Comiskey Park

Comiskey Park was a baseball stadium located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was the facility that hosted the home games of the Chicago White Sox militant team in Major League Baseball (MLB).

The stadium was constructed by Charles Comiskey and eventually inaugurated in 1910. The building was based on a design by Zachary Taylor Davis. This facility hosted four World Series, the most notable of which was played by the Chicago Cubs, who could not secure enough seats at Wrigley Field, which at the time was their home ballpark. In addition to that, Comiskey Park was home to more than 6000 games of the Major League Baseball.

On July 12, 1979, to highlight a double game between The White Sox and The Detroit Tigers, a promotional event known as Disco Demolition Night was held in the facility. This promotional event remains one of the most well-known chapters in the history of this stadium, and it is often considered a cautionary tales for promoters, especially if they don’t really realize the scope of what their event might entail. This was a particularly infamous promotional stunt, as it actually caused the park to be severely damaged. The event came about when Steve Dahl,a radio DJ, decided to launch a campaign against disco music, which eventually turned into a riot. The DJ organized the mass explosion of a box filled with vinyl records featuring disco music. The explosion was meant to be an attack to the disco genre, which was seen as weak and distasteful by Steve Dahl. Eventually, the explosion damaged the stadium so much so that the games could not continue on that night. Many people consider this event as one of the signs that led to the fall of disco music in the United States. With this stunt, the teams were hoping to attract at least about 20.000, which is a bit more than the seasonal average for that year. However, the event led to more than 50.000 people in attendance, which were more interested in the Disco Demolition concept than the actual games! In addition to the 50.000 ticketed attendants, there were another 20.000 people who actually crashed the gates in order to participate. Dahl himself was very surprised at the fact that his event was able to attract an average of 70.000 people, and although controversial, the Disco Demolition Night actually made him a rather high-profile DJ and radio personality in the Chicago area and slew here!

The stadium as actually modified and upgraded several times throughout the years. In 1969, the facility embraced AstroTurf, and this was actually the first outdoor field to use artificial grass. By the time this stadium was demolished in the 1990s, it had raked up millions of attendees, and became quite an iconic local landmark. Today, the physical space where the facility once stood is partly a parking lot. Famously, the stadium appeared in the movie Only the Lonely. The film actually features the late great comedic actor John Candy, whose character was sneaking into the stadium in order to have a private picnic with his love interest on the grass of the facility. During the scene, the characters briefly references the impending demolition of the stadium!