Pomrenke: Judge Landis and the forgotten Chicago baseball bombings
From SABR member Jacob Pomrenke at The National Pastime Museum on July 10, 2014:
Late in the evening on Sunday, April 22, 1923, just days before the Chicago White Sox’s home opener, a violent explosion rocked Comiskey Park at 35th Street and Shields Avenue. The blast could be heard more than a mile away, but no injuries were reported—only the destruction of a hot dog concession stand on the sidewalk and shattered office windows above the ballpark’s main entrance.
Five days earlier on the north side of town, a bomb was discovered outside the Chicago Cubs’ home park, now known as Wrigley Field. The device never exploded, but a police investigation turned up other signs of vandalism inside the ballpark: several thousand dollars’ worth of recently installed plumbing fixtures were destroyed.
Near the end of the season, on Sunday, October 14, another bomb did go off outside Cubs Park, at the corner of Addison Street and Sheffield Avenue. The blast caused about $5,000 in property damage, leveling four ticket booths while shattering windows and peeling the paint off the exterior of nearby houses. Chicago police also said the bomb nearly took out a few supporting columns underneath the grandstands. But the next afternoon, the ballpark was in good enough shape for the Cubs to play host to Game 5 of the postseason City Series against the White Sox.
Who in the world was targeting Chicago’s baseball stadiums?
Read the full article here: http://www.thenationalpastimemuseum.com/article/judge-landis-and-forgotten-chicago-baseball-bombings
Originally published: July 10, 2014. Last Updated: July 10, 2014.