Me too. The night Stevie Ray Vaughn died in the helicopter crash in Wisconsin we saw the Sox fall to LA. Stupid, stupid, stupid. RIP Comiskey, Tiger, Yankee stadium.
Despite its symmetrical field and stands, which some fans would consider to be lacking in old school atmosphere, Comiskey Park had HUGE doses of atmosphere (especially on Friday nights when the steel workers from Gary would arrive and start fights among themselves when they drank too many beers!) and colorful players like Minnie Minnoso and Nellie Fox and Luke Appling and soooo many others. It was a ballpark rich in Chicago atmosphere and history. Bill Veeck made going to Sox games a wonderful way to spend an afternoon or evening. It's a shame that great ballpark is gone.
That is hilarious, I love little things like. Fans just coming to the game and fighting with each other. When I go to games, I like watching the game and examining the little things that happen. Some fans like going to the game just to past time
I love old ballparks, but for me, the "atmosphere" of old Comiskey left an indelible mark on this lifelong baseball fan. I had only one visit to Comiskey Park. It was the final season of the stadium, and the Sox were playing the Angels. Our seats were in the left field lower deck. Apparently, we were seated in what I still recall as the "scenic waterfall" section. A leak from an upper deck restroom drained upon us. We were forced to move to stay dry. I laugh about it still. Sadly, the Sox let that beautiful old ballpark fall apart the last season. Overall, tho, it was a great experience to go to such a storied park.
Interesting story about the steel workers and their fights. One bit of trivia is that Bill Veeck once referred to that ballpark as the world's biggest saloon.
@@brianb1440 Ha! That's a great story about the restroom leak. Reminds me of being spat upon at Wrigley Field in 1965 by kids directly above us in the upper deck. 17 year old me got up and walked to an Andy Frain usher, told him what was happening, and watched with a smile as he headed for the upper deck. No more spitting after that. Also in Wrigley, I recall standing in line for a hot dog (red hot), and looking up and through a crack in a wall to see a man peeing into one of those troughs. The ballparks in Chicago sure had atmosphere!
Saw Ted Williams hit a monster home run in 1959, the year the Sox won the pennant. I got a rare Minnie Minoso autograph when a Spanish speaking guy with a Hugh cigar was talking to MM after the game through the fence on the Shields Ave small players parking area and saw us kids standing there. He turned to us and asked in English if we would like Minnie to sign our scorecard pamphlets.He then turned back to Minnie and resumed speaking Spanish while Minnie signed both programs my brother and I had. What a great day. Unlike Wrigley where the players had to walk through the fans to leave, at Comiskey they could stay behind a fence so it wasn't easy to get autographs. Also, at Wrigley the scorecards were a sturdy cardboard with 4 large sides and room for signatures.Thanks for this posting, brings back some great memories.
This is one of the best UA-cam videos I’ve ever seen. That old stadium was incredible. I went to a game at the new Comiskey last year against the Yankees on Polish heritage night and loved that stadium and atmosphere.
I love this. I wish I had nostalgia for the Indians old place, but Municipal Stadium was a freezing, dual-use dump, couldn't wait til the Tribe moved out.
I was an usher there in the mid 80s. Worked for Andy Frain. Part charming. Part dump. Crazy fans. What do I remember most? The smell of pot permeating the stands.
In my opinion, Old Comiskey Park COULD HAVE been saved and given a HUGE makeover to bring it into the more modern times, they could have given the big scoreboard in center field a MAJOR upgrade, and the whole park could have received a VERY BIG upgrade just like Wrigley Field has undergone, and from what I've seen with Wrigley Field's upgrades, I'm VERY impressed with what has been done there at Wrigley Field, it's been transformed into a first class major league baseball park, it's a shame the same couldn't have been done for Old Comiskey Park though
Kevin Rose: In the middle 1990s, they should have taken two 2-year periods when the Cubs and Sox both shared one park while the other one was rebuilt down to the blocks. Then each team would have had a completely rebuilt park. Of course Wrigley underwent major renovations a few years ago so essentially it's been rebuilt. And really, New Comiskey has been fairly significantly renovated too and it is gaining SOME of the old atmosphere.
I couldn't agree with you more about having old Comiskey Park being saved. The White Sox organization should have invested their money to renovated the ballpark. Just like Fenway Park in Boston and Wrigley Field in Chicago.
Agree with you on Wrigley Field, with the major exception of the monstrous video boards in both left and right -- which dwarf the grand old 1937 hand-operated scoreboard atop the CF bleachers. That, to me, severely damaged the Wrigley experience.
Nah. It was deemed structurally unsaveable by the late 80s. Decades of owners with no money to fix it or city intervention . That ship had sailed by then.
I too miss the old ballpark. I have to admit, though, that when they painted the seats in the new ballpark green, and added a roof, along with a few other improvements, the new ballpark feels more like home than it did in the beginning.
The Sox have always been cheap. Chicago & Illinois have tremendous debt. High taxes & unrest, & a moron for Chicago mayor, will make people move out. You'd better get used to this stadium , because they'll never have enough money to build a new one. This one should have had a retractable roof, & the Bears could have played there too. Yes , the new park has no personality!
As a young baseball fan growing up. I would catch a White Sox game when they were still playing at the Old Comiskey Park. I did get to see it in the last year it was up. I was sad that the eventually torn torn that Monster park. I have been to the New Stadium. it doesn't have the feel or mostique of the Old park. I miss the old park. But the new one is nice. If had to chose a team to root for in Chicago? GO SOX!
So glad I got a few childhood years of enjoying many games there. And as more of a Cub fan, I loved that stadium even more than Wrigley. The upper deck felt right on top of the field. I miss that unique smell of damp basement, flat pop, and stale beer. I saw Bobby Thigpen break the save record (the place was wild that night!), and saw Ron Kittle hit one of the hardest hit balls ever onto the roof on a freezing windy April night - great memories. There will never be a stadium like Old Comiskey ever again...
The sports writers like Bill Gleason were right , that park was a fortress, it should have never been torn down. I was there at the last game and trust me that park had many years of life left in it. It was more historic than Wrigley and now it is a parking lot. So sad.
I agree 100%. As soon as Reinsdorf and Einhorn bought the team in Dec 1980, they started pushing for a new, tax payer funded ballpark. In 1988 they threatened to move the team to Tampa if they didn't get their way. They lied about the ballpark being structurally unsound. They lied about rebuilding McCuddys. Now we're stuck with a shitty ball mall, They got their sweet tax deal funded by the state they wanted. I really miss that place.
I wrote Eddie Eiehorn a letter long before they tore the old park down and told him they should keep and preserve the old ticket booths which were standing in front of Comiskey. He actually replied and told me he loved the idea and would look into it. I still have that letter and you still dont have you ticket booths. What a total jerk.
@Lancer____ Dog I have been to "New Comiskey," you know the name that is still carved on the front of the stadium. Oh wait, they covered that over even though they promised the name would never change. I went to two games there. That was enough.
It had a spookiness to it, especially at night, that made the park a really cool place to watch a game. You had to feel for opponents, and opposing fans, when the place was packed.
If they try to replace Fenway we riot period Shame that all the old girls are gone Yankee 1, shibe park, tigers stadium, ebbetts feild, damn shame on the teams for not honoring a keeping there history alive
So thankful got to go there in 1984 was in Air Force went had to go to Chanute AFB Tdy that summer.also went to Wrigley Field twice went to top of Sears tower great time only time I have been to the great city of Chicago
Thank You for posting this series - these old parks without question should have been preserved because - besides a host full of other reasons - they have served as a testament of an important legacy of America - BASEBALL. No other country has that - other countries have preserved their architectural legacies. Sports, especially this sport is an eternal part of ours.
I remember sitting in the lower level of the outfield as a child (maybe 9 or 10) and having beer spilled on my head from the upper deck. My dad had some explaining to do that night when we got home to my mom!!
The best event was Disco Demolition Night in 1979. Sponsored by a radio station, fans threw disco vinyl records all over Comiskey Park . The records were hitting people, the game was stopped and a massive riot ensued.
Steve Dahl was the DJ from the radio station. A bunch of drunk and high hippies went crazy. The Sox had to forfeit the 2nd game of the double header. The video is right here on UA-cam. It's great!
The game wasn't stopped, game 1 was finished. Game 2 couldn't begin because the field was trashed, and Sparky Anderson said it was too torn up to play, so they postponed it till the next day, then declared it a forfeit by Sox
From black and white to color. My first memories of Comiskey Park. I can remember the sounds, the sounds of the occasional excited shout, some from fans, and some from a souvenir or program peddler. I can remember the sound, the sound of old time baseball organ music reverberating on the other side of the dark mezzanine walkway from that space unseen, on the inside. The walkway, with some of the old concrete weathered away revealing polished stones, old polished stones and pebbles worn smooth from thousands and thousands of sox fan shoes. Generations of Sox fans walking the mezzanine ramps eager to get to their seats and experience their white sox. I can remember the smell, the smell of hot dogs, the smoky smell of open grill ballpark food vendors, and day old beer, and years old spilled beer soaked into the concrete. The smell of old cigar smoke mixed with the occasional new one, and the periodic smell of a trough urinal coming from an open door restroom. It was a little dark in the poorly lit mezzanine walkway, just slightly intimidating for an excited young boy holding onto his father’s hand. Old faded pictures, pictures of players, players in baggy pants and unfamiliar SOX hats hung below peeling paint covered steel beams and brick. At the entrance of a concession stand a TV mounded to the wall awkwardly seemed out of place in this simple no frills baseball park. For us, it was usually on the first base side that we found our way to the upper deck, to our cheaper seats, mixed among the rest of a working-class fan base. Along the way up, I couldn’t stand the temptation, the temptation to rush in to the lower entryway to see the field; I had to see first-hand, that field and those white, blue, and red, SOX uniforms. Would they be much different than the shades of grey, black and white on TV, or the more colorful souvenir T-shirt and wrist bands my friend across the street had? I had to know. Through an opening, like a black picture frame, I can see the hazy blue sky, little pennant flags waving in the breeze but dwarfed by the lights standing like big giant black fly swatters on top of the roof. I peel away from a strong hand; rushing forward through what seems like a long dark tunnel, up a few long steps. The green seats of left field gave way to the arched facade at the back of the lower left field seats. Rushing forward the grand view opens up while the sounds of the park become clearer, like coming out of an echo chamber. Then, like a flood, came the first eye popping sight of the green grass, the beautifully mowed green grass blazing in the mid-day sun. Baseballs whiter than I’d ever seen were floating forever across the backdrop of wooden green seats into the gloves of the men, confident men, wearing bright white uniforms and red shoes sinking into the thick sod at every step. SOX emblazoned across their chests, numbers on the thigh of their pants. The view of players larger than life, ones wearing the red, white and blue hats casually playing catch, smiling and taking it easy would give way to the flash of one or two sprinting from a baseline, preparing, warming up for the afternoon game in the sun, a reminder that something serious was about to take place here. The baseball heroes, I would scan, eagerly scan to find familiar numbers, 3, 72, 42, 19. Would I get to hear the roar today? Would I get to hear the crack of the bat, and the roar of the crowd? Would I get to hear the louder cracks and booms that follow from that wonderful, colorful, carnival like giant in center field? Only time would tell, as excitement mounted. In our seats we waited for the voice from the megaphone speakers hung from the steel supports transition from general announcements. "And nowww for your Chicagoooo WhiteSox!". The crowd cheers, me chief among them! Oh what glory. The glorious earliest memories of Comiskey Park, and the WhiteSox I would grow to love.
Wow! Great description! I started going to Old Comiskey with my dad in the mid-1950's, before Louis Aparicio came along. Them were the days, even before the park was painted white. Go Sox!
The worst part about losing old Comiskey is what they replaced it with. Just compare that stadium with Camden Yards which was built just a few years later
New Comiskey didnt deserve the name and was insultingly bland and boring from the start. It had zero draw-personality. When Sox won the series all I was thinking of was the old gal and what it would have been like in her confines?
@@NickC1966 They really screwed the pooch on that- I recall many complaints about the "stairway to heaven" upper deck seats. I think they badly tried to go for a refurbished Yankee Stadium type look (those uppers looked exactly like it) and it was horrible.
@@NickC1966 I've never been to the new park, and don't want to go, especially since reading that the upper deck seat directly behind home plate and closest to it is farther away than the farthest one like it at Old Comiskey. The old park put you right on top of the game. Now, high def TV gives you a far superior view, and if you have a recorder in your living room, you can use your own bathroom when you want and not miss any action!
I saw a game against the Blue Jay's in April 1990. I thought that the unique features of the park made it very interesting. Loved how close you sat in those old parks. My introduction to Sammy Sosa was him sprinting out to right field. Pretty kool.
I played there in a White Sox fantasy camp in 1990, the last season for the Park. Believe me, the place was on life support and needed to be replaced. The locker rooms and dugouts were smaller than my high schools.
All that stuff could have been remodeled just as the Cubs' management has done to Wrigley. The Sox had the original baseball palace of the world, as Charles Comiskey called it. No sense of history, or the flavor of real Chicago.
Went there after the Disco night riot for a weekend series with the Tigers. Reminded me of Tiger Stadium atmosphere when Tiger Stadium was green too. I also went to the new comiskey park it's first season to see the Tigers.
my father and I sat in the box seats for lots of games in the late 60's,early 70's.White Sox weren't very good, but I loved the park. Ty cobb played there.And joe jackson.Babe Ruth,lou gehrig, Mantle,Dimaggio,Walter Johnson. And on and on......
What do Sox fans think of about that already-torn-down Comiskey? Lots of stuff. Here is just a little bit. 1. Disco Demolition of 1979 that ended the disco genre after about a 7 year run of that music. 2. Exploding scoreboard pyrotechnics. 3. A Disneyland-like vibe. 4. Nancy Faust's Hammond organ. 5. The outfield shower. 6. Post game firework shows. 7. Bill Veeck, Mike Veeck. 8. Winning Ugly year - 1983 season. 9. South-Side Hit-Men - 1977 season. 10. Dog Days/Dog Nights. (These promos where the exploding scoreboard had to be quiet. No fireworks going off during these events.) 11. 1959 season when they go to the World Series. 12. 2005 year when they won it all - but sadly - when they won the World Series - it was at Houston, not Chicago. 13. The great Minnie Minoso, and the not-so-famous players, like Eric Solderholm.
In 1978 Jim Rice hit a ball into the first row of the center field bleachers when there was no center field fence. It bounced back onto the field and umpire mistakenly ruled the ball was in play. Rice had to settle for a triple, but scored eventually. Today's replay would have corrected the mistake. Steve Stone was White Sox pitcher, and he joked later on that he threw that ball a long way. If I remember correctly, Boston crushed the White Sox that night. I think that was 1978.
They could have done like what was done at Fenway. Redo the upper deck to add luxury boxes to keep our greedy owner Rein$dorf happy with more money. Would have been amazing to keep our old ballpark.
Comiskey Park had incredible vintage charm. The new Comiskey Park doesn't have that vintage vibe. Maybe its the lime green seats that makes Old Comiskey Park so cool or the outfield scoreboard. It is sad that they demolished it. The final piece of this video best sums it all up.
Baseball has so much history, but like history, one has to deal with beautiful things and then the opposite. This park would be a crown jewel of the sport, if discreetly modernized, but mere idea of it lives in a way. (More than those multisport arenas that do not longer exist.)
AWESOME-My all time favorite stadium. I never recovered when they moved from it. Think about it they tore down a place that for many years now (since what Camden Yards?) fans have been clamoring to get back to! A good old stadium not some showplace. The history lost-the ghosts gone....sad! But I guess it could have seen the same fate as dreaded spaceship looking Soldier Field got with their horrible looking face lift job?
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I attended the second to last game and I swear I could smell Babe Ruth's farts, although to be fair I was with my mother-in-law so maybe it was her, anyway I miss the old park
1959 Sox... Louis Aparicio, Billy Pierce, Early Wynn, Nellie Fox, Jim Landis.... the Sox last pennant until they won the Series in '05. Minnie Minoso should have been on that team too, but was traded to Cleveland for 1 season before being brought back by Veeck for the 1960 season, upon which Veeck gave Minoso an honorary WS ring for his contributions in building that team.
My Grandfather took me to my first ball game in 82. What was the name of the legendary bar across the street? Grampa always said you didn’t go to a Sox game unless you stopped at this bar.
I remember watching twins at white Sox games on TV . The stadium is gone but not the memories. The new place is so sterile it should of been a replica of the old place.
Agreed. Make the seats look like old Comiskey Park and make the left field to center field to right field like the old Comiskey Park. Keep the lines the same as right now.
Should of made a new replica very similar...been to many ball parks...the best by far is Pittsburgh...fans should go once...it hits all the marks, old, new, current, nostalgic....it is like going back but with all the new whistles.
It was the best ballpark ..sad it was torn down..child hood memories..i had wow...the new park sucks went there a few times but not the same bill veck must of rolled in his grave..he was the best owner ..in baseball..he loved his fans..
I agree with these old men. I like Fenway and wrigley. So much tradition and history. It should have been illegal to do tear it down. Every 30 or 40 years. New stadiums, more public money for private use, and just a cycle of wasteful building and destroying. Bankrupting cities and threatening to leave. It’s always about New new new with these suits. If it’s old, they don’t want it. You destroy memories and a transcendent fan experience.
13:00 on.... SO right. We just tear anything down that's no longer fashionable or profitable. It's depressing. The Rangers had a beautiful park for a little over 20 years, only to move into a dome that looks like an oversized grill. And they make the fans pay for it out of their own pockets. It's pathetic.
One used to be able to take one El train from 35th st. to Addison in less than 30 minutes, but rarely did the Sox and Cubs play on the same day at home.
My father had season tickets 1982-1987. First base side , upper deck , look right down the 3rd base line. Saw so many moments.... Freddie Lynn grand slam in the All-Star Game in 83.....Tito Landrum HR in 83 playoffs....my man LaMarr Hoyt , Britt Burns , and Richard Dotson DEALING every game in 83....Ron Kittle and his roof shots. What a shame they tore this palace down. The ONLY negative of old Comiskey was the dreaded "Andy the Clown". Highly annoying he was.
Da White Sox were planning to leave Chicago and move to Tampa Bay if they didn't get a new ballpark which they did get in 1991 when the new Comisky Park was built.
Was there for the next to last game. Throwback days, no amplification, old uniforms. I watched an inning at a different part of the park, knowing this was the last visit. Had as much character as Wrigley and just as historic, the new place is like all the other new ones....meh.
I haven't kept up with baseball since the mid 90's. I guess I saw the writing on the wall and became disillusioned by the destruction of the old parks, outrageous salaries and the blase attitude of the players. Time has proven me correct.
Should have restored it. The could have done it. All the new ballparks are basically carbon copies of each other with carefully crafted quirks built into them and focus more on the amenities than on what's happening on the field.
Why did clubs indulge in the destruction of history filled old ballparks and replace them with soulless concrete bowls? These parks can be upgraded whilst keeping the essential old buildings.Chicago has one great old sports ground and one cookie cut bowl , when it could still have Comiskey and Wrigley.
I loved this old ballpark. I attended one of the last games there in 1990.
Me too. The night Stevie Ray Vaughn died in the helicopter crash in Wisconsin we saw the Sox fall to LA. Stupid, stupid, stupid. RIP Comiskey, Tiger, Yankee stadium.
Despite its symmetrical field and stands, which some fans would consider to be lacking in old school atmosphere, Comiskey Park had HUGE doses of atmosphere (especially on Friday nights when the steel workers from Gary would arrive and start fights among themselves when they drank too many beers!) and colorful players like Minnie Minnoso and Nellie Fox and Luke Appling and soooo many others. It was a ballpark rich in Chicago atmosphere and history. Bill Veeck made going to Sox games a wonderful way to spend an afternoon or evening. It's a shame that great ballpark is gone.
That is hilarious, I love little things like. Fans just coming to the game and fighting with each other. When I go to games, I like watching the game and examining the little things that happen. Some fans like going to the game just to past time
I love old ballparks, but for me, the "atmosphere" of old Comiskey left an indelible mark on this lifelong baseball fan. I had only one visit to Comiskey Park. It was the final season of the stadium, and the Sox were playing the Angels. Our seats were in the left field lower deck. Apparently, we were seated in what I still recall as the "scenic waterfall" section. A leak from an upper deck restroom drained upon us. We were forced to move to stay dry. I laugh about it still. Sadly, the Sox let that beautiful old ballpark fall apart the last season. Overall, tho, it was a great experience to go to such a storied park.
Interesting story about the steel workers and their fights. One bit of trivia is that Bill Veeck once referred to that ballpark as the world's biggest saloon.
@@robertmasina7388 That's hilarious! As you probably know, Veeck was famous for his delightful use of words.
@@brianb1440 Ha! That's a great story about the restroom leak. Reminds me of being spat upon at Wrigley Field in 1965 by kids directly above us in the upper deck. 17 year old me got up and walked to an Andy Frain usher, told him what was happening, and watched with a smile as he headed for the upper deck. No more spitting after that. Also in Wrigley, I recall standing in line for a hot dog (red hot), and looking up and through a crack in a wall to see a man peeing into one of those troughs. The ballparks in Chicago sure had atmosphere!
Saw Ted Williams hit a monster home run in 1959, the year the Sox won the pennant. I got a rare Minnie Minoso autograph when a Spanish speaking guy with a Hugh cigar was talking to MM after the game through the fence on the Shields Ave small players parking area and saw us kids standing there. He turned to us and asked in English if we would like Minnie to sign our scorecard pamphlets.He then turned back to Minnie and resumed speaking Spanish while Minnie signed both programs my brother and I had. What a great day. Unlike Wrigley where the players had to walk through the fans to leave, at Comiskey they could stay behind a fence so it wasn't easy to get autographs. Also, at Wrigley the scorecards were a sturdy cardboard with 4 large sides and room for signatures.Thanks for this posting, brings back some great memories.
This is one of the best UA-cam videos I’ve ever seen. That old stadium was incredible. I went to a game at the new Comiskey last year against the Yankees on Polish heritage night and loved that stadium and atmosphere.
I love this. I wish I had nostalgia for the Indians old place, but Municipal Stadium was a freezing, dual-use dump, couldn't wait til the Tribe moved out.
I was an usher there in the mid 80s. Worked for Andy Frain. Part charming. Part dump. Crazy fans. What do I remember most? The smell of pot permeating the stands.
In my opinion, Old Comiskey Park COULD HAVE been saved and given a HUGE makeover to bring it into the more modern times, they could have given the big scoreboard in center field a MAJOR upgrade, and the whole park could have received a VERY BIG upgrade just like Wrigley Field has undergone, and from what I've seen with Wrigley Field's upgrades, I'm VERY impressed with what has been done there at Wrigley Field, it's been transformed into a first class major league baseball park, it's a shame the same couldn't have been done for Old Comiskey Park though
Kevin Rose: In the middle 1990s, they should have taken two 2-year periods when the Cubs and Sox both shared one park while the other one was rebuilt down to the blocks. Then each team would have had a completely rebuilt park.
Of course Wrigley underwent major renovations a few years ago so essentially it's been rebuilt. And really, New Comiskey has been fairly significantly renovated too and it is gaining SOME of the old atmosphere.
I couldn't agree with you more about having old Comiskey Park being saved. The White Sox organization should have invested their money to renovated the ballpark. Just like Fenway Park in Boston and Wrigley Field in Chicago.
Aside from the fact that that's totally debatable
Even after all that
It still wouldn't have had enough luxury suites for Mr Reinsdorf's liking
Agree with you on Wrigley Field, with the major exception of the monstrous video boards in both left and right -- which dwarf the grand old 1937 hand-operated scoreboard atop the CF bleachers. That, to me, severely damaged the Wrigley experience.
Nah. It was deemed structurally unsaveable by the late 80s. Decades of owners with no money to fix it or city intervention . That ship had sailed by then.
I have to say, I'm still devastated it was replaced.
I too miss the old ballpark. I have to admit, though, that when they painted the seats in the new ballpark green, and added a roof, along with a few other improvements, the new ballpark feels more like home than it did in the beginning.
Yeah, I was always so disappointed in New Comiskey. It just had no personality.
Up here people don’t miss the kingdome at all so I kind of find that difference strange because tiles were falling off the roof and people got hurt
Would literally the oldest ballpark in America if it wasn't torn down.
The Sox have always been cheap. Chicago & Illinois have tremendous debt. High taxes & unrest, & a moron for Chicago mayor, will make people move out. You'd better get used to this stadium , because they'll never have enough money to build a new one.
This one should have had a retractable roof, & the Bears could have played there too.
Yes , the new park has no personality!
As a young baseball fan growing up. I would catch a White Sox game when they were still playing at the Old Comiskey Park. I did get to see it in the last year it was up. I was sad that the eventually torn torn that Monster park. I have been to the New Stadium. it doesn't have the feel or mostique of the Old park. I miss the old park. But the new one is nice. If had to chose a team to root for in Chicago? GO SOX!
We used to pass Comiskey on our way to grandma and grandpa's up in Kenosha. I miss the scoreboard.
So glad I got a few childhood years of enjoying many games there. And as more of a Cub fan, I loved that stadium even more than Wrigley. The upper deck felt right on top of the field. I miss that unique smell of damp basement, flat pop, and stale beer. I saw Bobby Thigpen break the save record (the place was wild that night!), and saw Ron Kittle hit one of the hardest hit balls ever onto the roof on a freezing windy April night - great memories. There will never be a stadium like Old Comiskey ever again...
The sports writers like Bill Gleason were right , that park was a fortress, it should have never been torn down. I was there at the last game and trust me that park had many years of life left in it. It was more historic than Wrigley and now it is a parking lot. So sad.
I agree 100%. As soon as Reinsdorf and Einhorn bought the team in Dec 1980, they started pushing for a new, tax payer funded ballpark. In 1988 they threatened to move the team to Tampa if they didn't get their way. They lied about the ballpark being structurally unsound. They lied about rebuilding McCuddys. Now we're stuck with a shitty ball mall, They got their sweet tax deal funded by the state they wanted. I really miss that place.
wade Garrett yep they totally lied. They were able to renovate a crumbling Wrigley Field. Reinsdorf was and still is a prick.
I wrote Eddie Eiehorn a letter long before they tore the old park down and told him they should keep and preserve the old ticket booths which were standing in front of Comiskey. He actually replied and told me he loved the idea and would look into it. I still have that letter and you still dont have you ticket booths. What a total jerk.
I loved Old Comiskey. To me it had more charm than Wrigley.
Kevin W ...oh yea. Much nicer than Wrigley. I hate to see the old ball parks be torn down.
Worst tragedy in Sports history COMISKEY PARK he gone!
@Lancer____ Dog I have been to "New Comiskey," you know the name that is still carved on the front of the stadium. Oh wait, they covered that over even though they promised the name would never change. I went to two games there. That was enough.
Comiskey was a dump and so is Wrigley
It had a spookiness to it, especially at night, that made the park a really cool place to watch a game. You had to feel for opponents, and opposing fans, when the place was packed.
Thanks!
If they try to replace Fenway we riot period Shame that all the old girls are gone Yankee 1, shibe park, tigers stadium, ebbetts feild, damn shame on the teams for not honoring a keeping there history alive
Sportsmans park
You spelled field wrong.
the upper deck in old yankee stadium really would shake, it was scary as shit
@Kayaker Dude I'd say the new Yankee Stadium would recapture some of the glory from the old one if they won a few more world series there
@@ryanneistat2676 I would have loved to go there. Never happened, unfortunately.
So thankful got to go there in 1984 was in Air Force went had to go to Chanute AFB Tdy that summer.also went to Wrigley Field twice went to top of Sears tower great time only time I have been to the great city of Chicago
My uncle took me to my first baseball game at this amazing stadium.
Thank You for posting this series - these old parks without question should have been preserved because - besides a host full of other reasons - they have served as a testament of an important legacy of America - BASEBALL. No other country has that - other countries have preserved their architectural legacies. Sports, especially this sport is an eternal part of ours.
You're very welcome!
Wish I coulda seen this ballpark. Too bad it's gone, it was older than Wrigley and Fenway. Go Twinkies!
You have a beautiful ballpark in Minneapolis!
I'm glad Metrodome is gone, though your guys won two World Series there.
I remember sitting in the lower level of the outfield as a child (maybe 9 or 10) and having beer spilled on my head from the upper deck. My dad had some explaining to do that night when we got home to my mom!!
My Hight School was down 35th St. from Comiskey Park, went to many a game. Bill Veeck lived in Hyde Park and went to grammar school with his kids
The best event was Disco Demolition Night in 1979. Sponsored by a radio station, fans threw disco vinyl records all over Comiskey Park . The records were hitting people, the game was stopped and a massive riot ensued.
Steve Dahl was the DJ from the radio station. A bunch of drunk and high hippies went crazy. The Sox had to forfeit the 2nd game of the double header. The video is right here on UA-cam. It's great!
The game wasn't stopped, game 1 was finished. Game 2 couldn't begin because the field was trashed, and Sparky Anderson said it was too torn up to play, so they postponed it till the next day, then declared it a forfeit by Sox
I remember seeing that on the local tv news. Have since read about how crazy things got.
My Brother took me to comiskey and I’ll always have memories of that grand Ballpark thanks Bro ❤
What a special memory!
Such a good old ballpark
From black and white to color. My first memories of Comiskey Park.
I can remember the sounds, the sounds of the occasional excited shout, some from fans, and some from a souvenir or program peddler. I can remember the sound, the sound of old time baseball organ music reverberating on the other side of the dark mezzanine walkway from that space unseen, on the inside. The walkway, with some of the old concrete weathered away revealing polished stones, old polished stones and pebbles worn smooth from thousands and thousands of sox fan shoes. Generations of Sox fans walking the mezzanine ramps eager to get to their seats and experience their white sox. I can remember the smell, the smell of hot dogs, the smoky smell of open grill ballpark food vendors, and day old beer, and years old spilled beer soaked into the concrete. The smell of old cigar smoke mixed with the occasional new one, and the periodic smell of a trough urinal coming from an open door restroom. It was a little dark in the poorly lit mezzanine walkway, just slightly intimidating for an excited young boy holding onto his father’s hand. Old faded pictures, pictures of players, players in baggy pants and unfamiliar SOX hats hung below peeling paint covered steel beams and brick. At the entrance of a concession stand a TV mounded to the wall awkwardly seemed out of place in this simple no frills baseball park. For us, it was usually on the first base side that we found our way to the upper deck, to our cheaper seats, mixed among the rest of a working-class fan base. Along the way up, I couldn’t stand the temptation, the temptation to rush in to the lower entryway to see the field; I had to see first-hand, that field and those white, blue, and red, SOX uniforms. Would they be much different than the shades of grey, black and white on TV, or the more colorful souvenir T-shirt and wrist bands my friend across the street had? I had to know. Through an opening, like a black picture frame, I can see the hazy blue sky, little pennant flags waving in the breeze but dwarfed by the lights standing like big giant black fly swatters on top of the roof. I peel away from a strong hand; rushing forward through what seems like a long dark tunnel, up a few long steps. The green seats of left field gave way to the arched facade at the back of the lower left field seats. Rushing forward the grand view opens up while the sounds of the park become clearer, like coming out of an echo chamber. Then, like a flood, came the first eye popping sight of the green grass, the beautifully mowed green grass blazing in the mid-day sun. Baseballs whiter than I’d ever seen were floating forever across the backdrop of wooden green seats into the gloves of the men, confident men, wearing bright white uniforms and red shoes sinking into the thick sod at every step. SOX emblazoned across their chests, numbers on the thigh of their pants. The view of players larger than life, ones wearing the red, white and blue hats casually playing catch, smiling and taking it easy would give way to the flash of one or two sprinting from a baseline, preparing, warming up for the afternoon game in the sun, a reminder that something serious was about to take place here. The baseball heroes, I would scan, eagerly scan to find familiar numbers, 3, 72, 42, 19. Would I get to hear the roar today? Would I get to hear the crack of the bat, and the roar of the crowd? Would I get to hear the louder cracks and booms that follow from that wonderful, colorful, carnival like giant in center field? Only time would tell, as excitement mounted. In our seats we waited for the voice from the megaphone speakers hung from the steel supports transition from general announcements. "And nowww for your Chicagoooo WhiteSox!". The crowd cheers, me chief among them!
Oh what glory. The glorious earliest memories of Comiskey Park, and the WhiteSox I would grow to love.
What great memories you have! Go White Sox!
Wow! Great description! I started going to Old Comiskey with my dad in the mid-1950's, before Louis Aparicio came along. Them were the days, even before the park was painted white. Go Sox!
That's some great writing. Very descriptive. Either Comiskey made a huge impact on you and/or you write for a living. Either way, good stuff.
This is THE love letter to our beloved Comiskey Park
Baseball Palace of The World!
The worst part about losing old Comiskey is what they replaced it with. Just compare that stadium with Camden Yards which was built just a few years later
New Comiskey didnt deserve the name and was insultingly bland and boring from the start. It had zero draw-personality. When Sox won the series all I was thinking of was the old gal and what it would have been like in her confines?
They did some nice changes to it but when it first opened it was horrible. The walk up to the upper deck was like climbing a mountain.
@@NickC1966 They really screwed the pooch on that- I recall many complaints about the "stairway to heaven" upper deck seats. I think they badly tried to go for a refurbished Yankee Stadium type look (those uppers looked exactly like it) and it was horrible.
@@NickC1966 I've never been to the new park, and don't want to go, especially since reading that the upper deck seat directly behind home plate and closest to it is farther away than the farthest one like it at Old Comiskey. The old park put you right on top of the game. Now, high def TV gives you a far superior view, and if you have a recorder in your living room, you can use your own bathroom when you want and not miss any action!
The upgrade gave it some charm. I heard people would not sit in the upper deck because of the bullets from Cabrini?
I saw a game against the Blue Jay's in April 1990. I thought that the unique features of the park made it very interesting. Loved how close you sat in those old parks. My introduction to Sammy Sosa was him sprinting out to right field. Pretty kool.
I played there in a White Sox fantasy camp in 1990, the last season for the Park. Believe me, the place was on life support
and needed to be replaced. The locker rooms and dugouts were smaller than my high schools.
All that stuff could have been remodeled just as the Cubs' management has done to Wrigley. The Sox had the original baseball palace of the world, as Charles Comiskey called it. No sense of history, or the flavor of real Chicago.
Went there after the Disco night riot for a weekend series with the Tigers. Reminded me of Tiger Stadium atmosphere when Tiger Stadium was green too. I also went to the new comiskey park it's first season to see the Tigers.
Old Comiskey still in my memory when i attend the in 1990..but the new comiskey is good for modern stadium and capacity
I'm still saddened I never got the chance to see the old park or a game at Old Soldier Field.
I think I heard that song at Portillo's the other day 😁
1959 was a great year on the South Side
I went to comiskey park with my siblings and grandma back in the 70’s as she lived close to the park
Saw my first game here in 1962
my father and I sat in the box seats for lots of games in the late 60's,early 70's.White Sox weren't very good, but I loved the park. Ty cobb played there.And joe jackson.Babe Ruth,lou gehrig, Mantle,Dimaggio,Walter Johnson. And on and on......
On June 30, 1988 the White Sox were minutes away from leaving town, if it took a new ballpark to save the Sox, then so be it
I still remember looking at it come down..... Wrote a paper about it in school about the score board being the last part to come down....
Heartbreaking 💔
What do Sox fans think of about that already-torn-down Comiskey? Lots of stuff. Here is just a little bit.
1. Disco Demolition of 1979 that ended the disco genre after about a 7 year run of that music.
2. Exploding scoreboard pyrotechnics.
3. A Disneyland-like vibe.
4. Nancy Faust's Hammond organ.
5. The outfield shower.
6. Post game firework shows.
7. Bill Veeck, Mike Veeck.
8. Winning Ugly year - 1983 season.
9. South-Side Hit-Men - 1977 season.
10. Dog Days/Dog Nights. (These promos where the exploding scoreboard had to be quiet. No fireworks going off during these events.)
11. 1959 season when they go to the World Series.
12. 2005 year when they won it all - but sadly - when they won the World Series - it was at Houston, not Chicago.
13. The great Minnie Minoso, and the not-so-famous players, like Eric Solderholm.
Who can ever forget the artificial turf infield in the 70s
I saw Frank Howard hit one way into the upper deck in left. Then there were all those home run blasts from Greg Luzinski and Dick Allen.
In 1978 Jim Rice hit a ball into the first row of the center field bleachers when there was no center field fence. It bounced back onto the field and umpire mistakenly ruled the ball was in play. Rice had to settle for a triple, but scored eventually. Today's replay would have corrected the mistake. Steve Stone was White Sox pitcher, and he joked later on that he threw that ball a long way. If I remember correctly, Boston crushed the White Sox that night. I think that was 1978.
Too bad Comiskey and Tiger stadiums couldn't resist the push for modern ballparks. Yes....maintenance was huge, but the traditions are priceless.
They could have done like what was done at Fenway. Redo the upper deck to add luxury boxes to keep our greedy owner Rein$dorf happy with more money. Would have been amazing to keep our old ballpark.
I bought my first beer when I was 13 there ! The vendor never looked up to see who he was selling to.
New Comiskey in the wrong spot and facing the wrong direction just doesn't cut it.
Cubs kept their stadium...sox shoulda kept comiskey
Jeff Daniels… great actor
Comiskey Park had incredible vintage charm. The new Comiskey Park doesn't have that vintage vibe. Maybe its the lime green seats that makes Old Comiskey Park so cool or the outfield scoreboard. It is sad that they demolished it. The final piece of this video best sums it all up.
Baseball has so much history, but like history, one has to deal with beautiful things and then the opposite. This park would be a crown jewel of the sport, if discreetly modernized, but mere idea of it lives in a way. (More than those multisport arenas that do not longer exist.)
If you love the game like these men did than really you are forever a boy which is the best thing you can hope to be in this world
AWESOME-My all time favorite stadium. I never recovered when they moved from it. Think about it they tore down a place that for many years now (since what Camden Yards?) fans have been clamoring to get back to! A good old stadium not some showplace. The history lost-the ghosts gone....sad! But I guess it could have seen the same fate as dreaded spaceship looking Soldier Field got with their horrible looking face lift job?
I attended the second to last game and I swear I could smell Babe Ruth's farts, although to be fair I was with my mother-in-law so maybe it was her, anyway I miss the old park
I was also at that game, and no that was me. Those day old hot dogs were nasty.
I remember a fight there with the Orioles in 66. It was brutal. Fans jumping out of the stands.
The name Don Buford pops into my mind when I read your comment. Same team, different year.
1959 Sox... Louis Aparicio, Billy Pierce, Early Wynn, Nellie Fox, Jim Landis.... the Sox last pennant until they won the Series in '05. Minnie Minoso should have been on that team too, but was traded to Cleveland for 1 season before being brought back by Veeck for the 1960 season, upon which Veeck gave Minoso an honorary WS ring for his contributions in building that team.
The picnic grounds. Double headers there against the Yankees in the early 1960s.
It was awesome place sad that it is gone
Grew up in that place.
Go Sox!
koolever3 Go tribe!
My Grandfather took me to my first ball game in 82. What was the name of the legendary bar across the street? Grampa always said you didn’t go to a Sox game unless you stopped at this bar.
McCuddy’s
Paul Soxl Thank you!
2 Hype Your Grampa was a wise man
When was this video produced?
Been to almost all the MLB parks including Wrigley and new White Sox ballpark.But I never got to Comiskey Park and Im sad about that...
Can you please do Candlestick Park from South San Francisco?? That would really be great, thanks
Do it? This film was made in 1990. It wasn't made by the youtube channel.
Oh okay, sorry about that
I remember watching twins at white Sox games on TV . The stadium is gone but not the memories. The new place is so sterile it should of been a replica of the old place.
2020 White Sox/Twins games should be fun to watch.
They missed out on the new trend of ballparks
Agreed. Make the seats look like old Comiskey Park and make the left field to center field to right field like the old Comiskey Park. Keep the lines the same as right now.
Should of made a new replica very similar...been to many ball parks...the best by far is Pittsburgh...fans should go once...it hits all the marks, old, new, current, nostalgic....it is like going back but with all the new whistles.
PNC is amazing
Who is the narrator. ? Looks like Jeff Daniels.
It is.
@@HistoryandWhiskey I liked him better as Colonel Chamberlain.
It was the best ballpark ..sad it was torn down..child hood memories..i had wow...the new park sucks went there a few times but not the same bill veck must of rolled in his grave..he was the best owner ..in baseball..he loved his fans..
I remember laughing when the "lucky chairs" game would give away 500 cases of Bud to one "lucky" fan! Veeck was brilliant!
I agree with these old men. I like Fenway and wrigley. So much tradition and history. It should have been illegal to do tear it down. Every 30 or 40 years. New stadiums, more public money for private use, and just a cycle of wasteful building and destroying. Bankrupting cities and threatening to leave. It’s always about New new new with these suits. If it’s old, they don’t want it. You destroy memories and a transcendent fan experience.
Breaks my heart they tore down that church, shame.
Shoeless Joe played there...
Is the host Harry from dumb and dumber?
Bill Veek was ahead of his time.Tony
Way ahead. A promotional genius.
If i could i would love to visit this park again and ebbetts field.that was all b.s. there wasn't anything wrong with comisky
Stadiums don't have any character anymore
13:00 on.... SO right. We just tear anything down that's no longer fashionable or profitable. It's depressing. The Rangers had a beautiful park for a little over 20 years, only to move into a dome that looks like an oversized grill. And they make the fans pay for it out of their own pockets. It's pathetic.
I wonder , how far apart were the 2 Chicago ball parks from each other?
Just for fun, I searched on Mapquest, and found the distance to be 10 miles. Time to drive between them given as 18 minutes.
One used to be able to take one El train from 35th st. to Addison in less than 30 minutes, but rarely did the Sox and Cubs play on the same day at home.
My father had season tickets 1982-1987.
First base side , upper deck , look right down the 3rd base line.
Saw so many moments....
Freddie Lynn grand slam in the All-Star Game in 83.....Tito Landrum HR in 83 playoffs....my man LaMarr Hoyt , Britt Burns , and Richard Dotson DEALING every game in 83....Ron Kittle and his roof shots.
What a shame they tore this palace down. The ONLY negative of old Comiskey was the dreaded "Andy the Clown". Highly annoying he was.
Don’t forget Gregg Lusinski hitting them over the roof too . I think one of Kittles is still in orbit
@@RWildekrav66 Harold Baines hit one or two onto the RF roof , too..
Jeff Daniels
still have some grass from the field
Went to my first game there in 1973. I miss it, Comiskey Park was way better than Wrigley Field.
Is the narrator jeff daniels?
Why you cut the videos!!!!
Moderated by Harry Dunne- who would've ever thought it?
I'm a Red Sox fan but it's a damn shame the team should have kept the stadium
Comiskey you old friend
Da White Sox were planning to leave Chicago and move to Tampa Bay if they didn't get a new ballpark which they did get in 1991 when the new Comisky Park was built.
Goodbye, old friend!
Bring back this name ! Rate field with that logo is pr death
Was there for the next to last game. Throwback days, no amplification, old uniforms. I watched an inning at a different part of the park, knowing this was the last visit. Had as much character as Wrigley and just as historic, the new place is like all the other new ones....meh.
Great idea to switch places every inning!
Time march on
Is it me or have the powers that be been trying to destroy everything that we love about Baseball for the past 30 years?
Disco Demolition Night
Great except for that crappy Reinsdorf scoreboard in center.
The new park is way nicer, coming from someone who been to the old park.
if it was built so tough; and such a landmark of chicago why dstroy it ? my answer, "too much money"
I miss her...
Stretch!
I haven't kept up with baseball since the mid 90's. I guess I saw the writing on the wall and became disillusioned by the destruction of the old parks, outrageous salaries and the blase attitude of the players. Time has proven me correct.
Me too. Let's not forget overexpansion and the use of steroids.
@@trapezemusic Definitely.
I like how the players are the bad guys but cheapskate Comiskey got away with being brutally cheap.
Too bad they named the new stadium after him. I would not have done so.
Should have restored it. The could have done it. All the new ballparks are basically carbon copies of each other with carefully crafted quirks built into them and focus more on the amenities than on what's happening on the field.
Why did clubs indulge in the destruction of history filled old ballparks and replace them with soulless concrete bowls? These parks can be upgraded whilst keeping the essential old buildings.Chicago has one great old sports ground and one cookie cut bowl , when it could still have Comiskey and Wrigley.
Money. Simple as that