Born and Razed; Comiskey Park-- Part 4: Bad Shape Toward End

Sox manager Robin Ventura played many years as a White Sox player and remembers the last two years of the park in '89 and '90, saying, "It had to go, but there was a certain charm."

Sox batting coach Harold Baines also played many years at Comsikey and says it was pretty much uninhabitable toward the end: "The bricks were falling down in the outfield.  The playing surface was fine, but when I played the outfield bricks in right field would fall down.  It was time to go."

The home clubhouse was cramped, like Wrigley's, with a small kitchen run by clubhouse manager "Chicken Willie" Thompson.  It was not well-ventilated, and the aroma of fried foods wafted through the tunnel toward the Sox bench.

Ventura said: "You'd sit on the bench and smell Chicken Willie's fried chicken.  And by the seventh inning, you're like, 'You know, I am kind of hungry right now.' You'd be able to sneak down there and get something to eat to get you through the game until the end of the game."

Sneaky Robin.  --