‘Last Comiskey’ author ready to reconnect with team, fans at SoxFest Live
A revived SoxFest is set to begin today at Chicago’s Ramova Theatre. Among those planning to attend is Arlington Heights native and Buffalo Grove High School graduate Ken Smoller.
Smoller is the author of the book “Last Comiskey,” a remembrance of the last year of old Comiskey Park, the late lamented “Baseball Palace of the World.”
The book, filled with memories and nostalgia-stirring photographs, garnered a nomination by the Chicago Writers Association for its 2024 Book Award in the nonfiction category.
“It was just really an honor to get a nomination for my first book, for a sports book, which doesn't necessarily always qualify for those types of honors,” he said.
Smoller, who once hawked goods as a vendor during the first summers at the White Sox’s new home, now lives in Massachusetts just two miles away from another historic ballyard, Fenway Park.
But the old Sox park maintains a strong hold on his affections, and Smoller contends it still has relevance in the light of discussions of new stadiums for the White Sox and the Bears.
Smoller holds out hope that a new Sox ballpark in the South Loop could anchor a future mixed-use development.
“I’m still hoping for the redo, if they can get their act together on Lot 78,” he said, referring to the long-shot South Loop site proposed by White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.
Smoller is a real estate attorney, so he knows something about development. He thinks the time is ripe for a mixed-use project that generates revenue not just from the sport, but from restaurant, residential and hotel uses.
He sees a model in the Intuit Dome, the home of the Los Angeles Clippers. He said the facility is fan friendly, with one side devoted to a fan wall in an area devoid of executive suites.
“I kind of think there's a chance for the 78 parcel to work, because they need an anchor tenant to bring in that critical mass of other users,” he said.
Smoller, like most White Sox fans, is still reeling from a season that set an all-time mark for futility. It is especially shocking, he said, for a non-expansion team in a major metropolitan area that only a few years ago made the playoffs.
Like many Sox fans, Smoller also realizes the Sox could wind up leaving the city’s South Side for the American South. He has the Nashville White Sox T-shirt to prove it.
But he hopes a wealthy Chicagoan, perhaps a venture capitalist with money to burn, could surface who might want to buy a charter American League franchise and keep it in town.
SoxFest Live, billed as a reimagined, fan-focused event with entertainment and a roster of Sox players, front office staff and franchise legends takes place from 5-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Ramova Theatre, 3520 S. Halsted St.
“It will be good to commune with other White Sox fans, and take the temperature of where things stand,” he said.