For example, while people speak highly of the new wave of ballparks because they tend to be located in downtown areas, they really aren’t any more “neighborhood ballparks” than their poured concrete multipurpose predecessors were. In addition to providing an almost painfully tantalizing glimpse at what could’ve been for the White Sox, Perry’s story makes a lot of points people tend to overlook about the post-Camden Yards ballparks. It integrated itself into the South Side neighborhood that New Comiskey would eventually disrupt and, as Perry convincingly argues, would actually have provided a lot of urban renewal and economic benefit that the new ballparks are always promised to deliver but never actually do. Brilliant aesthetically and brilliant in design and conception. What they rejected, though, was brilliant. They didn’t care for it and it was rejected and they decided to go with New Comiskey Park instead. It wasn’t something the White Sox knew about ahead of time - this was a labor of love and intellectual curiosity for Bess - but the design did get in front of Jerry Reinsdorf and various White Sox and Chicago officials. Bess applied for and received a grant to design a ballpark concept which would fit nicely into an existing neighborhood, combining the beauty of the old classic ballparks but which would have modern conveniences we now take for granted.
But it was designed in the 1980s by an architect named Philip Bess. “But you’re overlooking Armour Park.”Īrmour Park was never built. “Wait, Craig,” you exclaim, “the Sox have only had two parks in the last 108 years? Comiskey Park and New Comiskey/WhateverTheHeckThe圜allItNow park.” “Ah yes,” I reply. It’s a story about the Chicago White Sox and their three ballparks. If these topics even remotely interest you, boy howdy, should you set aside some time today to read this brilliant piece by CBS’ Dayn Perry. About public financing, threats of teams to move, the economic benefits of new parks and the aesthetic choices of ballpark designers. We talk a lot about ballparks and ballpark construction around here.
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