Past Returns for Comiskey’s Final Birthday

There were no fictitious characters, no figments of the imagination. The baseball players in those neat, pinstriped 1917 White Sox uniforms were real.

The melange of memories were created Wednesday afternoon at 35th and Shields on the south side of Chicago where Comiskey Park reeled back the years and transformed into another era. It was “Turn Back the Clock Day,” a nostalgic trip to honor Comiskey on its 80th and final birthday. Only a 12-9, 13-inning loss to the Milwaukee Brewers prevented it from being a perfect day.

A new stadium across the street will be the home of the White Sox beginning in 1991. But what transpired Wednesday on a relatively mild summer afternoon wasn’t about today. It was about baseball’s tradition-steeped past, about an age of innocence when the game was paramount in importance, when life was simpler and when the White Sox won Chicago’s last baseball championship.

White Sox players got into the old-time atmosphere by donning replicas of the 1917 uniforms, complete with beanie-style white caps. Only the itchy flannel material was missing, making the looser uniforms more comfortable.

“It wouldn’t bother me a bit if we wore these uniforms the rest of the year,” White Sox Manager Jeff Torborg said before the game. Many players and fans echoed his sentiments.

Prices were rolled back to 1917. General-admission tickets cost 50 cents. The electronic scoreboard was replaced by a manually operated one built for the occasion. The grounds crew wore knickers. Ushers and vendors wore vintage uniforms.

“This is great,” a fan sitting behind me said. “There’s no blaring loudspeaker and no loud music. It’s nice just to be able to watch the game for a change instead of having to listen to all the commercial announcements and someone else’s music.”