Pic-Story: The Old Ball Game in the Covid Era
Ah, the old ball game. To me a summer isn’t complete without taking in a White Sox game at their south side ballpark digs. I finally made it to a “sox” game Saturday October 2nd more than a week removed from the end of summer. So yes, it took until Autumn for me to complete my summer. But it was worth it.
The sox rewarded my season long patience. They defeated the Detroit Tigers 5–4 in a game they never led until the eighth inning. However, before that I stood in a rained soaked line for at least two hours to get one of their prized hoodies distributed to the first 15,000 fans. Eventually, they gave me cause for celebration when the game began about 45 minutes late.
The delay that really bothered me and society for that matter was caused by forces larger and smaller than baseball. The Covid era and its sweeping changes is why I haven’t watched my Chi-Sox in person since Gov. Pritzker ordered the statewide shut down in March of 2020. The covid-19 virus though microscopic, has been the biggest agent of change in my life.
The celebration of my life specially my birthday is what led to this occasion. I have no clue what my birthday gift game ticket cost due to the generosity of my neighbor/fellow rideshare driving brother, mother and “big sister.” I am so glad to reconnect live with my sox.
And yes, covid has changed that experience too.
Transportation
The regional line train now requires mask wearing of all passengers. Having said that, they didn’t enforce it. They also limited seating to one passenger per seat.
Your phone is your ticket
Here fans show ticket agents the seating info on their phones. That in and of itself isn’t new. However, it’s now the only way for fans to get into the game. No printed tickets.
Your cash is no good here
When they say this it’s not because your purchase is on the house. Instead, Beggars Pizza meant that I needed to pay by credit card for my slice and the coke in my souvenir cup. They weren’t taking cash. This is probably why I didn’t see any ATMs or any vendors going into the stands.
Programs unavailable
I don’t know if this was official, or I simply didn’t see these. However, score cards were still available.
Contactless but still connected is the way to go from now on. All of this is designed to limit and when possible eliminate contact. I believe this is a good ideal especially given that my brother and I were joined by at least 36,000 other fans. However, one thing didn’t change: the seventh inning stretch. We stood and swooned the sappy serenade “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” That’s the song that ends with “For it’s one, two, three strikes your out at the old ball game.”
