PHOTO ESSAY: Chicago’s ‘Crosstown Classic’ in Polaroids

CHICAGO (AP) — A fierce rivalry between Chicago’s North and South Siders comes to life each summer during the “Crosstown Classic,” when the Cubs and White Sox face off in their home stadiums.

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

The Associated Press photographed the latest Cubs-White Sox games with a Polaroid Now+ camera and i-Type film, which match the classic Polaroid look and process but offer modern advantages including a USB charger. Each Polaroid image was first exposed to light, then went into a black felt bag.

Polaroids convey nostalgia, and nothing 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.

Many people were excited by the camera’s familiar boxy case, the distinctive sound of the photos sliding smoothly out.

“Is that a Polaroid?” they ask. “I haven’t seen one of those in forever.”

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.

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.

Outside the White Sox home stadium, Rate Field, 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.

Flory Aquino, wearing Sox gear, and Kristina Willer, in Cubs gear, played beer pong together before a game. They said they are “friends before anything.”

“We just have a good time, that’s it, you know?” said Aquino. “And actually, it doesn’t matter what team it is. They’re both from Chicago, and we just come out here to have a great time.”

Inside the park, too, Polaroids made a memory tangible — a single image that can be seen and held instantly. There’s no negative, no possible way to replace it.

Aylin Servin, 8, and her father Aldo took pictures together behind a giant “Chicago” sign inside the ballpark, the city skyline in the background.

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.

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

A fresh mural memorializes that moment. And there are T-shirts and other merchandise nodding to the famous fan sold everywhere.

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.

“Almost 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,” he said. “I 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.

“It looked like a food fight from one of John Belushi’s movies,” he reminisced.