The Mighty Mite

You are so right, growing up in the 50s and even in the 60s, Wrigley was just another ballpark as was Fenway, they were considered no better than Ebbets Field or Crosley Field or Yankee Stadium and on and on, no one raved about them. If you asked people in Chicago back in those days most would have said Comiskey was the better ballpark, a lot of us thought Wrigley was sort of a joke with power alleys that were only 365 feet.

Something I’ve thought about, 2 very important things have happened in the last 40+ years that has affected the plight of the White Sox. 1. Wrigley Field has become a National Landmark and the Cubs are the darlings of Chicago baseball. 2. Because of JR the White Sox are now a laughing stock and the fan base has shrunk. There’s been other issues, but these 2 to my thinking have put us where we are today. Before these 2 things happened, attendance for the 2 Chicago franchises down through the years were just about even with spurts for the Cubs in the 1930s and the White Sox in th1950s up until 1966. On any other given year before the 1990s the team that had a better year for the most part outdrew the other team, so Comiskey's location didn’t hurt the Sox that much. There is not a damn thing that the White Sox can do about Wrigley Field. What the Sox must do with new ownership is to build a consistent winning team that would build up the franchise to acceptable levels were they would draw around 2 million a year and when they are competitive draw close to 3 million, they can’t continue to be competitive once every 10+ years or so and can’t make it out of the first round of the playoffs, they won’t build the fan base that way. The Sox are like the Mets and the Angels, they will be the second team in their respective cities and there probably isn’t anyone alive that will see that change. The difference is the Mets and Angels still have decent fan bases as they have larger populations to draw from than the Chicago area has. New York has 15 million, LA has 12 million while Chicago is about 9.5 million. Bottom line on all this is that a new Sox ballpark without a decent fan base isn’t going to matter whether it’s built at the 78 or 35th and Shields, at this point I’m OK with either location.

Love that photo of old Comiskey, the Palace would still be with us if the Comiskey family had the money that Wrigley had, Wrigley Field down through the years was maintained better than any of the old ballparks that were built in the early 20th century, that’s why along with Fenway it’s still standing.

Somewhere in the middle of the Metro area like where the Eisenhower and 294 meet. The thing about the 78 though close to the loop is that there is an infrastructure problem, it would be great if you’re taking public transportation to get there but driving there would be a nightmare.

I’m really old school and the only reason I would go to old Comiskey or the new ballpark was to see White Sox baseball and always thought that Comiskey was easy to get to either by car or public transportation, nothing else like restaurants or entertainment venues mattered, we were there for Baseball. Our last 25 years in the Chicago were spent in western DuPage county which was a drive but the White Sox or Blackhawks didn’t tell me to move there. I truly think there are more than a few better places in the metro area than the 78 including 35th and Shields.

What am I missing here, Hicks is 17-35 lifetime with a 4.41 ERA. Never had a season with a winning, we did the Carmines a big favor.

I’m not sure the Sox mis-managed Robert, there was something missing with the guy just like Moncada, Robert seemed like he was averse to making changes with his struggles with the bat, then there was his injury prone problem. I’ll miss his glove (IMO best Sox centerfielder ever) but really nothing else.

It’s hard to believe there’s not a place to play for a guy that led the team in homers and RBIs on a team that lost over 100 games again, I think Sosa is a potential 30 homer guy. If he stays someone has to go, Benintendi is the obvious choice but the Sox would probably have to pay part of his salary and that is against everything JR stands for.

You buy a Chevy, you get a Chevy. I was hoping for a Caddy.

My take on this is that you think Ishbia is going to open up his pocketbook before he actually takes control, let’s hope that happens.

The team might be somewhat better but as long as Reinsdork remains owner they will never be close to being contenders.

Thank heaven

I think we were all hoping for a miracle with Robert, hard to argue with your points.

Benintendi should be our DH so the question is if today was opening day what and who are the outfielders, this is very depressing.

I’m not sure how I feel about this trade, I’m hoping they use Robert’s salary and sign a more than decent free agent, right now our outfield is loaded with AAA guys. Probably a stretch with his defensive problems but It would be nice if Sosa could become our everyday left fielder.

An all time Sox favorite of mine, great knuckleball pitcher and a true workhorse throwing over 320 innings for 4 consecutive years and coming close in a 5th with 291 innings.

The best goalie in my lifetime, Glenn Hall has passed away at age 94. His record of 502 consecutive games between the pipes will never be broken. Thanks for some great memories.

How about the Illiana Bears.

I was stationed in South Dakota with the USAF in 1966 but a couple of buddies and me took a drive to the Twin Cities that summer for a Sox-Twins game, Twins won as they were coming off a trip to the World Series in 1965 while the Sox were a little better than a .500 team in 1966 finishing 83-79 after 3 great years winning 94, 98 and 95 games, Sox were probably trying to get used to new manager Eddie Stanky after the great run by Al Lopez. IIRC the BoSox lost over 100 games in 1966 but beat out our Sox in 1967 in the great 4 team pennant race of 1967. All 4 teams had a chance to win the pennant on the last weekend, most of us Sox fans remember how bad it turned out for us.

Yes they did.

You forgot the Syracuse Nationals who moved to Philadelphia and became the 76ers, this was after the Warriors left Philly and moved to San Francisco.

The Braves of the NBA moved to San Diego first and then Los Angeles.

If the Bears do wind up in NW Indiana then the Cardinals should move back to Chicago and either play in Soldier Field or Arlington Heights, the Cardinals were Chicago’s first pro football team.