July 1, 1910: Comiskey Park Opens

July 1, 1910: Comiskey Park opens, at 324 West 35th Street and Shields Avenue, in the Bridgeport section of the South Side of Chicago, about 4 miles south of The Loop. It doesn't go so well for the home team: The Chicago White Sox lose to the St. Louis Browns, 2-0. Barney Pelty of the Browns pitches a 5-hit shutout, defeating the White Sox' ace, Big Ed Walsh.

It was a pitcher's park: Supposedly, Zachary Taylor Davis, the architect who designed both it and the Cubs' Wrigley Field, asked White Sox pitcher Ed Walsh for suggestions in setting the dimensions. The field was always symmetrical. When it opened in 1910, the foul lines were a large 363 feet from home plate, the power alleys a long 382, and center field 420, which was actually shorter than most ballparks at the time. The final distances, from 1986 to 1990, were 347 to the poles, 382 to the alleys, and 409 to center.

As a result, the White Sox were perennially a team built around pitching, defense, contact hitting and speed. It wasn't until 1971, with Bill Melton, that they had a player lead the American League in home runs. Most of their career leaders in home runs played for them after the move across the street.

Officially, it was named White Sox Park through the 1912 season. But everyone kept calling it "Comiskey Park," for the team's owner, Charles A. Comiskey, formerly a great 1st baseman in the 1880s. Having played at South Side Park, a few blocks aware, and won the American League Pennant in its 1st season, 1901, and the World Series in 1906, the White Sox won the 1917 World Series while playing at Comiskey, and lost it in 1919, dubiously.

They also let the Chicago Cubs use it for their games in the 1918 World Series, as it seated more than the ballpark that would later be expanded and become Wrigley Field.

Bill Veeck bought the White Sox in 1959, and won an American League Pennant with them that 1st season. But ill health forced him to sell the team in 1961. Comiskey Park became White Sox Park again from 1962 to 1975, but the name never stuck. And so, when Veeck bought the team back in 1975, he restored the Comiskey name, which lasted until the end.

Charlie Comiskey called his park "The Baseball Palace of the World." Bill Veeck called it "The World's Largest Saloon." He was closer to being correct. After the 1959 Pennant season, he installed what he called an "exploding scoreboard," which lit up, spun pinwheels, and shot off fireworks.

The original Exploding Scoreboard, late 1970s

Legend has it that, upset by the "unprofessionalism" of the original 1960 board, Casey Stengel brought sparklers into the Yankee dugout, and when a Yankee homered, he had the sparklers lit, and the Yankees jumped up and down in the dugout in mock celebration. Nevertheless, that board remained in place until 1982, when it was replaced as part of a minor renovation.

Comiskey Park hosted baseball's 1st official All-Star Game in 1933, another in 1950, and a 50th Anniversary All-Star Game in 1983. The Chicago American Giants of the Negro Leagues played there from 1941 to 1952.

The NFL's Chicago Cardinals played there from 1922 to 1959, and the franchise, now the Arizona Cardinals, won what remains their only NFL Championship Game (they didn't call 'em Super Bowls back then) there in 1947. The Chicago Sting of the old North American Soccer League played there from 1980 to 1982, won the league title in 1981 and 1984, and hosted the 1st leg of Soccer Bowl '84.

Comiskey Park hosted 3 fights for the Heavyweight Championship of the World: Joe Louis winning the title by knocking out "Cinderella Man" Jim Braddock on June 22, 1937; Ezzard Charles defeating Jersey Joe Walcott for the title vacated by Louis' retirement on June 22, 1949; and Sonny Liston knocking out Floyd Patterson to take the title on September 25, 1962.

With the closing in 1970 of Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Forbes Field in Pittsburgh and Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia -- Crosley opened in 1912, the other 2 in 1909 -- Comiskey Park became the oldest stadium in Major League Baseball. And yet, from 1969 to 1975, there was an experiment with an artificial turf infield, keeping the outfield natural grass. This was known as "Sox Sod," and it looked ridiculous. Getting rid of it was one of the changes Veeck made when he bought the team back after the 1975 season.

When Veeck returned as owner for the 1976 season, his sense of promotions went into overdrive. He had a shower installed in the center field bleachers, the only part of the seating area not protected from the Sun, for fans who wanted to cool off. He increased the variety of concessions, giving Comiskey Park the best food selection of any ballpark ever. On-field contests were a big hit. Then again, there were those uniforms, including the version with shorts... And there was Disco Demolition Night in 1979...

Veeck sold the White Sox to Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn in 1980. He simply couldn't afford to keep the team running, saying, "It's not the high price of talent, it's the high price of mediocrity."

The Wrigley family, owners of the Cubs, were able to keep Wrigley Field standing and in good shape by spending big money on it. The White Sox' owners -- the Comiskeys, the Allyns, and Veeck -- never had enough money to pay for proper maintenance. I got to see one game there, on September 13, 1990, shortly before it closed. I noticed that the outside brick wall had white paint so thick, you could have driven a chisel into it, 4 inches deep, and hit nothing but paint. (The White Sox won my game, 9-6 over the Boston Red Sox.)

The condition of the stadium, and of the neighborhood, both deteriorated. In 1988, "The Reinsdorf Twins" told the Illinois legislature that they would move to the Tampa Bay area for the next season if they didn't get funding for a new ballpark. They got it, and the old Comiskey Park closed on September 30, 1990, with a 2-1 White Sox win over the Seattle Mariners. Demolition began the following April.

The replacement park opened across the street, at 333 W. 35th Street, on April 18, 1991. It didn't go so well for the Pale Hose: They lost 16-0 to the Detroit Tigers. The new park was named Comiskey Park as well, but became U.S. Cellular Field in 2003, and Guaranteed Rate Field for 2017. The site of the old park is now a parking lot, with its infield painted in.

The area around the park, isn't as bad as it was in the 1960s, '70s, '80s and early '90s. It was in 1973 that Jim Croce, in "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown," called the South Side "the baddest part of town." But things have improved significantly.

UPDATE: For the 2025 season, New Comiskey is now simply "Rate Field."

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July 1, 1910 was a Friday. Glenn "Slats" Hardin, winner of the Gold Medal for America in the 400-meter hurdles at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, was born.

These other baseball games were played:

* The New York Highlanders were swept in a doubleheader by the Philadelphia Athletics, 2-0 and 4-3 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. In the opener, Jack Coombs pitched a 7-hit shutout to beat Russ Ford. In the nightcap, Albert "Chief" Bender was backed by a home run and a triple by Frank Baker -- not yet nicknamed "Home Run" Baker -- to beat Jack Quinn. The Highlanders were renamed the Yankees in 1913.

* The New York Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Brooklyn Superbas, 5-4 at the Polo Grounds. The Giants scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th to win it. The following year, the Brooklyn team would adopt the name by which they would be forever known: The Dodgers.

* The Philadelphia Phillies swept a doubleheader from the Boston Doves, 6-2 and 6-5 at the South End Grounds in Boston. Named for their owners, the brothers George and John Dovey, the Doves were bought by William H. Russell in 1911, and he renamed them for himself: The Boston Rustlers. He died after 1 season, and they were bought by James Gaffney, an official in the New York political organization of Tammany Hall, a "Brave." He renamed them the Boston Braves.

* The Washington Senators beat the Boston Red Sox, 2-1 at American League Park in Washington. Walter Johnson went the distance on the win. Tris Speaker went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-1 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Honus Wagner went 0-for-2 with a walk.

* The Cleveland Naps beat the Detroit Tigers, 8-3 at League Park in Cleveland. Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, the slugger, 2nd baseman and manager for whom the team that became the Indians in 1915 and the Guardians in 2022 were then named, went 3-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Ty Cobb, uncharacteristically, went 0-for-4.

* And the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-0 at Robison Field in St. Louis. (That's not a typo: The Cards were then owned by the Robison brothers, not "Robinson.") At the time, the Cards were not the Cubs' arch-rivals, the Giants were.