77 Hitmen

The Fire's owner is putting up $650M of private money toward this new stadium after recently spending $100M on a new practice facility for a franchise that is valued at $530M. Meanwhile Billionaire Jerry says he can only put $200M in private financing toward a new Sox stadium for a franchise that is valued somewhere around $2B. Pathetic. https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/03/chicago-fire-new-soccer-stadium/

George Wendt has died at age 76. https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/20/entertainment/george-wendt-death

Yes, Angel Stadium opened in 1966. Kaufmann Stadium and Rogers Centre are older too. But, regardless, your point is still a valid one. Unfortunately, New Comiskey became outdated one year after it opened when Camden Yards opened the floodgates to new ballparks with character. Last I heard, Uncle Jerry hinted that he could commit ~$200M. And yes, that's far short of what would be needed and what the ownerships of Tampa Bay ($700M) and Kansas City (~$1B) have said they'd commit in private funding for a new stadium.

Yep. It should be loud and clear to the White Sox by now that if they want a new stadium, it'll have to be privately financed except for infrastructure costs. Good question. If I had to guess, I'd imagine sharing infrastructure costs at the AH would be less costly overall. On the other hand, if the City of Chicago ever wants The 78 to be developed into anything but a vacant lot, it's going to involve a lot of infrastructure costs. The factors driving the Bears back to AH over the site next to Soldier Field seem a lot more obvious. First there's a huge legal barrier in trying to build on the lakefront site and then the costs to develop that site that has been floated are astronomical. Or the Ishbia brothers.

State Farm Stadium in Arizona says they have 120 events per year. https://www.statefarmstadium.com/about So, 30 dates is perhaps a low estimate. I don't know how that compares to other indoor football stadiums such as the ones in Minneapolis, Detroit, or Indy. An indoor stadium in AH could very well host Beyonce/Taylor Swift-level mega concerts and not worry about winter weather or (as was the case this week) thunderstorms.

Lots of stories in the local news today about the Bears shifting their focus back to Arlington Heights. I have yet to hear the Sox mentioned as a possible co-tenant on the Arlington Park land. The only mention of the Sox that I'm aware of is from weeks ago when the incoming new AH mayor was dreaming out loud about bring the Sox to the site, too.

New Comiskey for that movie. The old park was in the John Hughes film Only the Lonely starring John Candy with Maureen O'Hara as his overbearing mother.

Famous 80s film maker Johh Hughes was a White Sox fan. He reportedly wanted to have that famous Ferris Buehler playing hooky at Wrigley Field scene done at Comiskey Park, but the Sox weren't home when he was in town filming.

Yes, but there's no restriction for the Commissioner to remove. If the people with votes want to put Sammy Sosa in the Hall, they are not forbidden from doing so.

I seem to recall that some of the people who get to vote were not happy with Santo's self-promoting campaign to get himself into the Hall. This is just based on stuff I recall reading at the time, but I don't have any links to support this theory.

Craig Robinson was hilarious in The Office and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Doug Judy!

I know the Sox don't exactly have a ton of celebrity fans, but this is kind of a weak list IMO. Justin Fields and a few singers make the list because they were invited to throw out the first pitch but who weren't life-long Sox fans, but Michael Clarke Duncan, Bernie Mac, Richard Roeper, George Wendt, Laurie Metcalfe, Jean Shepherd, Richard J. and M. Daley don't make the list?

I guess that settles it. I'll never support his brother for the papacy!

Now that we've settled his fandom, time for a tough question for the new pontiff that will really fire up and divide fans: Should the Sox stay at 35th and Shields or moved to the 78? Or perhaps a new domed stadium in Dolton?

It looks like the 2nd Reformation rests on whether he's a soccer fan.

Why punish the guy?

At about 1:00 into this NBC News clip, the new Pope texts back to a priest who's known him for years where his Chicago baseball allegiance lies: https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/pope-leo-xiv-is-a-chicago-native-who-led-augustinian-order-239203909684 (For anyone who doesn't want to open the clip, the reply from Pope Leo is "Sox".)

There are three things I've learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin.

The 1901 Project that is being initiated by Reinsdorf and the Wirtz family: https://news.wttw.com/2024/07/23/united-center-owners-unveil-7b-proposal-redevelop-area-surrounding-arena-mixed-use-space A music hall, residential units, retail space. Jerry Reinsdorf did NOT buy the land to move the Sox there. As far as a suburban location, I know there's a difference of opinion among Sox fans, but IMO a suburban site would be a terrible idea. Most MLB teams have found moving to the downtown area to be successful without surrounding themselves with a ton of surface parking lots. Only big sprawl metro areas like Atlanta and the DFW metroplex go against that. Even the Mets and Phillies have plans to redevelop the parking lots surrounding their ballparks. Somewhere near Oakbrook would be central to the Chicagoland area, but where's the land for such a massive development?

I suppose you could add Bill Veeck to that list, too. Jerry and Eddie immediately offended and alienated Veeck after they bought the club and he said he'd never set foot in Comiskey Park again and went on to become a fixture at the Wrigley Field bleachers for the last few years of his life. So, in an era when the Sox off the field were known for: Harry (and his 7th inning stretch), Veeck, and Nancy Faust; Jerry and Eddie handed over the first two over the the Cubs on a silver platter. I remember thinking that at least we still had Nancy and hoping that the Cubs wouldn't get her, too. And of course, the "Sunshine Boys" also traded in all the charm and character of Old Comiskey (which had it's flaws, no doubt) for a sterile, generic looking new ballpark.

This fits the Sox PR moves during the Reinsdorf era to a tee. Four decades of eliminating as much character and charm from the ballpark experience as possible and driving away fan favorites: Harry Caray, Nancy Faust, Jason Benetti. Hawk was a fan favorite but a total JR ass kisser. It's no wonder the market share for this team has sunk to new lows (it's not just the on the field product). Quite a few other teams still have organists. I know it's a dying art and I'd imagine finding actual organists must be getting more difficult over time, but it's been so integral to the Sox game experience for decades and it's so typical of the Sox to white wash it away.

How much room is there on this Sox Mt. Rushmore of Infamy? Jerry Reinsdorf The Rick Hahn/KW dynamic duo Tony LaRussa (the JR confidant/advisor) Combo of Tony LaRussa/Robin Ventura/Pedro Grifol (managers) Drake LaRoche (clubhouse leader) John Schriffen Jerry Reinsdorf (to bookend the entire shitshow) The sad thing is, I didn't even get to any players like Nick "Captain Morgan" Swisher, Adam LaRoche, James Shields, Adam Dunn, etc.

This is going to trigger some posters, but IMO this ties back to the whole ballpark situation. The SportsVision debacle followed by the botched design of New Comiskey Park nine years later with lack of anything to do around the park has really put this franchise in a huge hole as far as winning over market share in Chicago. Progress was made in winning over more fans after the 2005 championship, but that bump is ancient history now. They did an admirable job in improving the ballpark in the early 2000s, but issues still remain with some aspects of the park design and with lack of much to do around the location. Short of winning multiple pennants in quick succession, which isn't exactly easy to do even with competent ownership/management, it'll be really tough to make inroads against the Cubs, who even in down times, are a big draw thanks to their ballpark and neighborhood. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if the next owner of the White Sox will see investment in a new ballpark in the South Loop as the best way to turnaround the fortunes of this franchise on a long-term basis and as a good ROI for the value of the franchise. Boasting that the current park is near expressways and has acres of convenient parking lots is no longer a winning formula for MLB teams in the current era of how people decide to spend their entertainment dollars.

Yep, you beat me to it. Not only was Chicago not wired for cable, but Jerry and Eddie basically ceded an entire generation of baseball fans to the Cubs as that team skyrocketed to national popularity. And many suburbs were actually wired for cable by 1982/83 (our family got it in 1983), but I want to say it was maybe 5(???) years before they finally moved SportsVision from a premium channel subscription to basic cable. Epic failure of a product, but to his dying day, Eddie Einhorn would claim he was right all along about the pay TV sports model. .....and I think that's part of the reason why this franchise has fallen to such lows Jerry and (while he was around) Eddie never had an ounce of self-reflection. They only wanted vindication for the moves they made with the Sox. As far as CHSN goes. I expect both them and the Cubs' Marquee Network to end up on Comcast's more expensive tier.

What is more fanciful, the idea that the Sox under new ownership might privately fund a new stadium in the South Loop, or that the Ishbias will spend $2B to buy a franchise and keep them at the current location surrounded by the same acres of parking for the next 30 years? I'd say the latter is less likely. Maybe the new owners can turn the area around the current park into a thriving entertainment district to keep up with today's baseball economics, but I have my doubts about that. But, then again, maybe the 78 is indeed a cursed Indian burial site, perpetually tied to criminals, a Love Canal-like toxic waste site, and Chicago's version of the Bermuda Triangle all wrapping into one. In which case, then yeah, anyone talking about this site is crazy.