Chicago White Sox Game: An Honest Review

Last updated: July 28th, 2024 | Originally published: July 27, 2024
White Sox Game, Is Guaranteed Rate Field worth visiting, worst stadium in baseball

Guaranteed Rate Field is easily the worst stadium in the Major League Baseball. The South Side of Chicago doesn’t just need a new stadium, they need to overhaul the fan experience top to bottom. Here is our honest review of a Chicago White Sox game.

We typically temper our Honest Reviews, but in this case we don’t care. Baseball needs to do something about this.

The Hoffmann’s have darkened a dozen or more MLB stadiums with our Seattle Mariners swag. We love baseball and expect a good time, and the home team typically provides one. Unfortunately the White Sox and Guaranteed Rate Field have failed baseball fans on myriad levels.

Let’s get into exactly why this is the worst stadium in baseball.

White Sox Game, Is Guaranteed Rate Field worth visiting, worst stadium in baseball
Is Guaranteed Rate Field worth visiting?

Chicago White Sox Parking

We should begin with what comes first: Parking your car. Guaranteed Rate Field charges $30 to park in a lot adjacent to the stadium. The spaces are not marked, so with the help of lot attendants we are packed like tamales in a can.

If you want to park in the neighboring streets to save a few bucks you should have your head examined. The South Side streets near the stadium are horrifying.

The road between the freeway and the parking lot had people in orange vests collecting money for parking. They were standing in the middle of the lanes and forcing cars to slow down. As you slowed they’d motion to roll down your window and then ask you to pay $20 for parking. Thankfully we spotted it for the scam it was.

Why doesn’t the team do something about these frauds? How many poor fans pay $20 to park, then are told by the Actual parking attendants it’s another $30? Welcome to the South Side Make-A-Wish-Foundation — where you can buy a value meal for a super-high scumbag in addition to all your other gameday expenses.

Is Guaranteed Rate Field worth visiting?

Entering Guaranteed Rate Field

The misshapen crowd funneled past the ticket scanners much slower than other stadiums. We tried to figure out what was the problem.

Was there intense security? Yes. Was there a free giveaway? Yes, a black sweatshirt. But even with those issues, why did it take so long to get each individual fan into the stadium?

Once inside we realized they were threading us onto an escalator to take us up to the concourse. Guaranteed Rate Field had one escalator to accommodate four lines of ticket holders at this particular gate. It took 20 minutes to move through a 10-person line.

Who thought an escalator just inside the stadium gate was a good idea?

The Concourse at Guaranteed Rate Field

What a depressing hole. Like rats running through tunnels.

For openers, the concourse ceiling is low and painted dark gray.

The snack bars and kiosks on both sides of the narrow walkway stack their lines of customers into the path of fans on the move. At some pinch points you’d be stuck waiting for minutes as people moving in both directions forced their way through the gaps.

The Ambience at Guaranteed Rate Field

Everything in Guaranteed Rate Field is dark. The seats. The structure of the facility. Even the team colors are black and gray. Couple that with the smoggy oblivion of South Side Chicago and you’re getting the picture.

It is a tar paper and girder ambience; a battlefield in a maximum security prison; an industrial chemical warehouse; the bleak colosseum of a lesser hell.

There are no fancy touches on this barren-wasteland of a ballpark. No alcoves of surprise; no elegant dining options. Not one single embellishment to provide something special for the fans could be found… other than the multi-colored starlite-mint-thingies above the scoreboard in center field.

And that’s just weird.

Between every White Sox hitter was a blast of wicked rap, and it wasn’t Ken Griffy Jr.’s Hip-Hop-Hurray walk-up music, or anything fun like that. It was harsh, indiscernible yelling over aggressive beats, none of which I could recognize or understand.

The only thing they forgot to do was paint the grass black and give every fan meth and a helmet with spikes sticking out of it.

White Sox Game, Is Guaranteed Rate Field worth visiting, worst stadium in baseball
worst stadium in baseball

Chicago White Sox Fans

In a way I felt sad for White Sox fans. Many wore jerseys of their favorite players, but few of them were actively on the team. I’ve never seen so many old and tired relics: Jake Peavy. Jermaine Dye. Paul Konerko (probably the most popular of all). Jose Abreu. Tim Anderson. Joe Crede.

I stopped feeling sad for the rough-looking crowd when I heard them talk during the game. The drunk and stupid chatter of the young couple behind us and the young men in front of us was impossible to ignore.

A Detroit fan in love with the sound of his voice heckled fans and players all throughout the game. It didn’t matter what happened in the game he kept yammering. There was no shaming him. No besting him. No proof of his ignorance that could stifle his commentary.

The left field bleachers erupted into chaos at one point. I think it had something to do with “cups”. All I really know is everyone in the left field bleachers suddenly had ants in their pants, and a minute later they did not. It was weird.

White Sox Game, Is Guaranteed Rate Field worth visiting, worst stadium in baseball
worst stadium in baseball

The Chicago White Sox Food

We went for food one time in the 6th inning. The kiosk was selling Chicago Dogs for $12. We waiting in a line for 15 minutes and made it to about 6th from the front…. It was then they informed us the stadium had run out of hot dogs.

Guaranteed Rate Field ran out of hot dogs in the 6th inning.

The Chicago White Sox Stores

A baseball hat was $45.

Did Guarantee Rate Field Do Anything Right?

Yes, they did a few things right:

As long as you were looking at the field and wearing ear plugs, the game of baseball was magnificent. Detroit squeaked a victory in the final innings.

The rows were only 8 seats long. Super easy to get into and out of your seats.

The Chicago Dog looked delicious. Damn shame we didn’t get to taste one.

White Sox fans abused Javier Baez with boos every time he stepped to the plate.

White Sox Game, Is Guaranteed Rate Field worth visiting, worst stadium in baseball
worst stadium in baseball

An Honest Conclusion for Guaranteed Rate Field

Wrigley Field provides a first-class baseball experience a few miles away. American Family Field in Milwaukee is fabulous, and the Brewers have vibrant, passionate fans. Even Detroit with all its rough edges presents a fine venue in Comerica Park.

Is Guaranteed Rate Field worth visiting? No. Is a White Sox game worth visiting? No. How else can I put this? Should you attend a baseball game on the South Side of Chicago? Hell no. This is the worst stadium in baseball.

The South Side of Chicago is one of the most disturbing places in the USA. If your intent is to visit every MLB stadium, maybe it’s worth considering that 29 stadiums is enough. There is no need to taint your baseball fandom with this embarrassment to the game.

Guaranteed Rate Field is a guaranteed 3rd-rate experience.

Thank you for stopping by our website! We are the Hoffmann family, a full-time RV family that has split residence in Seattle, Washington and San Antonio, Texas. We have special needs children that we homeschool, and work travel assignments for the Veteran Affairs Hospital. If you would like to learn more about us, check out our Start Here and Biography pages. In the meantime, God bless and travel happy! Except at White Socks Games. Feel free to be annoyed there.

Is Guaranteed Rate Field worth visiting?

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