Find Chicago’s Cubs and White Sox bars
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Posted under: Archive, Cubs vs. White Sox Rivalry, Sports & Entertainment
Where are the Cubs and Sox bars in Chicago located? Most bars are located on the team’s home turf near U.S. Cellular and Wrigley Field. No bars dare to declare Cubs allegiance on the South Side, but a few Cubs and Sox bars co-exist side by side in the Loop — and one brave seafood restaurant declares its Sox pride on the North Side.
View Cubs/White Sox Bars in Chicago in a larger map
Cubs vs. Sox: the fan perspective
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Baseball lovers near Wrigley and U.S. Cellular fields talk about the deep divide between Cubs fans and Sox fans.
The Cubs and White Sox year-by-year records
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The graph below illustrate the White Sox and Cubs’ win/loss records since the early 1900s. Each season consists of 162 games played.
The White Sox’ records start at 1901, their first year as a Major League franchise team. The Sox won the World Series three times since their inception: 1906, 1917 and 2005.
The Cubs’ played their first Major League game in 1876 under the team name the Chicago White Stockings. The team officially changed its name to the Cubs in 1907. The Cubs won two World Series Championships early in their history: 1907 and 1908. Since then they have been plagued by the “Curse of the Billy Goat,” and have failed to take the Series. This graph starts at 1909, the year after their last World Series win.
The Cubs and White Sox rivalry – more than just baseball
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Sports rivalries bring out the most in fans and teams – passion, loyalty, determination and every other sports superlative. And usually they’re based around games that have significant meaning to the success or demise of the teams involved.
So, how do six games between the White Sox and the Cubs that mean relatively nothing to both team’s chances of making the playoffs entail so much for the city of Chicago?
The White Sox hold a slight edge in the all-time regular season series with 37 wins compared to the Cubs 35 wins. The next installment of this rivalry begins Friday at Wrigley Field with a three-game set.
Photo Credit: Tammy Green
The Cubs and White Sox used to never play each other in the regular season because the Cubs are in the National League and the White Sox are in the American League. But in 1997, Major League Baseball introduced interleague play, and the teams have played every season ever since.
The teams started out playing only three times a year, and then started playing six times each season in 1999. Six games out of the 162 each team plays in an entire season is relatively few; therefore the results of these games shouldn’t have much bearing on each team’s overall success.
However, the rivalry means so much more than just baseball – it reflects the North Side against the South Side and bragging rights in a sports-crazy city for an entire year.
“The South Side of Chicago is a different town than the North Side. We all write Chicago on our return address the same, but our way of life differs. We on the South Side are blue collar, down to earth people. The North Side is full of high rises and expensive bars and restaurants,” Mike from Bridgeport wrote in a reader response to the official website of the White Sox.
Dennis Hobein of the baseball section at RealGM.com describes the rivalry between the teams.
“White Sox fans take pride in their ‘blue collar’ work ethic and their claim that they are the ‘real’ baseball fans in Chicago. Cubs fans, on the other hand, take pride in the fact that they play hookie on Friday afternoons to catch the 2:20 at Wrigley,” Hobein wrote.
Ken Boehlke, who covers the White Sox for Chicago baseball blog Talking Chicago Baseball, said that Chicago families are often involved in the rivalry.
“There are a lot of people that have cross-town families where there’s half a family that’s White Sox fans and half the family that’s Cubs fans, there tends to be bets on that,” he said.
“It’s definitely North Side vs. South Side; if you go to either side of town you’re going to notice it. There’s going to be a lot more people from the South Side wearing black and white and a lot more people from the North Side cheering for the Cubs,” he continued.
Greg Mitchell, on the Cubs side at Talking Chicago Baseball, called loyalties to each team “a modern day coat of arms.”
What do White Sox fans think of Cubs fans?
“White Sox fans have a lot more negative thought process towards Cubs fans than vice-versa. Sox fans tend to think they’re kind of slighted at all times and they tend to blame it on the fans of the other team,” Boehlke said.
“I think White Sox fans tend to take it a little bit more seriously because they do feel like the step-child in Chicago baseball,” he continued.
While White Sox fans might feel like their team doesn’t get as much attention as the Cubs, they do have the bragging rights of winning the World Series in 2005.
As has been well documented, the Cubs haven’t won the World Series since 1908. So, were Cubs fans jealous of the White Sox victory? Mitchell was, but only to a point.
“I was kind of envious they were there, so part of me was cheering for them not to win,” he said.
“When they got to the World Series I just said, ‘I don’t really care. That would be cool for Chicago to have a champion,’” he continued.
The winner of this year’s season series between the teams will have a trophy to represent their accomplishment, as the series has been called the BP Crosstown Cup.
“I personally think it’s kind of cool, mainly because I would love to be at the game that my team carries the cup off the field,” Boehlke said.
“It’s just another thing to shove in face of the other fan base.”
Despite BP’s recent problems due to the oil spill, they will still be the sponsor.
Photos via FLICKR
Just how different are the two stadiums?
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A side-by-side comparison of the fan experience at the two Chicago baseball teams. Which game would you rather go to?
U.S. Cellular Field vs. Wrigley Field
| U.S. Cellular Field | Wrigley Field | |
|---|---|---|
| Nickname: | The Cell | The Friendly Confines |
| Year constructed: | 1991 | 1914 |
| Parking: | Yes | Practically unavailable |
| Hot dogs: | Vienna Beef | The Chicago Dog |
| Beer: | Miller | Old Style |
| “L” stop: | Sox-35th | Addison |
| Scoreboard: | Jumbotron | Manual |
| Entertainment: | Fireworks, Kiss Cam | 7th Inning Stretch |
| Song: | “Back in Black” by ACDC | “Go Cubs Go” by Steve Goodman |
| Famous fans: | Barack Obama, Richard Daley, Jenny McCarthy, Michael Jordan, Noah Wyle | Michelle Obama, Vince Vaughn, Tony Romo, Eddie Vedder, Jimmy Buffet |
| Last national championship won: | 2005 | 1908 |
