City Baseball Magic with Philip Bess

Why do baseball fans love “retro” parks—and what went wrong with the concrete donuts of the 1960s and '70s? In this episode, Andrew Petiprin and Robert Mixa are joined by Professor of Architecture Philip Bess to explore the deeper connections between urban design, civic life, and the magic of baseball.

They discuss his provocative and insightful book, City Baseball Magic: Plain Talk and Uncommon Sense About Cities and Baseball Parks, where Bess offers a powerful critique of modern stadium planning and makes the case for beauty, tradition, and neighborhood-centered design.

Professor Bess also shares the story behind his visionary Armour Field plan, a proposal he presented in the late 1980s as an alternative to the new stadium the Chicago White Sox eventually built to replace historic Comiskey Park. More than just a ballpark, Armour Field was a proposal for a better kind of urbanism—one rooted in human scale, local character, and architectural meaning.

Whether you're a baseball fan, an urbanist, or simply interested in the soul of American cities, this conversation offers a rich blend of sports, culture, architecture, and civic imagination.

New copies of City Baseball Magic (1999 edition, at original price) are available from publisher Knothole Press on eBay through "TG Sports Enterprises" https://www.ebay.com/itm/256950044085 for $8.95 plus $4.65 shipping.