Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 18, 1991 TAG: 9104180519
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-6 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: Medium
The Chicago White Sox were set for the opener of the new Comiskey Park today by playing host to the Detroit Tigers.
McDowell, a 2-1 winner over the Seattle Mariners in the final game in old Comiskey, was named starter for the White Sox, who won their first six games of the season before losing 10-1 Wednesday to the Yankees in New York.
Verdun, a 28-year-old systems analyst from suburban Lisle, won a Chicago Tribune baseball trivia contest to be the "first official fan" allowed into the park.
"I'm really excited," she said Wednesday. "I'm bringing a ball for autographs."
Broadcasting his WLUP Radio show this morning from the $135 million park was Steve Dahl, whose 1979 Disco Demolition Night at the old Comiskey resulted in a fan riot and forfeiture of a game to the Tigers.
The demolition of the old park, across 35th Street at Shields Avenue from Comiskey II, began April 3.
Jackson, still on crutches after suffering a hip injury playing football, planned to appear in a White Sox uniform to cheer his new teammates on this afternoon. He was signed by the club after being let go by the Kansas City Royals in March.
At a "Christening the Park" ceremony Monday, Mike Veeck, son of late club owner Bill Veeck, said he could feel "millions and millions of spirits" of old ball players crossing from the old park to the new one.
"Today, we're opening the doors to millions of kids looking for their heroes," said Veeck, president of Miami's minor league franchise.
The 1991 Comiskey - with its 44,702 blue seats and white trimmings - is state of the art, with indoor batting cages, diaper changing areas in both men's and women's restrooms, and recharging machines for use by fans who come to the games in electric wheelchairs.
"I can't believe we've gotten to this point after so many obstacles," club owner Jerry Reinsdorf said.
Today's opener came less than three years after the club almost became the Florida White Sox.
Concerned about the lack of progress being made on a new stadium, Reinsdorf and co-owner Eddie Einhorn threatened to move the team to St. Petersburg, Fla., in the spring of 1988. But then-Gov. James Thompson went to bat for the team and got the Illinois General Assembly to pass a stadium financing bill in the final minutes of the legislative session on June 30, 1988.
White Sox officials went around the country trying to add the best features of other parks - old and new - to Comiskey II.
As a result, the stadium has unblocked views of the field from every seat, party suites, a handsome Stadium Club, luxurious skyboxes, escalators, a giant video-scoreboard and other space-age amenities.
"Remarkably, it is pretty much what I had hoped," said Terry Savarise, vice president of stadium operations. "Most of it is what I had pictured in my mind."
The White Sox try to improve on their 0-2 record for stadium openings.
They made their AL debut at a park at 39th Street and Princeton Avenue on April 21, 1900, losing to the Milwaukee Brewers 5-4, and they opened Comiskey I on July 1, 1910, losing to the St. Louis Browns 2-0.
by CNB