U.S. Cellular Field

Jerry Reinsdorf, the chairman of the board of the Chicago White Sox since 1981, issued an ultimatum to Chicago in 1988: build the team a new ballpark or the franchise would move to St. Petersburg, Florida. On May 7, 1989, ground was broken for the new Comiskey Park, now known as U.S. Cellular Field, a $167-million stadium built across the street from its predecessor 79 years after the cornerstone had been laid for the original ballpark. It was the first new baseball-only stadium built in the American League since 1973. Designed to hold 44,321 fans, the new ballpark produced the franchise single-season attendance record (2,934,154) in its first year.

In place of one of baseball’s oldest parks, the White Sox now had one of the most high-tech stadiums in the game. The 1,300,000-square-foot stadium has 12 escalators, 11 elevators, three industrial-strength garbage compactors, a fireworks launching pad beyond center field, and six outdoor pet-check kennels. The retired uniform numbers of eight players are displayed at U.S. Cellular Field: Nellie Fox (2), Harold Baines (3), Luke Appling (4), Minnie Minoso (9), Luis Aparicio (11), Ted Lyons (16), Billy Pierce (19) and Carlton Fisk (72). Harold Baines's number was briefly removed from the display of retired uniform numbers when he came back to play for the White Sox in 2000. A White Sox Hall of Fame is on the stadium’s main concourse, behind home plate.