Saturday, January 29, 2011

Past Venue: Comiskey Park

Chicago, IL


Year opened: 1910
Capacity: 50,934, up from 32,000 in early 1920s

Names:
Comiskey Park, 1913-61, 76-90
White Sox Park, 1910-12, 62-75

Pro football tenants:
Chicago Cardinals (NFL), 1922-25, 29-30, 38, 40-58
Chicago Bulls (AFL), 1926

Postseason games hosted:
NFL Championship, Cardinals 28 Eagles 21, Dec. 28, 1947

Other tenants of note:
Chicago White Sox (MLB – AL), 1910-90
Chicago American Giants (baseball Negro Leagues), 1941-52
Chicago Mustangs (NASL), 1968
Chicago Sting (NASL), 1980-85

Notes: Also served as a home field for the combined Cardinals-Steelers (Card-Pitt) team in 1944. Site of the boxing match in which Joe Louis defeated James Braddock to become world heavyweight champion, June 22, 1937. The stadium was owned by baseball’s White Sox and named for founding owner Charles A. Comiskey (it was briefly called “Charles A. Comiskey’s Baseball Palace” in 1910).

Fate: Demolished in 1991, the site is now used as a parking lot for the new Comiskey Park/US Cellular Field.

NOTE TO READERS: I'm introducing a new feature today, Past Venues. These will be interspersed among the regular daily entries, along with the Lists of the Day, especially during the offseason months. The stadiums featured, at least initially, will be those that were major pro football venues (i.e., used for at least two seasons as a team's home field) and not currently being used - at least, not by an NFL team.