Tank's Ballpark Tour: Guaranteed Rate Field home of the Chicago White Sox

Barstool Sports

Frank The Tank

Transcript

00:00I am on the south side of Chicago, outside Guaranteed Rate Field, initially called Comiskey

00:22Park and U.S. Cellular Field.

00:24Guaranteed Rate Field opened in 1991.

00:27And it was the last ballpark to open up before the wave of new era stadiums came out with

00:34the classic look.

00:35So this stadium was antiquated almost after it opened up.

00:40And the White Sox have had their ups and downs over the years.

00:43But one thing they're very proud of is their 2005 championship, which is honored with this

00:49beautiful monument right in front of the entrance to the stadium.

00:54They've only won three World Series, 1906 against the Cubs, 1917, and 2005.

01:00And of course, 1919, the Black Sox handled tainted baseball and put a black mark on the

01:06White Sox for years and years and years and years.

01:10But here we are outside Guaranteed Rate Field, and in some ways the stadium failed almost

01:16from the start.

01:18I don't think there's a worse sponsored name in sports.

01:31Guaranteed Rate Field, terrible.

01:34And look at that logo, arrow pointing down.

01:37And that's been a fortune to the White Sox many, many seasons lately, especially this

01:42year.

01:43This outside of the ballpark, a little bit of a bar, a team store located where the old

01:50stadium was.

01:51They have a nice statue and a nice plaza with the retired numbers and a little bit of brickwork.

01:58But the game day atmosphere, there's a lot to be desired.

02:01Tailgating is stuff you do on your own.

02:03The options for people outside the ballpark are slim.

02:08That's why I'm giving the outdoor atmosphere of this stadium a D-.

02:28Sadly, the White Sox do not put their trophy on display on the concourse.

02:33That would be a much better option, if you ask me.

02:36I've said here, outside the corporate offices, the team offices, it should be on display

02:41for the average, everyday fan.

02:43This is one thing I always feel strong about.

02:46Display your history.

02:48Oh, statues, statues, we got statues.

02:53Harold Bame statue.

02:56I don't care what anyone says, he don't belong in the Hall of Fame.

02:59Mattingly deserves to be much before him.

03:02Charlie Kaminsky, what a cheap bastard he was.

03:07His cheapness led to the White Sox throwing that series.

03:11Their best pitcher, Eddie Sycott, if he got 30 wins, he would have got a bonus.

03:15He ordered the manager to hold him out of the games, so he wouldn't get the 30 wins.

03:20He ended up with 29.

03:22I love the statues, love the statues.

03:24Look at this, Luis Albericio, Nellie Fox, they're throwing a double play here.

03:33I like the statues, how they displayed, and I like the fact that they honor retired numbers,

03:40clearly.

03:41But the fact that they took down their World Series Championship banners, a strange move

03:45for a team.

03:49I have to give the White Sox on displaying history a D.

03:52All right, what you notice about the concourses, there's not great sightlines, the views of

04:01the field on the concourses.

04:05This is the last of a dying era, when they built these ballparks, they didn't think about

04:10open concourses.

04:11The concourse is plenty wide, that's a good thing.

04:16Beggar's Pizza.

04:18You know, I have yet to ever have a good slice of pizza at a ballpark.

04:22White Sox Grill.

04:24Standard ballpark options here.

04:27I haven't seen much in terms of variety.

04:47The concourses up here, you can't see a ding, but they do have nice pictures up.

04:52But the game is a rumor.

04:55The concourses here at Guaranteed Great Field, they leave a lot to be desired.

04:59They're not open concourses.

05:01It definitely is a dated ballpark.

05:03But you come up to the 500 level, and you've got this magnificent view of the stadium.

05:08This is beautiful.

05:10It's just sad that they don't overlook the stadium.

05:13I hear that the White Sox have been thinking about getting a new stadium on the South Pole.

05:17If they get a new stadium, they better tilt it to this magnificent skyline.

05:21As for the concourse, I'm going to give this concourse a C-.

05:25It's wide, but the view of the field from the concourse is not good.

05:32Alright, I'm up here on the upper deck.

05:35If you're afraid of heights, this is not where you want to be.

05:38They had to fix the upper deck 20 years ago.

05:41They lowered the slope.

05:43The slope used to be even worse.

05:45People would get vertigo up here from how high up the upper deck is.

05:50Mikey, do you care to go up?

06:07Even after renovations have lowered the slope of the upper deck,

06:11the sightlines are still a little off.

06:13I'm going to give the sightlines a C.

06:21I was told the food here is great.

06:25You know, I don't see a lot of variety here.

06:29Citi Field has a dozen different food items.

06:33This place doesn't.

06:35But we're going to review the hot dog.

06:37Now, a ballpark hot dog has to be reviewed on a different scale.

06:40You're never going to have a home run.

06:42So we're going to call it the ballpark scale.

06:45The hot dog feels good.

06:48The hot dog feels good.

06:50It's not warmed out.

06:52There's a little bit of charring on here.

06:55Fundy dog ratio is good.

06:56Jumbo dog.

06:58Let's see how it actually tastes.

07:03This is a good hot dog for a stadium.

07:07It might be one of the best stadium dogs I've ever had.

07:10On the curb scale, it's a triple.

07:14Now here's the Polish sausage.

07:16A lot of excellent grilling on this thing.

07:19Let's see how this tastes.

07:24Tastes like another hot dog.

07:26It's hard to really tell a Polish sausage from a hot dog.

07:30I'm going to give the Polish sausage a double.

07:33While the hot dogs were excellent,

07:36the lack of variety at guaranteed rate in the field

07:40kind of puts a damper on the food items.

07:43They recently introduced a super sugary shake

07:47that's grabbing the White Sox nation by storm.

07:50But long lines make it not worth even trying to get it.

07:56I tried.

07:58I had someone even trying to get it for me,

08:00and they couldn't do it.

08:02The lines were just too long.

08:04And they only sell it at one location.

08:06If you have an item that well,

08:08you should have at least two, three locations.

08:10In 2024, we need more options.

08:12So for food options at this stadium,

08:15I have to give it a C.

08:17I didn't see much of Southpaw today.

08:19I met him two years ago.

08:21He gave me a nice bag of goodies.

08:23I like Southpaw.

08:25Even though it's just a generic fuzzy looking mascot.

08:28Southpaw, great name for it.

08:31Didn't see much of him on the field today.

08:33His presence was not overwhelming at the ballpark.

08:37As far as mascots go,

08:39I got to give him a B on this.

08:43Here we go! Here we go!

08:58Fan-fucking-tastic!

09:02In 1960,

09:06Bill Beck came up with the idea

09:08to celebrate home runs in a unique way.

09:10He attached fireworks and pinwheels.

09:15And it was the first exploding scoreboard.

09:18Pyrotechnics!

09:20Years and years and years

09:22before anyone else did it.

09:24The White Sox did it first.

09:26And it is the symbol

09:28of any White Sox game.

09:30It is their pinwheels

09:32and their exploding scoreboard.

09:34And probably the highlight of the ballpark.

09:41All right!

09:43I stand where

09:45Comiskey Field Park

09:47originally stood.

09:49They tried in some ways

09:51to replicate it

09:53with the lookouts outside

09:55the park's windows,

09:57but they failed.

09:59They missed.

10:01And just one year later,

10:03I'm standing here

10:05in front of Comiskey Field Park.

10:07They missed.

10:09And just one year later,

10:11after 1991, Camden Yards

10:13changed the ballpark forever.

10:15This stadium never had a chance.

10:17And the White Sox

10:19are now looking at moving to the South Loop.

10:21Hopefully when they build

10:23a new stadium, they'll do it right.

10:25This one,

10:27even though it's only 33 years old,

10:29feels outdated

10:31and antiquated.

10:33I'm going to give the overall score

10:35of the guaranteed rate field

10:37a C-.

10:39They've got to get better food options,

10:41more variety.

10:43The hot dogs are great,

10:45but variety

10:47really makes

10:49your food score go higher.

10:51The sidelines are good.

10:53The concourses were poor.

10:55The way they honor their history

10:57is terrible.

10:59They hide the trophy.

11:01They don't have banners.

11:03When you go up

11:05at a White Sox game,

11:07you go up.

11:09And I mean up.

11:11In fact, the gate to St. Peter

11:13is just below us.

11:15Take me out to the ballpark.

11:19Take me to each one.

11:23I'm hitting the road

11:25and I'm reviewing everything.

11:27Inside, outside,

11:29even the game.

11:31Of course, there will be

11:33a raw dog

11:35plus the ballpark specialty

11:37as I review

11:39each ballpark

11:41in the MLB.

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