First Base

Now I like dive bars but this one didn’t have anything aside from a bar and a couple of televisions. It is in the heart of Bridgeport and they need to add some more stuff aside from the lone pool table in the back. Just a few bottle brands are available here and this is a type of bar that has basically disappeared along with the middle class in the city of Chicago.

Great neighborhood bar.
Very friendly staff, fun music & a nice place to watch a Sox game (not crowded! Close to the park!)

Not the greatest bar in the history of mankind, but the best place around Comiskey to pre-​game. Prices are reasonable, it’s well within walking distance of the park, and you can generally park around the bar on game days without any problems. Cozy little place, perfect home for a Sox fan!

Where do you go when it’s a rainy Saturday in the off season, you have a yearning for some cold Miller Lites and you’re on the South side? Well you may just find yourself at First Base.
«First Base?», you ask. «Never heard of it». That’s because it’s just a corner bar in Bridgeport where the bartender still smokes behind the bar and the place smells like some odd combination of smoke and floor cleaner.
But if you can get over that smell (I’ll give them a break– they had just opened so the floors were freshly mopped) they have what makes a bar OK in my book. Cheap beer, good service, pool tables in back, plenty of TV’s and a jukebox that seemed to be loaded with 80’s music. It also looked like it had been remodeled recently with slate like tile on the floors and shiny metal bar stools (getting ready for Sox season, perhaps?).
The patrons themselves are interesting. Some screaming at each other-​others talking to themselves but everyone knowing each other– kind of like a big family. (I think they thought we were lost as everyone kept looking over at us– that or they thought we were going to bust them for the smoking inside thing!)
Whatever. I drank my Miller Lite and waited for the rain to let up adding another bar to my ever growing list of Bridgeport hang outs.

This is a nice little hole-​in-​the-​wall. Exudes that famous Bridgeport charm. (Or whatever it is.)
I went down «dere» to Bridgeport on a boring night with nothing going on. I sat down at the bar and ordered a Lite (do they even serve any non-​domestics in Bridgeport?). I asked the gruff-​looking guy next to me if the seat was taken. «If A.J. gets a hit, then we’re cool,» he told me menacingly. I’m generally not afraid of assholes, so I sat down and didn’t think anything of it. A.J. Pierzynski popped out. So my friendly neighbor then beginning to scream curse words at the top of his lungs until the bartender told him to can it.
Other characters included the drunk «generic South Side guy» hitting on two overly-​tanned women at the same time, a few younger Sox fans, and a couple of REALLY meaty-​looking guys with shirts that said «Cubs SUCK».
In all, if you don’t mind a little profanity, vulgarity, Miller Lite, and White Sox fans, you would probably feel right at home in this Bridgeport bar.