Old Comiskey Park

The original Comiskey Park hosted its last game 30 years ago, on September 30, 1990. A full house of 42,849 saw the legendary Minnie Minoso deliver the White Sox' lineup card to the umpires before the game and then saw the Sox defeat the Seattle Mariners 2-1. Center fielder Lance Johnson and rookie first baseman Frank Thomas provided most of the offense, while Jack McDowell won his 14th game of the season and Bobby Thigpen saved his 57th (exceeding the previous single-season record by 11).

    

COMISKEY PARK IN 1990

Comiskey Park was truly a wonder when it opened in 1910. It was one of the first concrete-and-steel stadiums, which were replacing the wooden bandboxes (a.k.a. firetraps) that had prevailed since the 1880s. It was designed by Zachary Taylor Davis, who also designed Weeghman Park (later known as Wrigley Field) a few years later. White Sox ace Ed Walsh had a hand in mapping the park's pitcher-friendly dimensions of 420 feet to center field, 382 feet in the alleys, and 363 feet down the lines. Its original capacity of 32,000 made Comiskey by far the largest ballpark ever built to that time. Accordingly, it was called "the Baseball Palace of the World."

 

Comiskey Park hosted World Series games in 1917, 1918, 1919, and 1959. In 1917, the White Sox defeated the New York Giants in all three home games en route to the world championship. In 1919, the so-called "Black Sox" lost three of four home games to the Cincinnati Reds, who won the Series under a cloud of suspicion that it had been fixed. In 1959, the Sox drubbed the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-0 in Game 1 but lost the other two home games and the Series.

     In the 1918 Series, the Cubs played their home games at Comiskey Park to take advantage of its larger seating capacity. The Cubs won just one of three home games and lost the series to Babe Ruth and the Boston Red Sox four games to two.

 

Comiskey Park hosted three major-league All-Star Games, including the first one in 1933. That game drew an overflow crowd of 47,595, and Ruth (by then a long-time Yankee) hit the first home run in All-Star competition as the American Leaguers won 4-2. In 1950, the National Leaguers won in extra innings, and the great Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams suffered a broken elbow that sidelined him for the rest of the season. In 1983, California Angels outfielder Fred Lynn hit the first grand slam in an All-Star Game as the American Leaguers won 13-3. 

     Comiskey Park was also the most frequent site of the Negro Leagues' annual East-West All-Star Game between 1933 and 1960. 

 

In addition to being the stomping grounds of the White Sox for 81 seasons, Comiskey Park was home to a variety of other Chicago teams over the years:

-- Cardinals (National Football League), 1922-1925, 1929-1930, 1940-1958

-- American Giants (Negro American League), 1941-1952

-- Mustangs (North American Soccer League), 1967-1968

-- Sting (North American Soccer League), 1980-1985

 

In 1937, Joe Louis became the world heavyweight champion by defeating Jim Braddock at Comiskey Park (he reigned as champion until 1949). The Beatles played two sold-out concerts there in 1965, and the Jacksons played three in 1984. In 1979, the White Sox had to forfeit the second game of a doubleheader when disk jockey Steve Dahl's Disco Demolition Night got out of hand.

 

And let's not forget that White Sox owner Bill Veeck installed the first exploding scoreboard in baseball (or any sport) at Comiskey Park in 1960. That alone would have qualified the old ballyard as a unique and unforgettable place.

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