We've been to both Cubs and White Sox games on previous visits. One of the most enjoyable was several years back when Ben and Sarah were still at home and we did a "Tucker Family Baseball Road Trip" that included 4 games in 4 days. We saw the Cubs and White Sox here in Chicago, the Brewers in Milwaukee and the Twins in Minneapolis. As always, Beth did an outstanding job planning it and it created some special memories for all of us. For an encore we did a second "Baseball Trip" a couple of years later that included games in New York, Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia that was equally as enjoyable.
Just by observing hats and shirts on the street it would be easy to say the White Sox are the less popular of the two teams here in Chicago. The Cubs have always been known as the loveable losers and have a huge fan base. Their popularity soared last year after they won the World Series with many more folks jumping on the bandwagon of the losers who suddenly were the champions.. By winning the championship they exorcised demons such as the curse of the Billy Goat and exonerated an innocent young man named Steve Bartman, who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time a few years ago. He allegedly cost the Cubs a shot at the championship by interfering with a ball hit near the stands.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_Billy_Goat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Bartman_incident
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2673998-steve-bartman-comments-on-cubs-winning-world-series
Last week was the All Star game so there wasn't any games in town during the week. After the All Star break the White Sox had a three game home series against the Mariners that started Friday night. Thanks again to an old friend we enjoyed complimentary tickets to the Friday night and Sunday afternoon games.
Here are some observations about our trip to the Southside of Chicago. As the old Jim Croce song about Bad, Bad Leroy Brown went; "the Southside of Chicago is the baddest part of town", I think it still holds true today. Although it's very safe taking the train and getting to the ballpark which is right at the train station I wouldn't advise wondering too far away from the stadium area. The ballpark is fairly new and although it is pretty dull on the outside it's quite nice inside. One interesting thing about the stadium is that if your seats are in the upper deck you can't get to the lower decks even to just walk around. The White Sox do a great job of honoring the legacy of the team,
as well as recognizing many of the great individual players who have worn the uniform. Although this isn't going to be their year as far as making the playoffs go, they are still drawing fairly large and enthusiastic crowds. Most importantly, the ballpark food was better than average. They serve a nice Italian Beef Sandwich and believe it or not a pretty nice Cuban Sandwich as well!
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| Guaranteed Rate Field on a Friday Night! |
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| Check out that gametime (1:10PM) temperature in the upper left hand corner of the scoreboard. |
