Old Comiskey Park

Being a Cubs fan, I am incredibly lucky (if you don't count the whole "not winning a Pennant or World Series in forever" thing). I am able to experience the history of my team every time I go to a game. The old park may have been built onto, "enhanced", modernized. The old field may have been "rebuilt" by the magician grounds man to deal with the rain Chicago experiences. But the old park is still there, and the old park is still named Wrigley Field. And I know that technically, the old old park, the last one to see a World Series winning team is gone, but it ceased to be in 1916.

White Sox fans, any that have been alive and going to games since before 1991 have seen their old park disappear, their old pre-game / post-game bar disappear, and all of that history disappear along with them. As the predecessor to Yankee Stadium, this field was demolished in 1991 and rebuilt right across the street.

The only thing that remains from the destruction is a single tree that used to stand outside the park's right field corner gate, and now shades the corner of the parking lot. Now, the only thing to remind fans of the old location is a patch of stained concrete. 

Even the name has changed for this field. When it was rebuilt, it was still named Comiskey, after the owner, Charles Comiskey. Not long after, in 2003, U.S. Cellular purchased the field and renamed it. While I can't be too upset about commercialization, (after all, Wrigley was named after a chewing gum manufacturer) there is something to be said about keeping the old name, even under new ownership.

McCuddy's was the tavern across the street from the old field, for which the new field stands as a gravestone. This pub was demolished in 1989 and was never rebuilt. It had a rich history itself, including famous patron Babe Ruth, who drank there between games of a doubleheader.

I wondered why it was so difficult to find a pub to visit pre and post game close to the field. Unlike Wrigleyville, which is filled with eating and drinking establishments, this field seems to be set down in the middle of a normal neighborhood that just happens to be next to the Dan Ryan Expressway and just off the Red Line. It is not a destination "area," just a single building, and when the game is done, are the fans done too? This is one thing I want to figure out in August. Do the fans really make the half mile trek to Schaller's Pump or to Shinnick's Pub before or after the game?

While I visit the field, I will keep this history in mind, pay homage to the remnants of the old field, before and after I root for the home team as they play that team I love to hate, the Yankees.