A couple of week ago, my family took Amtrak from St. Paul, Minnesota to the Windy City. On the itinerary for most of us were three games:

• July 6th – Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals @ Wrigley Field
• July 7th – An AUSL Softball Double-Header in Rosemount
• July 9th – Chicago White Sox vs. Toronto Blue Jays @ Rate Field

The clear highlight for all was the White Sox game and Rate Field. I will review the other two game experiences at another time, but for here I only want to sing the praises of my own Southside baseball experience.

I had never been to Rate Field before. My last White Sox game in Chicago was at Old Comiskey in 1990. That was the last year of the old grand South Side stadium. Over the years though, I have heard a lot of negativity surrounding the “New” White Sox ballpark. Given that, I did not know what to expect.

In a nutshell, it is a great ballpark! I loved it! The fact that the Sox won the game 2-1 only made the experience more perfect.

The staff and fans were friendly, the sight lines good. The concourses open and airy. The food choices interesting and plentiful. I am not sure you could ask for anything more.

Best of all for this fan, my day at Rate Field reminded me of the kind of baseball experience I love best: no crowds, and that peculiar sense of being an insider on something both wonderful and important. It is the sense I got in the early 1980s when I went to games at both Wrigley Field and Old Comiskey when I watched baseball in largely empty stadiums.

Here are some photos from Rate Field, the home of the South Siders. (Oh, the uniform I am wearing in the pictures is a 1976 Bad News Bears uniform, a great Wicker Park Vintage Store find.)