#27: U.S. Cellular Field

U.S. Cellular Field

333 West 35st Street

Chicago, Illinois 60616

Capacity:  40,615

Indoors/outdoors:  Outdoors

Game Attended:  Orioles at White Sox; July 4, 2013

It’s hypothetical time!  Imagine, if you will, that you are one of the richest people in the city of Chicago.  I’m talking billionaire here, more money than you know what to do with.  As a typical rich person, you are never quite satisfied with your material possessions and, a home being the most material of possessions, you decide to erect a sky rise just outside of the downtown area, with your modest accommodations encapsulating the entire top floor.  You wait weeks upon weeks in anticipation, eagerly counting down the days until you can move in.  Finally the day arrives.  You enter the building, take your own private express elevator to the top floor and hold your breath as the door opens.  You step out and the very first thing you notice is that the grand window in your penthouse does not face one of the all-time great skylines but, rather, a low-rent apartment complex framing a view of an interstate highway.  I ask you…would you be pissed?  If you answered “yes” then you share more in common with the average White Sox fan than you probably know.  So much about a great baseball park (as we will see in future reviews) rests on the view you get beyond centerfield, the “art” that frames the park.  Lots of parks got it right but the White Sox got it so, so wrong.

If the hypothetical in the introduction didn’t go over your head, you can probably guess the number one issue that I have with U.S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox and #27 on the list.  As I got off the train the day of the game I attended there, I noticed how nice the skyline looked upon walking up to the entrance.  I remarked to myself about how the skyline pales only in comparison to New York’s and that any architect worth his salt would certainly take advantage of such a breath-taking sight when building a baseball stadium.  Then, as I rode the escalator up to my section behind home plate, it dawned on me that I could STILL SEE THE SKYLINE from the escalator.  Oh no…you mean…no….no way.  Yup, the stadium’s main view beyond the outfield wall is not of the Willis Tower and his friends, but rather Interstate 90 and bunch of dull apartment buildings.  Humbug.  Now, I am no architect myself, so I have no idea if logistically having the park face the skyline was simply an impossibility (and I’m not dismissing this as a definite reason) but, excuses or no, it’s a major black eye on what is otherwise not a completely terrible place to watch a baseball game.

In a way, I feel bad for White Sox fans.  U.S. Cellular Field was the last stadium built prior to the era of retro parks which paid homage to older stadiums (like Comiskey Park, which “The Cell” replaced).  If they had just waited an extra year or two there is a chance that their pad could have turned out much better – presumably going along with the trend of retro parks that followed in the years after.  Instead, they were gifted this mess and while U.S. Cellular Field is not nearly as bad as the previous three entrants on the list, it’s still a pretty poor excuse for a stadium. 

I’ve already highlighted the skyline issue, but the stadium’s location also leaves a lot to be desired.  It is situated in the South Side of town, not far away from where the Showtime series “Shameless” takes place.  If you’ve ever seen this show, you know that it’s not a place you really want to spend a lot of time, particularly after 10 pm when most night games let out.  The game I attended was during the day so there wasn’t a total fear of safety (and, if I’m being honest, in most cases you’re fine leaving a stadium at night after a game in any city – I’ve never had any issues whatsoever).  That said, when I was there the closest train line happened to be closed due to repairs.  I remember a sign informing guests that they would have to walk a few extra blocks to get on the closest “L” but, not to worry, there would be “extra security” present along the main thoroughfare to the train.  Uh…thanks?  To be fair, the area didn’t strike me as particularly bad or run down but, to be sure, there isn’t much to do there in the way of pre-game socializing.  Like Oakland and, to a lesser extent, Tampa, it’s a stadium, a parking lot and that’s about it. 

The other major issue, and I’ve seen this at other parks, is that you aren’t free to walk around the entire stadium.  If you have an upper deck ticket, you are banished to the upper deck.  There are actually ushers checking tickets at the entrances to the lower level.  Fortunately I was able to walk around the outfield concourse and it wasn’t so bad.  They have renovated this stadium a lot in recent years and there are nice statues of former White Sox greats like Harold Baines (the pride of Maryland’s Eastern Shore!) and Frank Thomas.  Be sure to walk around and check these things out if you’re visiting.  U.S. Cellular Field also has those multi-colored pinwheels in the outfield which spin and shoot off fireworks, a nice homage to Old Comiskey Park.

One final note.  If you’re seeing a game here make sure you take advantage of the fact that YOU’RE IN CHICAGO!  There are no shortages of things to do in this town and I couldn’t begin to tell you all the ways you could have fun.  Mass transit is your friend in the Windy City (the “L” runs 24 hours a day) so, when the game ends, head out of there and get a steak, or go to a blues bar, or have a deep dish pie or just drink your face off.  No matter what you decide to do, it’s impossible not to have fun in Chicago, a definite plus for U.S. Cellular Field.

The Cell isn’t all that bad, and the renovations (a new scoreboard, restaurants and bars inside) have certainly improved the park overall.  Still, there is plenty about it to justify ranking it here.  I should mention that while I have ranked it #27, it’s far and away better than the previous three parks and, in fact, #s 27-15 or so were pretty hard to rank.  There have been so many new parks built in recent years, and they’re all nice in their own way.  Which for us baseball fans is a very very good thing.