waltwilliams

What examples do you have of Colas' "questionable character". I know he complained about not being brought up, but is that really "questionable"?

Kevin Warren is the key driver of keeping the Bears on the lakefront. I think the McCaskeys and Ted Phillips were perfectly fine with the Arlington Heights location, which at the end of the day, makes more sense for the Bears than staying downtown.

Not sure why Citi Field is a poor example. For the past 20 years of existence (and for adjacent Shea Stadium's entire life going back to the 60s) it was surrounded by auto-body shops and borderline poverty. But that didn't keep Mets fans away in the past. Good on Steve Cohen for being a responsible owner and attempting to create his own village by his existing stadium -- that's what JR or a new Sox owner should be doing, looking for ways to develop around Sox Park. As for Pittsburgh and Cincinnatti, these two franchises are routinely at the bottom-third of MLB attendance, despite their relatively new ballparks and whatever attractions they may have on the outside. Unless you're the Cubs or Red Sox, if you don't have a good team, chances are you won't draw, regardless of where you play,

I've been to Yankee Stadium (the old one) and Dodger Stadium a few times. There is probably less to do outside those ballparks than there is at Sox Park. (Yankee Stadium has a dive bar named Stan's nearby, but not much else). And yet, these two teams are routinely one and two in attendance. It's not because they have cool places outside the ballpark -- it's because of the winning traditions that both teams have. Same thing with Citi Field -- it looks like a third world country outside that stadium. But the Mets routinely draw between 2.5 million and 3 million.

Yeah, I get the frustration with management, but that was kind of embarrassing. A low point for us as a fanbase, to be honest

Garrett told Merkin that he didn't appreciate the fans cheering on the Angels and cheering for the Sox to lose at home this week.

PK Wrigley was as ignorant about the cost benefits of television and sports as almost every other owner of the time was. He basically gave the rights away for free to WGN (and earlier, had Cubs games on both WGN and WBKB for nothing). He WAS very insightful about TV being free advertising for the team, but he made no money off the TV rights. @Dick Allen is absolutely right. The teams were basically on equal footing until the early 80s, when the Sox moved off free TV. But even then, the Sox were still right there with the Cubs "83 and '84 -- they were the first team in Chicago to draw over two million fans two years in a row in those years. But the combination of the Tribune Company's national reach as a superstation, along with Harry Caray moving from the Sox to the Cubs began the real momentum of the North Side as the dominant team. The Sox came back with the move to the new stadium in '91. But after the '94 strike, where JR was the most prominent union-buster on ownership side, the Sox were diminished even more. And the Sammy Sosa phenomenon in the late 90s, culminating with the '98 season, really killed the Sox.

Thanks, Mite. Lots of empty seats in that film at Sox Park. Jimmy Brown was something, though -- he'd still dominate in today's game

Great story, Mite. Always got the impression that the Cardinals and Sox shared the same fan base (although the Cardinals had a tiny fan base at the end). Cards and Browns played the year prior to you seeing them at Sox Park -- looks like Brown had quite the day then, too:

And it happens at Sox Park as well. Public transportation is much closer to 35th and Shields than it is to Soldier Field or the UC. The current Sox Park is by far the most conveniently located stadium for both mass and vehicular transportation in the city, with three different public transportation lines (CTA and Metra) located with a couple of blocks from the park, along with a major expressway (connected to multiple other area expressways) adjacent to it. I

Here, also, is a good Chicago Magazine piece (from 2013) about the recent history of the land: https://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/august-2013/rezkos-lot/

It will cost millions to clean up the toxins and waste left behind from the rail yards that used to be located on the site. There's no sewage system at all underneath, so those infrastructure costs will be phenomenal as well. The site used to be the primary rail yard for the old Grand Central Station: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Central_Station_(Chicago). This is partly why the site hasn't been developed in 60 years since it became defunct. Despite being in the South Loop, it really is remote. BTW, Mite, loved your post about going to Bears games at Wrigley. Was wondering -- did you make any Chicago Cardinals games at Sox Park? Wish I could time travel back to a Bears-Cardinals game at 35th and Shields!

The other alternate timeline is: What if they signed Bryce Harper as a free agent in the spring of 2019? He was there for the taking, and his 13 year, 330 million deal actually seems pretty team friendly for the Phillies at this point. What difference would he have made when the White Sox window was open from 2020-2022? Would the window still be open now? We'll never know, unfortunately.

Colas has better numbers than Fletcher across the board in Charlotte, yet Fletcher gets the call-up. Either Dom really fits Getz's profile of what he wants in a player, or he's really trying to justify the Mena trade (or both).

They only had one wild card in 2006 -- the second was added in 2012, I believe. Sox would have made the playoffs with that second wild card in 2006. And I think they would have been really close in 2010 as well.