Venues

Venues

In no particular order, the three most beautiful baseball sites I’ve ever gone to are Comiskey Park on the South Side; the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa; and Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, New York.  Clare never saw Comiskey, but the ballpark played a major role in her coming to be.

In the wake of that miracle, we twice took our daughter to the Field of Dreams; the second time I pitched to her, she nearly took my head off with a line drive up the middle.  We couldn’t hit at Doubleday Field, but we did sit on the wood benches behind home plate and watched as the sprinklers turned the outfield grass a glistening green.  Entry into heaven from either field would not be a bad idea.  (Obviously, for hell you’d walk through Yankee Stadium).

I’m thinking venues because of McDonald’s and its so-called All-American Games, featuring the most talented male and female high school seniors from around the country.  (Somehow I doubt that many people care about the girls outside of immediate family and future college coaches, but maybe I’m wrong.)   For no good reason, a dunk contest was held Monday on a specially constructed half-court inside the Chicago Theatre, which over 94-plus years has hosted the likes of Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra and Lyle Lovett (who we saw last August).  There was no better place to see basketball than the old Chicago Stadium.  (Fate: see Comiskey Park.)  I never would’ve thought or wanted to see Norm Van Lier and Jerry Sloan at a State Street movie palace.

Or baseball or hockey.  There’s a place for everything, or so I always thought.