Tag / US Cellular Field

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Keeping Up With The Jonses

The White Sox opened the home portion of the 2016 campaign on Friday, showing off the changes made to US Cellular Field over the winter, centered around the new scoreboards.

cell-newcfThe main center field board, which had the smallest screen in the big leagues, has been replaced with a whole new video board.  The change allows the White Sox to show the actual score of the game and the team lineups on the main scoreboard for the first time in years.

homerun

The pinwheels at the top of the scoreboard are also video screens, enabling them to show game specific information, like when a White Sox player hits a home run, as viewed above.

cell-newlf

The dot matrix board in left field has been replaced with a video board, which is being used to show the current pitcher’s information for the game, the current batter’s information for the game, Twitter and Instagram photos from fans, along with ads.  The batter’s information could use some improvement, with very minimal data provided along with the useless average for the day’s game.  Hopefully, as the season goes on, the presentation is refined.

cell-newrfThe out of town scoreboard in right field has also been replaced with a new video board, which continues to show the other scores around the league along with some in-game information and a few ads.

Overall, the changes are a vast improvement over the outdated boards that were there before.  As the year goes on, I expect the use of the boards will continue to improve as the team tries out new things and sees what works and what doesn’t.

 

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Royals All Time Leaders – Through 2015

royalsWith 2 months until baseball in Chicago returns, I thought it would be interesting to look at the all time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. We continue today with the defending World Series champion Kansas City Royals.

The Royals began life in 1969, joining the American League following the abandonment of the Kansas City market by the A’s following the 1967 season.  I’ve seen them play 40 times, first in 1985 at old Comiskey Park where Willie Wilson took a throw to second base of the noggin, to this past July, where I saw them sweep a series at US Cellular Field.

Home Runs

Name Total
John Buck 4
Billy Butler 4
Alex Gordon 3
Salvador Perez 3

Hits

Name Total
Billy Butler 30
Alex Gordon 18
Eric Hosmer 18
Alcides Escobar 18

Runs

Name Total
Billy Butler 13
Alex Gordon 12
Alcides Escobar 7
John Buck 7

RBI

Name Total
Billy Butler 16
John Buck 9
3 tied with 8

Doubles

Name Total
Billy Butler 6
Alex Gordon 5
Mark Teahen 5
Alcides Escobar 5

Triples Continue reading →

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The Ever Growing 10,000 Step Club

Last winter, as the GlobalFit program was wrapping up, I took my last look at the top 20 step days I’ve had since I first started tracking my steps way back in July of 2011.  At the time, I had only surpassed the 10,000 step plateau 45 times.  In the year plus since then, I have managed to nearly double that number, raising the total to 81.  With my first year using the Fitbit coming to an end last week, I thought it would be appropriate to take a new look at my updated top 20 step days over the past 4 1/2 years, featuring 8 new entries.

btn10K-41: 6/6/2013 – 24,988 steps

My best single day total came during my 2013 trip to Disney World.  The day’s excursion to both Epcot Center and the Magic Kingdom ended up with a total of approximately 12.5 miles.  And yes, it still bothers me that I didn’t get those 12 additional steps to reach 25,000.

2: 7/27/2013 – 20,592 steps

My second highest total came nearly 2 months after my highest, thanks to the BTN 5K and a, for lack of a better word, misunderstanding about where I should be picked up after the race.  These 2 days are the sum total of my days over 20,000 steps.

3: 9/6/2015 – 18,259 steps

The first new addition to the list comes courtesy of my trip to Toronto last September.  This Sunday consisted of traversing around Toronto, with trips to Royal Ontario Museum and, at night, the Molson Canadian Ampitheatre for the Oddball Comedy Fest.

4: 9/11/2015 – 17,889 steps

Another new addition thanks to my trip to Toronto.  My last day in the city was spent at the Eaton Centre mall, the Hockey Hall of Fame, and a few other stops.

5: 6/8/2013 – 17,852 steps

My now-fifth highest output brings us back to Disney World, this time for a day split between Animal Kingdom in the morning and Hollywood Studios in the afternoon.

6: 9/5/2015 – 16,083 steps

We head back to Toronto for my sixth highest day, my first full day in the city.  There was exploring along the riverfront and, of course, a trip to Rogers Centre for a Blue Jays game.

7: 9/23/2014 – 15,728 steps

This total was accomplished thanks to the 2014 Sprint & Stride 5K race that was held at work.

8: 9/9/2012 – 14,957 steps

My eighth highest total comes thanks to a Sunday in Belfast spent walking from our hotel, down to the Titanic museum, and then back again.

9: 6/7/2013 – 14,940 steps

Another day of 2013’s vacation to Disney World, this day started with a morning trip to the hotel pool, followed by an abbreviated day at the Magic Kingdom.

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He (Nearly) Gone

Ken-HarrelsonBack in October, the White Sox announced that Ken Harrelson, the play by play man for White Sox television broadcasts since 1990, will be cutting back his role this year, working road games, the home opener, and the Cubs series.  The 74 year old Harrelson, who has a 100 mile commute each way from his home in Indiana to US Cellular Field, had hinted at reducing his schedule prior to last season, but changed his mind after the team’s off-season moves offered the promise of an exciting summer.

Yesterday, the White Sox made the move official and announced the hiring of Jason Benetti, a 32-year old Homewood native who cut his professional broadcasting teeth with the Syracuse Chiefs, the Triple A affiliate of the Nationals.  Benetti becomes the first actual broadcaster hired by the White Sox since John Rooney in 1988.  The White Sox also announced that Harrelson and Steve Stone have signed multi-year extensions, settling the television booth for years to come.

I’ve never heard Benetti’s work (he also does college basketball on ESPN), but am looking forward to a younger and competent voice joining the broadcast booth.  An improved team and an improved broadcast booth should lead to an enjoyable summer.

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2016 Calendar

2016CalCover-1

Now that Christmas has come and gone, we can unveil the cover to this year’s calendar gift, given annually to my mom and sister, made up of pictures I have taken throughout the year. Once again. this year’s calendar was produced by the good folks at Shutterfly. As in year’s past, we will unveil each month’s photo on the first day of the month throughout 2015.

This year’s cover is made up of 12 pictures, each featuring some combination of Angelina, Danny, and Michael.  We start with the shot above of all 3 riding a camel at the Memphis Zoo from our Elvis trip back in May.

2016CalCover-10Continuing counter clockwise is another shot of all 3 standing in front of the famous ivy on the outfield wall at Wrigley Field from the Season Ticket Holder Appreciation Day conducted by the Cubs this summer.

Continue reading →

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Padres All Time Leaders – Through 2015

Padres-Friars-LogoWith 5 months until baseball in Chicago returns, I thought it would be interesting to look at the all time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. We continue today with the San Diego Padres.

The Padres began life in 1969, joining the National League along with the Montreal Expos.  I’ve seen them play 18 times at 5 different ballparks, first in 1985 at Wrigley Field and, most recently, 2014 at US Cellular Field.

Home Runs

Name Total
Adrian Gonzalez 2
Ramon Hernandez 2
Mike Cameron 2
Khalil Greene 2

Hits

Name Total
Ryan Klesko 9
Sean Burroughs 9
Brian Giles 8

Runs

Name Total
Adrian Gonzalez 7
Mark Loretta 5
Ramon Hernandez 4
Mike Cameron 4

RBI

Name Total
Khalil Greene 8
Ramon Hernandez 6
Ryan Klesko 6

Doubles

Name Total
Ryan Klesko 3
Adrian Gonzalez 3
Will Venable 3

Triples Continue reading →

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Fitbit Week 36

Week36_FBA decent, if unspectacular week, got off to a slow start on Sunday with the final game of the season at US Cellular Field.  Things picked up as the work week started, culminating in a high point on Tuesday, crossing the 10,000 step barrier thanks to walking to meetings in Willow.  The rest of the week was pretty steady, but nothing special.

Total steps: 50,164

Daily average: 7166.3

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South Side Gentrification

new-video-boards-us-cellular-fieldNot to be outdone by their neighbors to the north, the White Sox will have 3 new video boards in place at US Cellular Field for Opening Day 2016.  The Illinois Sports Facilities Authority approved the $7.3 million renovation, including a roughly 7000-8000 square foot video board in center field that should leave the White Sox with one of the largest boards in the league.

The current board, installed in 2003, measures only 1484 square feet and is the smallest board in all of baseball.  The boards in left field and right field will be the same size as the current boards, but with much higher resolution.

Hopefully, along with the new boards, they are reconfigured a little bit.  The bottom of the scoreboard in center field is blocked in its current configuration by the Fan Deck, added in 2003.  The board in left field is blocked from most of the third base side by the Fundamentals Deck added in 2005.  Installation of the new board in center field should be able to be raised a few feet to place it above the Fan Deck.  Switching the location of the other two boards with the ads next to them would, along with fixing the Fundamentals problem, provide the opportunity to use all three boards with each other.

The ISFA will also be allowed to keep any revenue generated by the boards at non-White Sox events held at US Cellular Field, including concerts.  The last concert was held in the park in 2003, but the agency is negotiating with promoters to bring big shows back to the south side.

According to Brooks Boyer, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, there will be a number of other renovations at the ballpark over the winter, but he was unwilling to go in to details.  “Come Opening Day next year,” Boyer said, “it’s going to look a lot different.”