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    A security member stands on the field while fireworks go off after the Chicago White Sox defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 1-0, at U.S. Cellular Field Friday, July 3, 2015, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

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    Fireworks are shot off as Chicago White Sox batter Jose Abreu (79) is shown rounding the bases on the big video board after hitting a solo homer in the fourth inning of a game against the Houston Astros at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago on Tuesday, May 17, 2016. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

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    Fireworks explode after the game at U.S. Cellular Field Friday, July 31, 2015, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

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    Fireworks explode after the Chicago White Sox defeated the Minnesota Twins, 4-10, at U.S. Cellular Field Friday, May 6, 2016, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)(BASEBALL PRO)

  • A security member stands on the field while fireworks go...

    Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune

    A security member stands on the field while fireworks go off after the Chicago White Sox defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 1-0, at U.S. Cellular Field Friday, July 3, 2015, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

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    John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune

    Fireworks explode after the game at U.S. Cellular Field Friday, July 31, 2015, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

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Regardless of how the White Sox are performing on the field in a given year, what trades they make or how expensive the beer is, you can always count on them for one thing: spectacular fireworks shows.

That’s been the case since 1960, when the team partnered with Melrose Park Pyrotechnics to create the exploding scoreboard, a tradition that has expanded to include more elaborate displays with each passing year.

“I don’t know too many teams that don’t have fireworks anymore,” said Bob Kerns, director of operations at Melrose Park Pyrotechnics. The company has won international competitions and performs more than 2,000 shows annually, and its clients include the city of Chicago and other pro sports franchises.

“It’s a reasonable form of entertainment that draws a crowd. It’s all about the fan experience, so whatever the team can do to get people to the ballpark and make their experience more enjoyable, that’s where they look, and fireworks tend to do that pretty well.”

All the postgame shows at U.S. Cellular Field are set to music and most are designed around a theme, one of the most complicated of which was last year’s country music night.

“Different than the other theme nights and fireworks shows, we actually work with the Grand Ole Opry on basically a video,” said Cris Quintana, the Sox’s presentation director. “The fireworks are set to videos of performers who have performed at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. The music is displayed as a video on our center field video board.”

If you’re wondering why the tradition hasn’t caught on at Wrigley Field, well, it has everything to do with the neighborhood. Shooting rockets near so many buildings makes for pitfalls that are difficult to navigate.

“It’s a very, very difficult place to work,” Kerns said. “We didn’t do it, but I do understand they had a show there last year.”

In addition to a dozen or so postgame shows each season, the team shoots off fireworks before each game, after Sox home runs and after victories.

RedEye spoke with Kerns, who has been with the company for 22 years, to give fans a glimpse of how it all comes together.

1 month

That’s about how long it takes to design one postgame fireworks show at the Cell.

“We have a gentleman here, that’s all he does is create soundtracks for numerous events all over the country that we perform all over the country,” Kerns said. “His job is to work with the White Sox to produce these soundtracks to come up with the music that we use for each firework event. Once the music has been selected, then we have four show designers. Their job is to design the fireworks into music because a large percentage of the fireworks shows, including the White Sox’s, are done to music now.”

6

The number of Melrose Park Pyrotechnics employees on hand for a postgame show at U.S. Cellular Field. Only one employee is needed to monitor the effects at any other home game. Originally, each rocket was fired manually. In the 1980s computers took over the majority of firing rockets at the ballpark, though there are some venues where manual operation is required.

Of course, most of the work is done well before game day.

“Every designer is very familiar with the site, so he knows what types of products can be used there and what types you can’t use there,” Kerns said. “We’re all governed by [National Fire Protection Association] guidelines as far as the type of products that can be used regarding distances from structures or people, things like that. Once we have the music assigned, then the music is turned into a wav file so the show designer can bring it into his scripting software program and see the actual music file in a wav format. You can zoom up on this and actually place devices firing event positions at each crescendo of the music that you’re trying to hit. It’s basically the show designer is scripting into the music all this different pyrotechnic devices so that when the finished product is done, the fireworks and the music match each other in synchronization, mood, color, style. There’s a whole different types of things that they look at so that it’s a total performance.”

7

The most home runs the White Sox have hit in one home game; they did it Saturday against Toronto.

“The home run type of fireworks, that’s a daily event and that’s a special kind of product that home runs come off the back of the scoreboard,” Kerns said. “They’re a specially made device that goes up with no debris; they’re called crossettes. They’re a type of close-proximate type of device that is used in areas where it’s close surroundings. There has to be a special kind of product because you don’t want anything to drift inside the ballpark.”

40 feet

A pyrotechnics barrage accompanies the moment the White Sox players are introduced before each home game (and AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” plays). Those fireworks are launched from a scaffolding 40 feet in the air in the players’ parking lot.

“The reason we shoot those from the scaffolding and not the scoreboard is they have some items in there we can’t shoot that close to the ballpark because it would be too close to the people that are inside the ballpark,” Kerns said.

2,000

Approximate number of fireworks used during one postgame show at U.S. Cellular Field.

10-12 minutes

The length of the Sox’s postgame displays. The team has seven more shows scheduled for this season; the next one is July 8 against Atlanta (which happens to be this year’s country music night).

2 1/2 inches

The diameter of the largest fireworks used in postgame shows at U.S. Cellular Field.

12 inches

The diameter of the largest fireworks used at displays such as the ones at Navy Pier.

100 feet per inch

The approximate ratio that determines the height fireworks will reach before they explode. So the largest shells you’ll see at the ballpark go about 250 feet in the air, while shells at larger shows soar more than 1,000 feet into the sky.

100 feet

The approximate diameter of the display caused when the largest of the fireworks explodes. They’re often named after flowers, such as chrysanthemum or peony.

“Everything appears a lot closer just because of your surroundings,” Kerns said. “The audience doesn’t realize exactly what they’re looking at because if you took that same show and put it out in the middle of Lake Michigan, it would look totally different because it’s so far away. Every show is designed to the venue in which it’s being used.”

@redeyesportschi | chsosa@redeyechicago.com