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Anybody going tonight? I'm sticking around after work and heading over to the game (weather permitting).

DiehardHuskie Wrote:Anybody going tonight? I'm sticking around after work and heading over to the game (weather permitting).

No one on this board even goes to home games... don't expect any to show up to a road game.

More than a few of us work downtown, Trav.

DiehardHuskie Wrote:More than a few of us work downtown, Trav.

OK then be sure to report how many people from this board show up tonight.

score:

2-2 after 1 1/2 innings

edited:

4-2 NIU after three.

Lets GO HUSKIES !

NIUtrav09 Wrote:

DiehardHuskie Wrote:Anybody going tonight? I'm sticking around after work and heading over to the game (weather permitting).

No one on this board even goes to home games... don't expect any to show up to a road game.

Wow...just talk like you own the place....prolly some of us do go to home games and bring our friends...good call....Go Huskies

Huskies win 4-3, called after 8. Weather was nasty. Cold, windy and rained off and on. I'd say the Dogs had about 50 fans in attendance.

UIC has a beautiful field. Brand new dorms/brick buildings behind the right field wall -- looked like Camden yards. It was neat to look out and see kids sitting in their windows watching the game. Home plate faces directly out toward the Chicago skyline -- doesn't get much better than that.

Were the three high school players from Clemente in attendence? Two signed with UIC and one with us.

DiehardHuskie Wrote:Huskies win 4-3, called after 8. Weather was nasty. Cold, windy and rained off and on. I'd say the Dogs had about 50 fans in attendance.

UIC has a beautiful field. Brand new dorms/brick buildings behind the right field wall -- looked like Camden yards. It was neat to look out and see kids sitting in their windows watching the game. Home plate faces directly out toward the Chicago skyline -- doesn't get much better than that.

And a really good Chinese restaurant just south of Roosevelt on Halstead called Joy Yees

ChiTownNIU Wrote:

NIUtrav09 Wrote:

DiehardHuskie Wrote:Anybody going tonight? I'm sticking around after work and heading over to the game (weather permitting).

No one on this board even goes to home games... don't expect any to show up to a road game.

Wow...just talk like you own the place....prolly some of us do go to home games and bring our friends...good call....Go Huskies

I've been to every home game but 2 and I post a game thread for almost every game. Considering there's usually 150 fans at the games that consist mainly of parents and some students, I figure no one here actually goes. On top of that, no one but HuskieDave and Snoopy apply to the game threads (for the most part). It seems like this board is apathetic when it comes to Huskie baseball.

dynovinyl Wrote:Were the three high school players from Clemente in attendence? Two signed with UIC and one with us.

Yes, I did see them. About 10 kids from the Mt Carmel baseball team were sitting right in front of us.

DiehardHuskie Wrote:

dynovinyl Wrote:Were the three high school players from Clemente in attendence? Two signed with UIC and one with us.

Yes, I did see them. About 10 kids from the Mt Carmel baseball team were sitting right in front of us.

Nice. Big win in terms of recruiting!

Interesting information regarding UIC's field. Let me drop into my history teacher spiel for a moment. I don't know if any of you know, but the Cubs used to play right by UIC. They were the west side team back then. That was the home park the last time the Cubs won the World Series. West Side Park, as it was known then, faced the skyline (it was less impressive then) and had a building right up against the left field wall that housed mental patients. Legend has it that you could hear the patients making all sorts of odd noises from the field. It's been suggested that the phrase, "Out of left field" came from this. The Cubs moved from there in 1915 to Wrigley Field, which was then known as Weeghman Park, and built to house the short-lived Federal League Chicago Whales. So, yeah, as much as everyone loves Wrigley, the Cubs have never, not once, won a world championship there.

It sounds like UIC built their field with a tip of the cap to old the West Side yard.

UIC's field is brand new -- it opened this year. The old field was across Roosevelt, on the north side of the street. Their new field is situated in the middle of a whole complex with women's softball, their soccer field and some practice fields. A wide sidewalk lined with trees criss-crosses through the entire area. Throughout the game, students were walking to and from the campus buildings and stopped, watched a few innings, and left. Behind the baseball stadium was a nice concession area with picnic tables. The dorm buildings were behind right field, behind left field were their athletic buildings with a newly opened baseball wing that was dedicated last week.

DiehardHuskie Wrote:UIC's field is brand new -- it opened this year. The old field was across Roosevelt, on the north side of the street.

Our stadium is in definite need of renovation. We need a new press box with some suites, a better sound system, expanded/upgraded seating with chairbacks. A nice brick facade would go a long way too.

epasnoopy Wrote:

DiehardHuskie Wrote:UIC's field is brand new -- it opened this year. The old field was across Roosevelt, on the north side of the street.

Our stadium is in definite need of renovation. We need a new press box with some suites, a better sound system, expanded/upgraded seating with chairbacks. A nice brick facade would go a long way too.

Yes. We are lightyears behind some of the other MAC schools. Some even have indoor practice facilities and clubhouses with lockerrooms.





[/img]http://muredhawks.cstv.com/facilities/mi...ield.html#

These are just a few examples.. don't have time to post anymore right now

cawoo22 Wrote:Interesting information regarding UIC's field. Let me drop into my history teacher spiel for a moment. I don't know if any of you know, but the Cubs used to play right by UIC. They were the west side team back then. That was the home park the last time the Cubs won the World Series. West Side Park, as it was known then, faced the skyline (it was less impressive then) and had a building right up against the left field wall that housed mental patients. Legend has it that you could hear the patients making all sorts of odd noises from the field. It's been suggested that the phrase, "Out of left field" came from this. The Cubs moved from there in 1915 to Wrigley Field, which was then known as Weeghman Park, and built to house the short-lived Federal League Chicago Whales. So, yeah, as much as everyone loves Wrigley, the Cubs have never, not once, won a world championship there.

It sounds like UIC built their field with a tip of the cap to old the West Side yard.

I worked across the street from there at Polk and Wolcott. The park was bordered by Polk (n), Wolcott (w), Taylor (s) and Wood (e). There is no plaque or monument at the site, which is part of the UIC Medical School, a mile or so from UIC's baseball field. Here is an article that ran in the Sun-Times last year.

From way out in left field: Call him crazy, but fan just wants to
Chicago Sun-Times, Apr 2, 2006 by Dave Hoekstra

There is a sense of wonder in every step Mike Reischl takes down Taylor Street.
Reischl has been walking around the city long enough to know how dreams can expire like empty parking meters. He's a Chicago cop. He's a lifelong Cubs fan. But he can't stop pondering what might have happened had the Cubs never left West Side Grounds.
From 1893 to 1915, the Cubs played in a 16,000-seat wood and steel park bounded by Taylor Street on the south, Polk Street on the north, Wolcott (then called Lincoln) on the west and Wood Street on the east. The Cubs won world championships here in 1907 and 1908. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Cubs-White Sox World Series. It was played at West Side Grounds. It was a long time ago.
"Listen to the crowd," Reischl says as he walks west on Taylor Street to the University of Illinois at Chicago campus where the ballpark once stood. He points at the L track and says, "Look at the vendors!"
There is no crowd.
There are no vendors.
But there is Reischl's vision.
Reischl, 38, wants to have a historical marker installed at 912 S. Wood in a tulip garden near what would have been the center field flagpole of West Side Grounds. The site is now the home of the UIC Neuropsychiatric Center. When the Cubs played at West Side Grounds, a psychiatric building stood behind the left field wall. Patients often yelled peculiar things out of their windows, which is widely considered to be at the root of the phrase, "That came out of left field." The left field alley in front of the old hospital still exists. Here, Reischl hears the echoes of a Cubs summer.
Since November, Reischl has spent two hours a day researching West Side Grounds. He's also called landmark commissions, aldermen, aldermen's aides and UIC staff.
"My wife thinks I'm nuts," he said while carrying a stack of papers that would humble any sports agent.
Last week, Reischl formed a Way Out In Left Field Society to help raise the $2,817 needed for the marker. On April 8, he is hosting a fund-raiser at the Double Bubble, 6036 N. Broadway. He's even established an e-mail address (thewayoutinleftfieldsociety@hotmail.com).
'IT'S A CIVIC THING'
Reischl graduated with a history degree from UIC in 1990. He knew the old Cubs home plate would have been at 817 S. Wolcott and he knew the Polk Street L station (at Paulina) was the West Side Grounds stop. He also knows there's a million things he could be doing besides trying to honor a ballpark where anyone who saw a game is dead.
"It's a civic thing," said Reischl, who worked security at U.S. Cellular Field during the 2000 White Sox playoff run. "We have to have a way to acknowledge this ballpark that had so much history. . . . Tinkers to Evers to Chance played there. So did Ty Cobb. The Cubs were an absolute powerhouse in this ballpark."
That just doesn't sound right.
But Reischl has done the research. He also uncovered the fact that legendary field announcer Pat Pieper began his baseball career as a West Side park vendor in 1904. He became the Cubs field announcer in 1915 and remained as the Cubs public address announcer until 1974. In 1908, a woman gave birth to a baby in the bleachers at West Side Grounds. The infant did not scream woo-woo.
State Rep. Harry Osterman (D-Chicago) has known Reischl most of his life. They grew up together in Edgewater. They attended Cubs games together.
"Mike is a true Chicagoan and a true baseball fan," Osterman said from Springfield. "He keeps score of every pitch. We were in the bleachers once, the Cubs were winning, and they had a no-hitter. Mike wouldn't move his feet, out of fear the Cubs would ultimately lose. In true fashion, when we did move, the Cubs lost the game in extra innings."
Osterman is stepping in to help Reischl get the marker placed. Osterman contacted the Illinois State Historical Society in Springfield to see how to do it. The nonprofit society would develop the plaque.
"We have no problem with this," said Mark Rosati, associate chancellor for public affairs at UIC. "We would need to see the proposed size, language and placement of the plaque."
Osterman said, "It will get people excited about baseball and the history of Chicago. Any money Mike raises above and beyond would be reinvested in the community with a Little League or something to promote the game of baseball."
THE MOVE TO THE NORTH SIDE
The Cubs didn't leave the West Side on such benevolent terms. Reischl explained, "The National League forced out Charles Murphy, who was apparently the shady front man for the half brother of President William Howard Taft."
Murphy and Taft's kin had put up front money to take control of the Cubs while they also had financial interest in the Philadelphia Phillies. They sold to a group led by Charles Weeghman, who built a new stadium at 1060 W. Addison, where Wrigley Field stands today. Murphy was what people today would call a "player."
"In the 1908 World Series, Murphy put the visiting press in the last row of the grandstands," Reischl said. "There were allegations that he put scalper tickets in the front rows. The press was so infuriated, they organized the Baseball Writers' Association of America. And now they're voting people into the Baseball Hall of Fame."

I have attended a number of home games, and I'll check out as many more as I can, but I've been away from the board for the better part of six months.

I'll try to post more on baseball; I'm pretty excited about this year's team, although the series against CMU last weekend really hurt...

did I ever mention previously - whether lamenting state of athletics, marketing, the average but improving Huskie band, facilities, the victory bell , potholes , worn and drab Lincoln & Douglas Halls, leaking Stevens Hall etc. its' always and only about the money or lack of it.

Step by step - one inch forward at a time , NIU is a better University today in so many ways than 5, 10 or 15 years ago.

There is yet such a long, long ways to go to match up well with those institutions we consider our bretheren.