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Comiskey offers up a decent atmosphere
By Andy Rennecke
Published:
Monday, April 28, 2003
CHICAGO - The wind was howling and the fans could see each breath they took in the frigid April air.
As the temperatures continued to dip into the lower 30's, only the heartiest of baseball fans stayed at Comiskey Park, now known as U.S. Cellular Field, to watch the outcome between the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox Saturday night.
As a fan in attendance of Saturday's game, I began to appreciate just how vigorous these White Sox fans were. I also respected the overall atmosphere that I witnessed at Comiskey (I'll never call it U.S. Cellular Field). Maybe it was just the fact that I was at an outdoor stadium instead of the dingy Metrodome, but Chicago's other baseball stadium produced a product that I was happy to spend $29 to see.
Positioned down the right field line in the first row, my two cohorts and I were in a perfect spot to see the game. We were also in the exact spot where a fan had leapt out onto the field a week earlier to attack Laz Diaz, the first base umpire for that particular White Sox-Kansas City Royals contest. Beefed-up security or not, we weren't going to be discouraged by the bad karma that has been going around about "New" Comiskey.
The field was beautiful and the stadium itself is in great condition. On television, Comiskey comes off as very dingy and trashy. In person however, it wasn't all that bad.
Recent renovations to the ballpark have apparently done wonders for it, at least according to the Sox fans we talked to sitting by us. Just being outside for us as Twins fans was good enough. There's nothing like being outside to watch a baseball game, the way it was meant to be seen.
The plastic atmosphere of the Metrodome is growing more and more irritating by the year. Why Minnesota has not approved of a new baseball stadium is still beyond me. Are we just that cheap? Or, maybe we're just that stupid.
If this state and its hick population ever woke up and realized what kind of revenue a new stadium would bring to whatever Twin City will take it, the Twins would remain in Minnesota for decades to come.
Every Major League Baseball team and its city that has built a new stadium, or is in the process of building one, has reaped huge benefits from the endeavor. People flock not only to watch a baseball game, but to also see what the facility is like. If it's a quality structure, the more likely it is they'll keep coming back.
The idea of Comiskey Park being the Twins stadium made my mouth salivate. I kept picturing this quality baseball stadium being exactly where the Dome is right now. If only I could cut a deal with Jerry Reinsdorf to rearrange the two (after all, this is the genius who let the Bulls dynasty just wilt away).
The Metrodome belongs in a place like the area Comiskey inhabits. The southside of Chicago isn't the most appealing place for fans to come out and watch a game. Fearing for your life should never be a part of a trip out to the ballpark. However, these aspirations are just a part of a foolish old Twins fans' daydreams.
I just want to encourage Twins fans to experience a real outdoor baseball game so they can catch a glimpse of how a Major League Baseball game was meant to be seen. Travel to Milwaukee's Miller Park, Chicago's Wrigley Field or Comiskey, it'll be worth the trip if you're a true baseball enthusiast.
As the game rolled along Saturday, the Twins and White Sox each knocked out seven home runs, engaged in a minor spat on the field due to a beanball and watched fireworks go off at the end of Chicago's 7-4 victory. Being outside to watch a game had never been a more beautiful sight to a man who had been cooped up since 1982.
I became a reborn baseball fan Saturday in the freezing Windy City.
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