Lip Man 1

Manfred has been talking about this recently: https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-expansion-breaking-down-eight-possible-locations-for-new-baseball-teams-from-population-to-local-clubs/ https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-expansion-what-to-know-about-plans-fees-possible-locations-more-as-league-looks-to-add-two-new-teams/

Alvarado and Knoop never played together with the White Sox and if memory serves Knoop won a Gold Glove as a second baseman.

Nothing will really change until ownership changes and everyone on the baseball side is fired.

Another awful, fall off the cliff start and Grifol will be fired around Memorial Day.

All I can say is stop taking drugs. Just say "no!"

Remember all that matters to the buffoons is having a seat at the table!

And then naturally this happened: January 17, 2002 - After one injury plagued, controversial season with the Sox, pitcher David Wells signed a contract with the Yankees. Wells won only five games in 2001 for the team with 16 starts. Naturally he then turned around and won 61 games over the next four years with New York, San Diego and Boston. The White Sox did get some revenge against him in the 2005 A.L.D.S. as they beat him in game #2 of that series 5-4 when he was pitching for the Red Sox. The big blow was a three-run home run by Tadahito Iguchi

That's your perspective and I respect it. I disagree though with the premise, a 100 loss team is what the record says they are...god awful, doesn't matter if you lose 1-0 or 15-3, it's still a loss.

As has been pointed out by others MLB is not going to move a franchise with a viable stadium in place and making money which would take up a more valuable potential expansion city (and the resulting millions of dollars that would be paid out for the right to get one.) They also would not concede, in my opinion, the third largest market to the National League. I for one, aren't losing a wink of sleep over the threat by JR of the Sox moving. As he said himself publicly, back in 88 the threat was made purely for leverage. He had no intention of moving. And as you say he won't be around in 10 years, new ownership (since he has told his family to sell the Sox) may want a new stadium and won't have to fight the baggage that JR has brought upon himself with his ego and arrogance. The well won't have been poisoned with new ownership making such a request and hopefully clearly saying they intend to at least pay their share instead of coming across as tone-deaf and bullying.

History lesson time: First off the Sox had eight winning seasons (including back-to-back-back seasons from 63-65 with 90+ wins) and a .500 season under their watch. Second John Allyn TWICE saved the franchise from being moved. Art had a handshake agreement with (Proud To Be Your) "Bud" Selig who was moving them to Milwaukee. John insisted that if Art wanted to do this he'd have to bring it up and get approval from the Artnell Company Board of Directors. Art decided not to do that (who knows why) and sold the team to him. Then instead of selling the club to Seattle interests, who were going to move the franchise so that MLB would have the lawsuits settled from Washington State, King County and the city of Seattle over the Pilots move, he kept the club and sold it to Bill Veeck instead. The original MLB plan was for the Sox to move to Seattle and Charlie Finley was bringing the A's to Chicago. The Allyn's had their faults but they were far from the worst owners.

Again very well said.

Absolutely correct, spot on. The fan base that has been dumped on for decades is trying to get some revenge.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2024/02/23/turning-another-page-baseball-games-finally-begin-for-white-sox-pedro-grifol

Forgive me for being skeptical that in the Autumn of his life JR has suddenly decided to become altruistic and want to do something to benefit Sox fans. There's always a chance that he genuinely does and if that's the case I applaud him. But he simply can't think he can ask for handouts and not even offer to pay one thin dime out of his own deep pockets.

So two billion isn't enough for a family? OK then. I think I'd be more willing to give the benefit of the doubt in a project like this under new ownership which doesn't have a historical track record of doing a number of things that make you shake your head and say, "What are they thinking?" and then blame the fan base for their incompetence. But we'll see how this plays out, it will be fascinating to observe. One thing is clear, from early comments, JR does not have a patron with the clout of Jim Thompson around to carry the ball for him. I said at the start this is going to be a very hard sell to the politicos and the people. Time will tell.

Then forgive my ignorance but what then is the whole point of this stadium exercise? Seriously if he's not going to be around why does he even give a damn? What his family selling the team for two billion isn't enough to keep them in groceries? Apparently not since JR, who you correctly say isn't going to be around, is trying to extort more money. He can keep penny pinching the product, bitching about the way baseball is run and blame the fan base for issues he's caused, then go off to the great ballpark in the sky for the next few years. Why go through the trouble? And if he cared about the franchise in the first place he wouldn't have driven it into a shithole would he simply because his arrogance and ego won't let him admit he's screwed a lot up.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2024/02/23/liam-hendriks-red-sox-white-sox-boston-chicago-mlb-tommy-john-cancer “We had too many guys pulling in different directions, too many cooks in the kitchen trying to fix what they thought was [wrong],” he said this week. “There’s a lot of Type A people in a clubhouse. You’ve got certain people thinking, ‘This is the way it’s got to go.’ Certain people want to fix something, so they just scream and yell until someone fixes it. There wasn’t, honestly, enough positivity and eagerness to go out there and play on a day-to-day basis.” According to Hendriks, some Sox teammates didn’t like it, in particular how open and accessible he was with the media. “Some guys thought I was seeking too much attention,” he said. “But when you answer questions in a non-generic way, they tend to come to you a little bit more. And I’m not one to shy away from a conversation, whether it be uncomfortable, whether I’m going well, whether I’m going poorly. I want to be as transparent as I can, because baseball is a very stoic man’s sport.

How did building fan support work out with the new place when it opened? Record setting numbers the first few years but then of course came the labor shut down driven in a significant part by JR and then you had the White Flag Trade in 97 again OK'd by JR. Hard to build fan support when ownership keeps doing everything possible to dump on them for outdated principles.

Well an embarrassing start to what may very well be another embarrassing season. But hey, let's all give JR another billion! What say you? ?

I can only speak for myself but I'm simply tired of this ownership. Of the penny pinching ways, the still insane desire to destroy the MLBPA, the arrogant attitude of "We know better, who are you to even question us" when history shows that way doesn't work, the inbred hiring of just members of the "family" over the years (like this was the mafia) and the incompetent, dysfunctional and inept decisions to go along with the back biting and power struggles (as outlined in my November 2022 story "The State of the Sox.") inside the organization. To say nothing of the garbage baseball on the field. From 1981 through 2006 Sox fans at least could reasonably think the franchise would at least have a winning season and at least be competitive, the numbers show that. But since 2007 it has ben a total clusterfuck, one of the worst records in baseball and that's saying something. Now after JR getting what he wanted in the late 80's suddenly what he demanded back then isn't good enough. In my opinion it would be good enough if there was a good organization and he would keep his nose out of the baseball side of things. Again he thinks he knows better than everyone in the room. The latest debacle being TLR. He doesn't. And I think it's a good guess a large portion of them fan base is simply tired and want him gone one way or the other. Just leave and don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out. If fans are complaining they have every right to be given the misery they have seen on the field especially the last 17 years and the dysfunction in the front office. I don't blame them one bit. And the organization (and some fans) should kiss the asses of every fan who after all this still actually cares enough to complain. They aren't far away from what's even worse. Total apathy. And with all this history JR still has the gall to say its the fans fault for not supporting a garbage product. Which he recently did when he said that's why they can't afford top free agents. They can't afford the top free agents for one reason only, because JR doesn't feel players are worth the money they are getting from other teams and owners. Well adapt or (not literally) die JR. And remember this is the same guy who at that economic forum last year said this: "Sports is a business of failure but the fact that you finish second or third or fourth it doesn’t mean you had a bad year." Of course not because that way the fans still have some hope and you continue to make tons of money...that's JR's business philosophy.

https://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/jerry-reinsdorf-chicago-white-sox-departures-sell-team.html

Lots of stories, columns today: https://awfulannouncing.com/radio/dan-bernstein-laurence-holmes-jerry-reinsdorf-white-sox-stadium-talks.html https://chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdogs/2024/02/22/jerry-reinsdorf-united-center-parking-lots-purchasing-white-sox-south-loop-ballpark https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2024/02/22/reinsdorfs-save-the-sox-for-chicago-argument-has-familiar-ring The last column quotes a political rep who lived in Sarasota the last time JR made his stadium or move pitch.

Always nice to beat the Cubs regardless of if the game counts or not.

Can't argue with that but I was trying to be kind. ?