Jaffe: Red Line doubleheaders in Chicago
From SABR member Chris Jaffe at The Hardball Times on June 17, 2013:
For each of the last two years, the Chicago contingency at The Hardball Times has a special day at the ballpark—because it’s a special day at two ballparks. We get together and catch a day game on the North Side of town and then sojourn to the South Side for a night game.
It’s an easy trip, as both Wrigley Field and Sox Park are just west of Chicago’s Red Line “L.” (Even with this year’s Red Line construction on the South Side, it’s still a really short walk from the nearby Green Line stop not far from U.S. Cellular Field.) While the interleague crosstown classic where the Cubs and Sox play each other gets more attention, the Red Line double-header gives you two games and four teams a day, a nice little perk of life in Chicago.
This year, for example, the THT gang got to see both Chicago squads lose in unusually cool weather on Friday, June 7. Last year we went during warmer August weather on a Saturday.
Chicago has long had two baseball teams, of course. And while the schedule is set up to assure that they are almost never home at the same time, there are typically a few times in the year when both are in town at the same time. Often it’s impossible to see them both at the same time. They might both be playing day games or night games, for instance.
This year’s THT shindig got me wondering about the history of these games. How often has their been a day game on one side of town and a night game on the other? What are its highlights? How often has there been a double-header involved? Has Chicago ever hosted a pair of double-headers in one day?
Let’s look up these questions. Before we look at a true Red Line double-header—day game on one side, night game on the other—we first have to look at how often both teams played in Chicago on the same day.
Read the full article here: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/red-line-doubleheaders-part-i/
Originally published: June 18, 2013. Last Updated: June 18, 2013.