Before they even broke ground on what is now U.S. Cellular Field, then-Gov. James R. Thompson made the political earth beneath him move.
Thompson had just arrived on the steps of the Capitol Building in Springfield around 4 p.m. on June 30, 1988, the last day of the legislative session, when staffers greeted him with long faces.
"One of them said, 'It's over, it's not going to pass' … and that spurred me," Thompson recalled this week before the White Sox celebrated the 25th anniversary of their ballpark at 35th and Shields.
Without Thompson immediately spurring into action to line up enough votes for the General Assembly to approve a new tax-subsidized, $167 million Sox stadium literally at the 11th hour, The Cell likely never would have been built.