Lip Man 1

JR never said that, Eddie Einhorn did. And when I interviewed Mike Veeck he said JR actually apologized to the Veeck family for that comment.

Brickhouse had a meeting with Sox owner Art Allyn and one of the things he told him was he felt that at some point in time WGN's signal would be available not just in the Chicago area but across the Midwest. In that regard Jack was a visionary.

By the way the driving force behind SportsVision wasn't JR...it was Eddie Einhorn.

I did a detailed history of SportsVision and am writing the chapter on it for Dr. Fletcher's next book. Just FYI, the Sox actually offered Harry more money to stay with the team for the 1982 season than the Cubs did, but Harry wanted no part of Sportsvision nor the owners. Committing "Harry Caray" But one more problem developed because of the SportsVision idea which had long term negative effects towards the Sox. That involved popular announcer Harry Caray. Caray had been with the Sox since 1971 and had developed a tremendous following. In many desolate years Caray was the only reason to pay any attention to the Sox. His style was aggressive, he wasn’t afraid to pan the players or for that matter rip the owners. Caray wasn’t a saint by any means, he had a tremendous ego himself and could be spiteful towards those he didn’t care for, like fellow announcer and former Sox catcher J.C. Martin, whom Caray felt had no business being in a television booth, but to Sox fans he was the best asset the team had. When Einhorn and his partner Jerry Reinsdorf took over the Sox, Caray became intolerable to them. Einhorn is quoted in Logan’s book as saying, "we were a freak show. The fans thought Harry and Jimmy (Piersall) were the stars. Things were insane." Caray for his part, kept his personal feelings about the new owners and his relationship with them to himself, until the ties were severed between them. Afterwards he made no bones about how he felt, saying in his autobiography that Sox fans would ask him why he left and why he went to the Cubs. Caray said he loved Sox fans and loved Comiskey Park but he couldn’t stand the owners, going so far as to call them an unflattering name in the book and saying they knew nothing about running a team. Despite the strained relationship the Sox would have brought Caray back for the 1982 season when he decided to leave and signed a deal with the Cubs. According to producer Noel Gimble, quoting Steve Stone, in his documentary on Caray’s career called, “Hello Again Everybody” the Sox actually offered to pay Caray more money than he signed on to do the Cubs for. In Logan’s book, Caray had this to say, "They wanted to sign me again, but with SportsVision, the White Sox are the best kept secret in Chicago. If their games were on free TV, they’d own the town now and be a byword across the nation." (Author’s Note: because of now "Superstation WGN") I gave them some good advice at that contract meeting. I told them, “you guys came in as owners with a positive image and became villains by taking Jimmy (Piersall) out of the broadcast booth. Why don’t you get back in the fans’ good graces by putting us back together on the TV team" Caray continued with Reinsdorf’s reply. "Jerry answered, ‘Harry, I’ll be up in heaven looking down before Piersall broadcasts another one of our games,’ and Einhorn said, ‘with you or without you, the White Sox are going into SportsVision and away from free TV. " Logan’s book quotes Caray as saying "that’s when I made up my mind to leave. They were talking about maybe reaching 50,000 homes on pay TV instead of the 22 million people who watch the Cubs on WGN." The final word in the Caray / Sox owner’s feud came on the night of September 17, 1983. After the Sox clinched the Western Division Championship and before a national audience, since WGN received permission to take the SportsVision feed of the 9th inning and post-game interviews, Reinsdorf issued a final blast. During an interview with "Hawk" Harrelson, Reinsdorf said, “wherever you’re at, Harry and Jimmy, eat your hearts out. I hope people realize what scum you are.” Harrelson was momentarily speechless. Like him or not, letting Caray leave turned out to be a huge mistake. Caray became the “Pied Piper” of the North Side and came into the situation just about the time the Wrigleyville neighborhood became trendy with young, upscale individuals who decided going to see the Cubs was the thing to do. The Cubs made the playoffs in 1984 and with their games being shown coast to coast on WGN, fans everywhere who didn’t owe an allegiance to a particular team, seemed to become Cub fans. The Cubs would ride this wave to become the dominant team in Chicago despite many lousy years on the playing field. They would win the important public relations battle for the hearts and minds of neutral Chicagoans. With fans flocking to see the "shrine" (i.e. Wrigley Field) it didn’t matter if the Cubs won or lost, they were making money hand over foot.

Actually JR wasn't involved in the Clemens situation. After the Sox signed Albert Belle to the largest deal in history, Clemens' agents, the Hendricks brothers, reached out to Sox G.M. Ron Schueler to let him know Clemens would be interested in playing for the club. Schueler wasn't interested making the comment, "Clemens is over the hill" and he signed with Toronto. Instead the Sox signed Jamie Navarro to a four year deal.

It's amazing how out of touch some of the "national" sports guys are isn't it?

Then this contradicts what Hahn told the press at the GM meetings just yesterday, that he didn't have an exact figure but he expected it to be around last year's total. 15 million less isn't "around last year's" in my opinion. Either Hahn was lying or JR quickly put him in his place.

Since we are discussing White Sox pitching options it should be noted that Hahn yesterday said that Lopez and Lambert would remain in the bullpen for the 2023 season.

Unfortunately that is one of the few things this organization has shown themselves to be very good at.

I'm guessing neither one of the guys will have much if any contribution moving forward, simply roster filler.

He said the right things but keep in mind Sox managers have been saying things like "emphasizing fundamentals" for a long time. When the season starts it seems to always be the same old buffoonery. Hopefully this changes, we'll see.

Because the owner especially at his age as some of the people told me in the story from a few days ago doesn't like change and isn't listening to folks who are telling him about the issues.

Just curious...can you elaborate?

Just some info regarding some of the comments: Matt Spiegel of 670 the Score reported that Daryl Boston will also not be returning. And it was Kenny Williams who JR personally told his parents that he would take care of him when the Sox were trying to get him to sign a contract instead of continuing to play football at Stanford.

I think most Sox fans hope you are right. Also don't forget about the health/injury factor. We'll see what if anything the Sox do with that area.

DVS of the Sun-Times says McEwing is officially out as a Sox coach: https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2022/11/2/23437661/white-sox-coach-joe-mcewing-wont-return-in-2023

You are very, very close to exactly what I was told by one of the sources for the story.

All I can tell you is what I was told by a reliable source. As far as JR reviewing offers, if he was given misleading information then he wouldn't be reviewing the actual proposals would he? Again I can only say what I was told and at least one poster in this thread is saying he has heard the same thing. Honestly, nothing surprises me anymore with this organization. And I just got word that a former employee in baseball operations read the story, used the word "intense" and that it nailed many bullet points for whatever that's worth.

There is a lot of truth in what you are writing. I've always felt and wrote that I think it is a combination of players being "baseball-stupid" today in large part because they are rushed to the Major Leagues and haven't spent the time learning their craft in the minors. I also said that part of the blame goes to the Sox coaching/teaching staffs because what they are doing/saying isn't getting through obviously.

I don't know who told the info about the stadium naming rights situation but what you posted was confirmed to me in the story, I was even given some specific names that the source said didn't tell JR all the relevant information but because of the seriousness of the charge I felt it best to write in more general terms.

I believe there actually were some comments that directly or indirectly talked about how baseball-stupid the Sox were and how guys need to be brought in that have a better baseball acumen. Here's one example: "They need to get guys with a higher baseball acumen, the lack of urgency, the way they beat themselves this season was embarrassing." And there were numerous published comments in the mainstream media after the season by the players themselves talking about being smarter and how accountability was needed.

As to why JR hasn't sold by now it does involve money... as in the tax hit: https://www.southsidesox.com/2022/8/29/23325369/jerry-reinsdorf-selling-chicago-white-sox-not-on-his-life

Both, I have no idea who these folks are that may be leaving but my guess is that in some cases stagnation has set in so a change is probably good anywhere in this operation/organization. I'd also guess some talented folks may be leaving because they are tired of what has/is happening. Again just guesses on my part.

It's also possible that Jose did say something to Moncada but it just wasn't registering. And yes I agree there are some discrepancies in the comments but different individuals have different perspectives and see different things. The overall picture though is one that does not garner optimism.

Just heard from a source who spoke with a player agent who read the story. According to this person the agent told them the story was "fascinating and pretty much the truth." (direct quote) This source also relayed to me they have heard last night that more folks are about to leave the Sox from the business side of the organization.