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THE WAY OUT IN LEFT FIELD SOCIETY WEST SIDE PARK FACTS DIMENSIONS Left-field line: 340 ft. Left-center: 441 ft. Center: 560 ft. Right-center: 435 ft. Right-field line: 316 ft. Seating Capacity 16,000 Record Setting Attendance: 665,325, (1908) LEFT FIELD West Side Park was built next to the Neuropsychiatric Institute which was located behind the left field wall. The patients would yell and scream crazy things from the building creating the phrase, “That came out of left field.” SOUTHPAWS “Southpaw” is said to be a West Side Park term, because pitchers on the mound with arms at their sides would find their left hand facing toward Taylor Street to the south.) |
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We were not always Northsiders. We were also Westsiders, and yes, even Southsiders. In fact, the Cubs won 10 National League championships in places other than our current Northside home. Our Founding Fan Fathers cheered at the State Street Grounds at State and Cermak; at Union Base-Ball Grounds and South Side Park near Comiskey; and in what is now Grant Park at Lakefront Park.
| The second West Side Park (also known as West Side Grounds) was the home field of the Cubs when the West Side Rooters Social Club began in 1908. The Rooters “tallyhoed” to this ballpark bordered by Taylor, Lincoln (now Wolcott), Polk and Wood for one season until Cubs president Charles W. Murphy ended the group. The site is now part of Cook County Hospital’s campus. |  |
The Rooters had long since been disbanded when we officially became Northsiders at the first Cubs game in Weeghman Park (now Wrigley Field) on April 20, 1916.
