Normal Park
Encyclopedia
Normal Park is the name of a former football
field in Chicago
, Illinois
. It was on Racine Avenue between 61st and 63rd Streets. Normal Avenue (or Normal Boulevard) is also sometimes given as one of its bordering streets, although Normal Avenue (500W)is about 7 blocks east of Racine (1200W), at least under the current city grid configuration.
Normal Park was the home of the Chicago Cardinals
, who started out as the "Morgan Athletic Club" in 1898 and changed their name to "Racine Normals" after they began playing at the field.
Soon after, they became the "Racine Cardinals". According to legend, they assumed that nickname upon acquiring some reddish hand-me-down jerseys from the University of Chicago
football team, the Maroons.
The Cardinals joined the new American Professional Football Association (soon renamed the National Football League
) and continued to use Normal Park as their home field for several years and continue to be called the Racine Cardinals for a while. They changed their name again, to "Chicago Cardinals", to avoid confusion after the National Football League
fielded a team
in Racine, Wisconsin
.
Starting in 1922, they split time between Normal Park and Comiskey Park
before finally abandoning the old field in the late 1920s. The park no longer exists.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
field in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. It was on Racine Avenue between 61st and 63rd Streets. Normal Avenue (or Normal Boulevard) is also sometimes given as one of its bordering streets, although Normal Avenue (500W)is about 7 blocks east of Racine (1200W), at least under the current city grid configuration.
Normal Park was the home of the Chicago Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
, who started out as the "Morgan Athletic Club" in 1898 and changed their name to "Racine Normals" after they began playing at the field.
Soon after, they became the "Racine Cardinals". According to legend, they assumed that nickname upon acquiring some reddish hand-me-down jerseys from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
football team, the Maroons.
The Cardinals joined the new American Professional Football Association (soon renamed the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
) and continued to use Normal Park as their home field for several years and continue to be called the Racine Cardinals for a while. They changed their name again, to "Chicago Cardinals", to avoid confusion after the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
fielded a team
Racine Legion/Tornadoes
The Racine Legion was a professional American football team based in Racine, Wisconsin of the National Football League from 1922 to 1924. Its official name was the Horlick-Racine Legion. The team then operated as the Racine Tornadoes in 1926....
in Racine, Wisconsin
Racine, Wisconsin
Racine is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. According to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city had a population of 82,196...
.
Starting in 1922, they split time between Normal Park and Comiskey Park
Comiskey Park
Comiskey Park was the ballpark in which the Chicago White Sox played from 1910 to 1990. It was built by Charles Comiskey after a design by Zachary Taylor Davis, and was the site of four World Series and more than 6,000 major league games...
before finally abandoning the old field in the late 1920s. The park no longer exists.