McCuddy's

[easyw]

What some of you know. What the youngsters may not.

 

Read all about it:

 

http://southsideadventures.blogspot.com/

[Guest JimH]

It was a little tiny tavern, dark and kind of dusty inside, with pictures on the walls and a long narrow bar. Later on they had a little outdoor, ahem, beer garden in the back. I remember drinking cans of Strohs in there in the mid 80's.

 

It was really very much like a typical Chicago corner tavern except it was plopped right across from a ballpark. Going back even further through the years, there were a few other businesses on the south side of 35th St., this was before the Dan Ryan was built and well before my time. But I have seen some of the pictures from the Chicago Historical Society. McCuddy's was the one that lasted the longest.

 

One other thing I remember is driving by there in the winter time and it never was open. Maybe they didn't need to be open other than the summer.

[ptatc]

What some of you know. What the youngsters may not.

 

Read all about it:

 

http://southsideadventures.blogspot.com/

 

That's so true about McCuddy's, Sox games haven't been the same. I was only old enough to go there for one summer after games but it is something I'll remember forever.

Edited March 4, 2005 by ptatc

[southsider2k5]

I remember being in McCuddy's as a little dude and getting John Cangelosi's autograph

[The Critic]

I remember being in McCuddy's as a little dude and getting John Cangelosi's autograph

You were probably taller than him even then....

 

My favorite John Cangelosi memory is that he stole my then-buddy's girlfriend away from him.

My "buddy" turned out to be a prick anyway, so it was good enough for him.

 

My favorite line from that whole situation:

"Wow, Cangelosi really IS good at stealing...."

[Hatchetman]

jim thompson and JR promised it would be rebuilt. wonder what happened there....

[SoIL]

One other thing I remember is driving by there in the winter time and it never was open. Maybe they didn't need to be open other than the summer.

 

If I remember my history correctly, McCuddy's opened the same day as old Comisky did and was only open for home ball games. Unfortunately it closed for the last time the same day old Comisky did also.

They had a lot of Babe Ruth memorabilia there. Including a oversized wooden bat that Ruth got for one of his home run records (I don't think it was 60, but might have been).

I remember reading/hearing that legend has it, Ruth was the only person allowed to wear spikes in the bar.

[Yossarian]

"I'll meet you at McCuddy's". I remember saying that a few times to friends and coworkers. Great place from another era. I miss it a lot.

Edited March 4, 2005 by Yossarian

[Al Lopez Ghost (old)]

I was there a lot. From 1984 to 1990 I went to every home game, and would almost always go to McCuddy's before the game for a few beers, and go into Comiskey when the doors opened.

 

Frances McCuddy was the matriarch, and if you pissed her off, she would tell you, then you would leave. The place showed its age, the floor with small, cracked black and white tiles, but the bar itself and the cabinets behind the bar were well kept and sturdy. The bartenders were generally young relatives who were still in college - a lot of law students as I recall. They would have to chop the big blocks of ice used to keep the beer cold in plastic garbage cans. Frances once told me that whoever owned the Sox would determine what she could charge for beer, because they could cut off her supply. You never knew how much of what she said was true. I generally nodded.

 

I was there when Thompson lifted a beer and promised to keep McCuddy's opened. Liar. I also got a brick when they demolished the place.

 

Next door was another bar, O'Brien's, I think it was called. A little less old, and the Sox vendors would frequent that place rather than McCuddy's.

 

There's a lot of ways that the new park's design was screwed up, and not honoring the tradition of McCuddy's was sure one for me.

[Guest JimH]

I don't think McCuddy's closed the same time old Comiskey did, that would've been September 1990.

 

As I recall it closed in 1988 or at the latest 1989 because they were building the new park.

 

I do remember the cracked black and white tile floors.

[Steff]

If I remember my history correctly, McCuddy's opened the same day as old Comisky did and was only open for home ball games. Unfortunately it closed for the last time the same day old Comisky did also.

 

 

 

That's not possible.. it was demolished before New Comiskey construction started..

[Steff]

I don't think McCuddy's closed the same time old Comiskey did, that would've been September 1990.

 

As I recall it closed in 1988 or at the latest 1989 because they were building the new park.

 

I do remember the cracked black and white tile floors.

 

 

 

IIRC it was Sept 89.

[bjm676]

I was barely a teenager when McCuddy's was torn down. I did have the privilege of going to the final game ever at old Comiskey and the first game at New Comiskey. What bars are around there now? Jimbo's? What else?

[Yossarian]

Please note the caption in the link provided by the thread header. " A sad day in 1989".

[SoIL]

That's not possible.. it was demolished before New Comiskey construction started..

 

Doh! Well, obviously I din't think that one out.

[RockRaines]

I was barely a teenager when McCuddy's was torn down.  I did have the privilege of going to the final game ever at old Comiskey and the first game at New Comiskey.  What bars are around there now?  Jimbo's?  What else?

I've always believed that there is a gold mine of opportunity in that area. There are several places around the park where someone could develop a couple of new bars and maybe a restaurant. All we need is the money........anyone want to donate???

[easyw]

McCuddy's was razed just 7 months before I turned 21.

 

Good thing the Sox don't have all that annoying "history" hanging around the general vicinity of 35th and Shields. I mean, look what it did to the Cubs.