Lip Man 1

That was part of it as I wrote in the chapter. What I posted was simply an short conclusion from it. By the time Einhorn came up with his idea of moving the Sox off of ‘free’ TV in May 1982, Chicagoans were conditioned like no other city, to getting virtually the entire baseball season for nothing. The bottom line was that when the Sox announced what they intended to do; they were met with a bunch of angry fans who rightly or wrongly expected the right to get virtually an unlimited number of games for nothing. Adding to that anger was the fact that the nation, especially Chicago, was going through an economic recession, not seen since the early 1970’s. People were out of work and simply could not afford the hook-up fee, let alone the monthly charge to get the sports programming. Reinsdorf though understood the reality of the situation when in 2004 at a luncheon promoting the start of the new Comcast Sports Network-Chicago regional channel he said, "Unfortunately, Chicago wasn't ready for us. There wasn't cable of any consequence, and we were on subscription pay-TV. I don't remember how many subscribers there were, but I know that more than that number went to Radio Shack and bought the parts for their own boxes." How to sum up the experiment known as SportsVision? Well you could do a lot worse than to say, ‘A brilliant idea that simply was ahead of its time, limited by historical factors as well as technological shortcomings.’

Saw a story in the Sun-Times where he said he'll be out 10-12 weeks then see what happens.

Must be nice to have your #9 hitter batting .295 and drive in seven runs. The Sox bullpen ERA's are astronomical for the three guys they used today. Woof!

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2025/05/02/white-sox-tim-elko-andrew-vaughn-brooks-baldwin-prospects-minor-leagues

5-11 with RISP usually will get the job done. Break up the Sox...two in a row!

From my "History of SportsVision" chapter which will be included in Dr. Fletcher and the Chicago Baseball Museum's next book: "The idea of pay-per-view or cable TV was also in its infancy. HBO, started by Dolan, came into existence in 1972 and just turned 10 years old. ESPN began operations on September 7, 1979 with George Grande, who left to become the primary Reds TV broadcaster from 1993 through 2009, and Lee Leonard as the first hosts of SportsCenter. The idea of an advanced, relatively cheap national or regional television channel devoted to sports was a difficult idea to grasp. The technology wasn’t fully developed yet either, from satellites which provided crystal clear digital picture and sound, to the graphics and statistics needed in the important production aspect of showing sports events. Einhorn’s idea was brilliant, but the timing was wrong. If SportsVision had come along even five years later, its chances for success would have been much greater. If the idea had first been conceived in a baseball crazy market like Detroit, Baltimore or St. Louis and worked, it would have been easier to accept. For that matter, if Chicago was simply a one team town, it probably would have worked because fans wouldn’t have had any choices. In Chicago though, the Cubs were still offering fans their games for nothing, which added to the resentment felt by Sox fans. For the most part an entire generation of baseball fans in Chicago grew up without watching or being able to watch a number of Sox games every season during the 1980s."

It would be excellent if he could become a bona fide contributing player to the organization. Time will tell.

We aim to please sir! 😉

Nice to get a win. From the highlights it looked like a very small crowd to see it.

Nor Cory Snyder. Some guys simply couldn't adapt to the style Hriniak wanted and they really struggled.

I think it's both, remember in Ventura's first year when he was having mandatory pre game practices on fundamentals they seemed to be much better at those areas, which is partially how they stayed in the race until collapsing the last two weeks. And the 2005 Sox could beat you via a blast, a bloop, a bunt or a stolen base.

While it wouldn't shock me that JR would do something like this, it does smell fishy and I don't know how reliable Barstool is as a media source.

Sox must have really worked on "fundamentals" in the spring didn't they? 3-10 RISP, three errors. It is what it is -- Kenny Williams

Progress baby! 🤡

From the Sun-Times. Getz's comments make it sound like he's not joining the team anytime soon: First-base issues Each time first baseman Andrew Vaughn is penciled into the lineup, Sox fans want to know why Tim Elko isn’t there instead. It might be a fair question. Entering play Tuesday, Elko was hitting .354/.432/.732 at Triple-A Charlotte. Conversely, Vaughn was struggling, batting .157/.202/.275 for the Sox. General manager Chris Getz, however, doesn’t seem to be in too much of a hurry to call up Elko. He lauded Elko’s hard-hit rate and leadership qualities and said the organization is ‘‘happy with [his] development . . . and know at some point he could join us here in Chicago.’’ ‘‘Primarily, we’re focused on players in our system that we feel are going to be part of our future, and their development is the priority,’’ Getz said. ‘‘If that means we bring them up, then so be it.’’ Getz said the Sox are more focused on supporting Vaughn. ‘‘I know he wants greater results for the White Sox and for himself,’’ Getz said. ‘‘And we expect more out of him. Our job is to get the most out of each player, and we know that there’s more in the tank for Andrew.’’

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2025/04/29/white-sox-send-top-prospect-colson-montgomery-to-arizona-to-take-a-step-back At 23 and with a history of back issues, Montgomery is running out of time to prove he’s a major-league player. Getz said earlier in the scrum that he didn’t want to rush players to the majors. But taking your top prospect and changing his environment isn’t exactly a vote of confidence.

The Sox began the homestand as one of five big-league teams without 100 runs scored yet, as one of three without 100 hits, third from the bottom in home runs and on-base percentage, and at the very bottom in batting average (.211), slugging (.326) and OPS (.612). https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2025/04/29/white-sox-brewers-andrew-benintendi-luis-robert-chris-getz-will-venable

I wonder if such records are even kept but if so I'd love to know what they are for the following: Most games three runs or less in a season Fewest hits in a season Worst average with runners in scoring position in a season At the rate they are going this club should be close to if not ready to break the old marks.

Things must really be falling off the cliff for that kid. Another first round bust?

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2025/04/28/white-sox-unveil-2025-city-connect-uniforms

https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports-media/2025/04/28/the-score-executive-producer-shane-riordan-no-longer-at-the-station

Hideous

Sox machine podcast this week is calling for the same thing that it is time to option him.

Shortstop Colson Montgomery struck out twice and walked once for Triple-A Charlotte in their 13-12, 12-inning victory Sunday. Montgomery is batting .149/.223/.255 with a .478 OPS. Despite his struggles, Montgomery still is in the team’s long-term plans. “He’s a player that if you continue to challenge him, you get the best version of Colson. He’s only getting better on the defensive side,” general manager Chris Getz said. “Everyone points to the size, the 6-foot-4 shortstops. But it’s been proven it can be done, and right now, it looks like Colson can play shortstop at the major-league level.”

JR says , "He's got 4.5 million reasons...I'm not paying him not to work."