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Old Comiskey’s “Exploding Scoreboard” Debuted 58 Years Ago Today!
“Of all the unusual things my father did in baseball my favorite, hands down, was the exploding scoreboard.” –Mike Veeck
“What’s baseball coming to?”-Former White Sox manager, Jimmy Dykes
Many old-school baseball lifers reacted the same as Jimmy Dykes after seeing Comiskey Park’s exploding scoreboard for the first time. Dykes added: “All I know is that if I was a pitcher whose home run ball had started that Fourth of July celebration, I’d fire my next pitch at the head of the next hitter.”
The White Sox’ tradition-shattering scoreboard was unveiled 58 years ago this week, April 28, 1960, at a night game against the Indians. The $300,000 130-foot-wide “Monster” was the brainchild of Sox’ showman owner Bill Veeck, and featured fireworks, flashing strobe lights, sirens, a “Soxogram” message board, and multi-colored pinwheels after every home run hit by a White Sox player. Baseball historian Jerome Holtzman once called it a “screeching banshee.”
The board was officially christened on May 1, 1960, when Sox outfielder Al Smith set it off for the first time with a two-run homer off Jim Bunning in the bottom of the first against the Tigers.
Veeck once claimed he got the idea for one of baseball’s greatest spectacles while watching a Jimmy Cagney movie: “This character in the film (“The Time of Your Life”) was always playing pinball machines. Toward the finish he finally hit the jackpot and there was the darndest racket and flashing of lights you ever heard or saw. Why can’t a ballpark generate similar excitement with sound and light?”
And since Veeck owned Comiskey Park…
One of the board’s biggest fans is current owner Jerry Reinsdorf: “I was awed when Veeck unveiled his explosive innovation. The revolutionary board seemed unbelievable — yet typically Veeck. It set the pattern for the sophisticated scoreboards of today.”
Not all of Bill Veeck’s stunts caught on. Some of them were harebrained for sure (like players in clamdigger pants and even in shorts, signing midget Eddie Gaedel, grounds crew in space uniforms, “Grandstand Managers’ Day” to name only a few); and one disastrous (Disco Demolition Night); but as the ultimate promoter, Veeck’s objective was always to make the baseball experience fun for the fans.
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Some of his innovations were truly groundbreaking, like the signing of Larry Doby as the first African-American to play in the American League. Other lasting contributions included placing players’ names on the back of the unifoms, and prompting Harry Caray to sign “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh-inning stretch. But there’s no doubt the White Sox’ exploding scoreboard was Bill Veeck at his best!
Bill Veeck, the ultimate baseball promoter, innovator, and hustler, was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1991.
Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: All from Google search
Information: Excerpts edited from 2015 article on Comiskey Park Exploding Scoreboard in Chicago Tribune online
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