Here is another photo courtesy of BCB reader Clark Addison.
This is obviously taken from the concourse behind the right-field bleachers, sometime before a game started, early enough so that no starting pitchers have been posted. All we have are the matchups, and we know this is a day game and the Cubs are hosting the Pirates.
It’s also obviously a game after 2005, because it shows the new configuration of bleacher seats. The clock isn’t any help, as we can’t see more than just a hint of where the hands
are.
There are three other things that help narrow this down. First, there’s a video board beneath the scoreboard. That was removed when the two larger video boards were constructed in 2015. Thus this has to be between 2006 and 2014. We can eliminate three more seasons because FLORIDA is on the scoreboard, and the Marlins became the Miami Marlins in 2012. Lastly, it’s clearly a warm summer afternoon, so we can eliminate any games in April and much of May.
So this photo is of a warm weather day game between 2006 and 2011.
That’s not too many games to sift through, and in fact, this turns out to be in the very first series from 2006 where this game could have been from (after eliminating an early May series from that year).
The only clues indicating which specific day this is from are that there are only a handful of night games, and also the umpire numbers.
Only one game matches all of this. This game was played Saturday, Aug. 5, 2006. And it has some significance in Cubs history, because this was Mark Prior’s last career start at Wrigley Field. He threw in one game after this, at Milwaukee five days later, then went back on the then-disabled list with shoulder trouble.
Prior threw fairly well against the Pirates on this summer afternoon. He threw 5.2 innings, allowed three hits and two runs, striking out five. The Cubs won the game 7-5, a fairly rare win in what would turn out to be a 96-loss season. Matt Murton and Angel Pagan homered for the Cubs.
Here’s video of Prior’s final Wrigley Field strikeout, of José Bautista leading off the top of the fifth.
