Comiskey Park

An elaborate facade marks the new Comiskey Park, Aug-1992.

The exploding scoreboard is about all that mimics the old park.

• Location: 35th Street at Dan Ryan Expressway, Chicago, Ill.
• Opened: 1991 as Comiskey Park
• Additional names: U.S. Cellular Field (2003)
• Home team: Chicago White Sox, American League (1991-present)
• Capacity: 44,321

Rating: 2 baseballs

The crying started the next year, when the new Comiskey opened. People complained right away about the seating. Even though there were no longer any obstructed views, the seats at the bottom of the upper deck here were farther away from the field than seats at the top of the upper deck in the old park.

The new facility, though, did meet fire codes, and it also provided better amenities for the fans, as well as preserving the “exploding scoreboard” introduced by Bill Veeck in the 1950s.

All in all, the park is seen as a design mistake, one which was corrected in more recently built facilities like Camden Yards.

In January 2003, the White Sox announced that U.S. Cellular had bought naming rights to the field. The fee would go toward ballpark improvements, perhaps including a leveling-off of the steep upper deck.