appeal to a large number of fans.

So how will the Cubs keep people from staking a claim to the knothole space overnight to watch the next day's game?

The Cubs aren't talking about the knothole—or anything else involving the bleacher project. Mark McGuire, executive vice president of business operations, did not return phone calls.

But local restoration architect John Vinci, a consultant on the project, said he wouldn't be surprised if folks camped out for the prime "knothole" spot.

"People do that for parades and for outdoor masses," Vinci said. "Maybe it's a good thing if they get there at 6 in the morning to see a game."

The bleacher "improvement project," as the Cubs are calling it, was designed by HOK Sport, with assistance from Vinci and a local landscaping design firm, Peter Lindsay Schaudt Landscape Architecture. A campus-like setting is planned outside the park, including ivy on the walls facing the streets.

Green wind screens currently surround the bleachers, hiding the view from ground level, meaning most won't be able to see the elevator being built at the bleacher entrance or see if the new bricks match the original bricks from the old bleachers. But several blogs have posted photographs of the project, along with running commentary.

While the Cubs are being secretive about the project, many bleacherites already have voiced their dissatisfaction. Terri Johnson, a local architect and bleacher regular, said she gets infuriated every time she drives past Wrigley Field.

"They basically ripped out the back of the bleachers," Johnson said. "It's a gut job. It's rebuilding the bleachers, not expanding them. Once you change the sightlines, you're really changing the entire bleachers.

"I feel as though the Cubs misled their fans. When you say you are expanding, it's like you're putting a room addition onto a house. You don't rip down the whole house."

Johnson, who owns her own firm, was upset that one of the attributes of the old bleachers—the wide aisle at the rear—no longer will exist. When the original project was scaled back from 2,600 to 1,790 seats, the cross aisle that leads all the way from left to right field was lowered, allegedly to enhance the view of the neighborhood.

That means fans who once stood near the back fence and mingled during the game won't have room to do so, unless they want to mingle in an area with no view of the playing field. The new seats will go all the way to the back fence.

"They aren't selling standing-room tickets, so there will be no more standing in the bleachers," Johnson said. "There goes the Champs Elysees of Wrigley Field."

Vinci said his firm did a report for the Cubs documenting more than 40 significant changes in the look of Wrigley Field over the years. He believes the bleacher project is just another addition meant to prolong the lifespan of the ballpark.

"It's a surprisingly ambitious project," he said. "Inside, it's fairly complex."

The gaping hole in the back of Wrigley Field may be a jarring sight, but on Opening Day, everyone will get a chance to critique the finished product.

The only certainty, it seems, is that the bleacher experience will be inalterably changed, for better or worse.

psullivan@tribune.com

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com