{"id":217545,"date":"2025-08-01T09:08:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T09:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/217545\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T09:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T09:08:10","slug":"polaroids-capture-chicagos-cubs-vs-white-sox-crosstown-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/217545\/","title":{"rendered":"Polaroids capture Chicago’s Cubs vs. White Sox ‘Crosstown Classic’"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 A fierce rivalry between Chicago’s North and South Siders comes to life each summer during the \u201c Crosstown Classic<\/a>,\u201d when the Cubs<\/a> and White Sox<\/a> face off in their home stadiums.<\/p>\n

This unique series is loaded with team history and memories for both sets of fans, who hail from the North and South Sides respectively.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Polaroids convey nostalgia, and there’s nothing that says nostalgia quite like baseball. The film format requires a level of intimacy not often seen in modern photo coverage of baseball games, when speed and instant images are prioritized.<\/p>\n

Many people were excited by the camera\u2019s familiar boxy case, the distinctive sound of the photos sliding smoothly out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs that a Polaroid?\u201d they ask. \u201cI haven\u2019t seen one of those in forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shooting with a Polaroid requires patience, planning for the right moment. You need the right light and direct interaction with the subject. The result takes several minutes to appear, often with a soft or slightly faded focus.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The experience reflects baseball in many ways. Major League Baseball was officially established 149 years ago, but the methodical work it takes to win, team traditions and a personal connection to the game are what keeps many fans engaged season after season.<\/p>\n

Outside the White Sox home stadium, Rate Field<\/a>, fans are allowed to grill, drink, play games and socialize in a sea of parking lots surrounding the park. Over the rivalry weekend, White Sox and Cubs fans mingled under the sometimes brutal July sun.<\/p>\n

Flory Aquino, wearing Sox gear, and Kristina Willer, in Cubs gear, played beer pong together before a game. They said they are \u201cfriends before anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just have a good time, that\u2019s it, you know?\u201d said Aquino. \u201cAnd actually, it doesn\u2019t matter what team it is. They\u2019re both from Chicago, and we just come out here to have a great time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Inside the park, too, Polaroids made a memory tangible \u2014 a single image that can be seen and held instantly. There’s no negative, no possible way to replace it.<\/p>\n

Aylin Servin, 8, and her father Aldo took pictures together behind a giant \u201cChicago\u201d sign inside the ballpark, the city skyline in the background.<\/p>\n

The elder Servin said while he is a long-time Cubs fan, his daughter picked the White Sox. She was attending her first baseball game ever.<\/p>\n

The images also capture the White Sox fan base’s recent embrace of their most famous member \u2014 Pope Leo XIV<\/a>. Born Robert Prevost on Chicago’s South Side, the new pope attended Game 1 of the 2005 World Series sweep of the Houston Astros.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

A fresh mural memorializes that moment. And there are T-shirts and other merchandise nodding to the famous fan sold everywhere.<\/p>\n

Tom Dermody has been a security guard at the park for the last 14 years and remembers many a Crosstown Classic. He’s got a positive view of his job and the fans he interacts with. But he admits the stickier moments are hard to forget.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlmost three years ago today, I broke up a fight out in the left field bleachers on a Sunday and wound up tearing, completely tearing my rotator cuff,\u201d he said. \u201cI found out later on, it was an irate Sox fan that threw a beer on a Cubs fan and the whole section went up for grabs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looked like a food fight from one of John Belushi\u2019s movies,\u201d he reminisced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 A fierce rivalry between Chicago’s North and South Siders comes to life each summer during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2379],"tags":[5,138,49,2561,10339,161,54,4,37471,37472,396,2562],"class_list":{"0":"post-217545","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-white-sox","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-white-sox","11":"tag-chicagowhitesox","12":"tag-crosstown-classic","13":"tag-cubs","14":"tag-houston-astros","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-north-and-south","17":"tag-polaroids","18":"tag-white-sox","19":"tag-whitesox"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114952726526597366","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}