The Mighty Mite

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 5, 2017 -> 09:36 AM) One thing would be to look at all time top attendance figures. You can blame JR all you want but there are only 5 teams that have an all time top attendance mark lower than the White Sox. That to me indicates they are not in reality a large market team. Even when everything goes right, the people don't come out like they do under similar circumstances in other cities. In the 50s and 60s, Chicago was a White Sox town often outdrawing the Cubs by a 2-1 margin. When JR bought the Sox in 1981 the town was equally divided. The Sox were the first Chicago team to draw 2 million in 1983, so things were still looking good but JR started a run of disaster moves that lost a couple of generations to the Cubs, those moves and the great marketing job by the Tribune and Harry Caray that made Wrigley Field the greatest place ever to watch a baseball game really hurt the Sox. Press coverage in the town was really lopsided. So now we are in this situation were the Cubs out draw us by a 2-1 margin. I have no idea what kinds of moves the Sox can make to rectify the situation, it would probably take a new ball park in a better location and an extended run of first place finishes and a couple of WS Championships and that still might not do the trick. Don't count on this hapenning, this franchise has never made the post season 2 years in a row in their 117 years. When the lease is up in a decade or so, my guess is there will be about 3 or 4 towns that will throw out some sweetheart deals to get the Sox to move.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 2, 2017 -> 08:12 PM) lol, no. Maybe I should have said the Sox are suppose to be a big market franchise, the main reason they're not is they are owned by JR and company. The franchise has been a joke since 2008 and new ownership is needed more than anything, I'm not a fan of the rebuild because I know the front office will in the long run screw it up.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Jul 2, 2017 -> 07:00 PM) Hopefully when he shows he is better than AAA competition. He has been very average lately and last i saw his SO rate was over 30%. After his miserable showing in Boston last fall, hopefully our FO waits until he is playing well in AAA. This is his first year at this level and he is having his ups and downs like many young players. This is a wasted year so we certainly don't want to screw up our prized young player. Yep.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 2, 2017 -> 05:16 PM) Sure, but they're not going to need to spend until after 2018 at the earliest. That money will be there when they need it, because they have to look pretty similar to the 2014/15 Cubs heading into the new tv contract negotiations. They look like a .500 club at best, with the farm system stalled, then is the time that $60 million becomes quite critical. Keep in mind, we're likely competing with CLE and Minnesota then, NOT the Cubs. That's a much lower bar than the Cubs or even the Cards, and we still beat St. Louis for Robert. Actually we are competing with the American League and we need to be as good as the Yankees, Red Sox and for now the Astros. The White Sox are a big market team and need to step up and bring in big market players.

QUOTE (Lip Man 1 @ Jul 2, 2017 -> 12:46 PM) Attendance is no longer the "be all-end all" for a franchise. Trust me, the Sox are in excellent financial shape regardless of if they draw 1.5 million or 1.7 million or 1.9 million. MLB teams are making money hand over foot from all the other income driven lines of operation both nationally and internationally. Plus you have the clause in the stadium deal which in a bizarre sort of way actually rewards the Sox (poor choice of words I know) for NOT having a big attendance because then they don't have to pay as much for stadium upkeep / rent as I recall. I'm sure the Sox would rather draw well since that means more income from parking / concessions and the like but if they don't, financially they are fine. Given they are on their way to their 8th losing season in 11 years, what did you honestly expect? Disagree on attendance not having that much of an impact, the Cubs for example are going to outdraw us by about 1,500,000, at an average price of a seat at around a conservative 40 bucks that comes out to 61,000,000 dollars, that comes out to having enough money to sign 3 or 4 pretty good free agents.

Players that I saw play since 1952: 1B Konerko 2B Fox SS Aparicio 3B Ventura LF Minoso CF Lemon RF Baines DH Thomas C Fisk SP Pierce SP Buerhle SP Wood SP Horlen SP Peters RP Thigpen RP Hernandez RP Jenks RP Foulke RP Staley SP-RP Sale Bench IF Guillen IF Allen IF Durham IF Melton OF Landis OF Ordonez C Lollar Manager Lopez

So many since I've been a fan since the early 1950s. Here are just a few that I attended. First game, a 5-4 victory over the old Washington Senators, July 15, 1955. Second game of the 1959 World Series even though it was a loss to the Dodgers. July 31, 1977 a great come from behind win against the Royals in the first game of a DH. Over 50,000 in the old barn and that victory put us up by 7 games in the division. I've never seen and heard old Comiskey rock like it did after the win. It was all down hill after that weekend for the Southside Hitmen as they finished third at 90-72 but 1977 was one of the most fun ever for at old Comiskey. Opening day in 1981 at Comiskey before 51,000, Fisk's first home game with the Sox and he hit a grand slam to lead the Sox to a big win over the Brewers. Division clincher against the Mariners in 1993 at new Comiskey. That was the game that Bo Jackson hit a pop up that somehow landed in the left field seats and won the game. Lots of dancing in the aisles after the game as the Sox came out for a victory lap. We moved to Florida 3 months after that game so I missed out on 2000, 2005 and 2008 but did see many Sox games in Tampa plus a few games when we came back to Chicago to visit family.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 8, 2016 -> 02:42 PM) Then why haven't they drawn more, and why would putting a better team out there make things better if the game didn't matter? The last time the Sox did a total rebuild was 1987 attendance 1987 1,208,060 1988 1,115,749 1989 1,045,951 Then they won 94 games and drew 2 million in 1990. They had a nice team in 1990 but the main reason they doubled the attendance from 1989 was because 1990 was the last year for old Comiskey.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Nov 9, 2016 -> 03:33 PM) There is evidence at the state level that this simply does not work like you'd want it to. Well at least it will stop the Politicians from becoming filthy rich, Harry Reid was almost broke when he came to Washington, he is now worth millions, how does that happen on the salary of a Senator or a Congressman makes?

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Nov 9, 2016 -> 01:58 PM) They are called "politicians." And there are still 538 of them in Washington that will be making the laws. If they really wanted to "Drain the Swamp," people like McCain wouldn't be reelected. Not because he's a bad representative, but because he is a lifetime politician. That didn't happen. If you really want to drain the swamp the people of this country have to start a movement demanding term limits in the US House and Senate.

The country has moved too far to the left and the people said enough is enough. I agree that Trump is not a far right person, he's probably right in the center, his Supreme Court picks should be interesting.

QUOTE (Hatchetman @ Oct 29, 2016 -> 04:12 PM) Thanks for sharing! You're welcome, you know it doesn't bother me all that much that the Sox are the second team in the second city, what does bother me is that it's not even close. Somehow the Sox have to build up the fan base and the only way do that is with an exciting team that is able to contend on a yearly basis, we need to do something that has never occured in the long history of the franchise and that is get to the postseason 2 or 3 years in a row.

I started following the Sox way back in 1952, I grew up in probably the best era to be a Sox fan. 17 straight winning seasons and won over 90 games 7 times. We had the misfortune of no wild cards and in the same league as the Yankees. And yes it was a Sox town in those days, back then 1,000,000 in home attendance was the holy grail, we drew over a million 15 of those years while the Cubs were drawing 600,000 to 800,000. I was a vendor in 1962 at both parks, I was lucky if I made 5 bucks a game at Wrigley while at Comiskey I would make between 15 and 20 bucks a game, not bad for a 16 year old I went away to the Air Force in 1965 and when I was discharged in 1969, things had changed like over night, the Cubs were the darlings and we were forgotten and only drew 495,000 in 1970. They brought in Hemond and Tanner and by 1972 we were contenders again, in 1973 the Sox drew their largest crowd ever when 55,555 showed up for a DH against the Twins. The attendance battle was about even and after we won the division in 83 the Sox were talk of the town while Lee Elia threw a tantrum against Cub fans. We lost Harry Caray in 82 and the Tribune bought the Cubs, when they won the division in 84, again things changed and this time for good. Except for the new park opening in 91 and the 2005 Championship season the Sox have been an afterthought in the Metro area , this is now 3 decades and I don't see it ever changing. Drastic changes are needed, a new park in a more desirable area, new ownership with deep pockets to invest in a minor league system that produces players who have the potential to become stars and signing premier free agents. Whoever owns the Sox needs to build a team that makes it to the postseason more than once every 10 years, 3 or 4 postseason appearances in a row will hopefully get people talking about the Sox again. If these things don't happen, I hate to say it but when the lease is up, the White Sox will probably move to another city.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Sep 23, 2016 -> 08:28 PM) Any report on Eaton Sox website says his shoulder and head hit the wall hard, I'm thinking possible concussion.

Eaton makes a great catch and crashes into the CF wall, hurt something and is helped off the field. Let's hope it's not serious.

Living in Florida I watch a lot of Rays games, over the off season the front office decided to go for a offense based on the Home Run, they picked up some mediocre boppers like Morrison and Dickerson and a big surprise, Brad Miller who has 30 homers. Evan Longoria has over 30. What has that got them, 23 games under .500 , they have now hit 210 homers but have scored only 3 more runs than the Sox. They are in a tough division but the AL Central this year isn't exactly chopped liver. The big problem as usual for the Sox is low on base pct with way too many Ks. I've never seen a team swing at so many bad pitches as our guys did this year. What makes a good hitter is a good concept of the strike zone and the ability to read pitches, our guys are lacking in those departments.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 20, 2016 -> 07:55 PM) Omar has a poor arm So do a lot of Sox pitchers.

Can someone tell me why Fullmer isn't up here starting games instead of Shields?

Is Melky hurt?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 25, 2016 -> 07:40 PM) Most buy their tickets on line and through secondary sites looking for deals. They also plan in advanced more than in the past. Maybe HDTVs have something to do with it as well. I read a couple years ago the Sox had something like a walk up of 1500 and at that point it was the largest of the season. At the old park IIRC there were days that that had walk ups well over 10,000, you go back to the 70s, half the ball park was General Admission seats and only could be bought when the gates opened. When they drew 55,555 for bat day in 1973 there had to be at least 30,000 walk ups.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 25, 2016 -> 07:00 PM) Paulie even said he always thought Sox fans would come out when they are winning, but 2012 shocked him. People didn't show. It is going on in Cleveland now. For some reason the Walk Up factor has gone by the wayside in recent years, why? I don't know but the Sox especially at old Comiskey if they had a good year they would do really well with the walk ups. I guess it's all about the season ticket and advance sales these days. A lot has been made about the loss of our fan base, if you compare it to the days at old Comiskey it has grown quite substantially but if you compare it to most of the other teams in MLB in this day and age, it stinks. What I find amazing is how attendance has grown in all sports with ticket prices that are astronomical. A lot of teams are selling out all their games in many towns. When I was a kid the benchmark in MLB was 1 million, if you drew that many fans you were doing quite well, now 1 miliion is Tampa Bay bad.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 25, 2016 -> 06:43 PM) Those 2 were 90 win seasons. In 2007, attendances dropped. Mad the playoffs in 2008, attendance down again and continued to drop every year including 2012 when the team was in first place most of the season, until last year. OK, now I get what you are saying, 2007 was a bad year, 72-90, worse than this year. IIRC we had one of the worst weekend massacres ever at the hands of the BoSox.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 25, 2016 -> 02:18 PM) They did win 90 2 years in a row including a World Series the next year, attendance dropped. They made the playoffs the next year, the attendance dropped, 3 years later, spent most of the season in first place, the attendance dropped. There is no rhyme or reason here. We can move the bar for what will make White Sox fans show up to games like Bears, Cubs, Bulls fans do no matter what the state of their team. It will be interesting to see what happens to the Blackhawks once their run ends and they are just a meddling mediocre team for a while. I would imagine they have built up enough good faith that attendance won't change much. But the White Sox are the only major professional sports team in Chicago who wouldn't draw big in first place. That's fine, but there are consequences. The thought of some billionaire coming in on his white horse to buy the team from JR and starting to spend crazily thus setting attendance records is fantasy. Sox fans won't go until they win 90 games 3 years in a row? It will probably be a long time until they win 90 games 3 years in a row. I'm not sure what years you are talking about with the 2 years winning 90 game and dropping in attendance. In 2005 when we won it all we drew 2.4 million , in 2006 it was 2.9 million actually 43,000 short of 3 million.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Aug 23, 2016 -> 10:08 PM) The Sox would most likely not be very much better even with Abreu hitting better. Without a consistent 3,4,5 in the rotation and injuries to the pen the Sox have done OK to hang around .500. With Rodon pitching much better now and Jose hitting better and with Morneau the offense is now better and so is 3/5 of the starters but the bullpen is still a mess. A messy bullpen can undo quality starts and better hitting in a hurry. The Sox have played more 1 run and 2 run games than any team in MLB, the Abreu we saw in 14 and 15 could have made us a WC contender, it might have had a snowball effect on the other hitters in the lineup, as they say "hitting is contagious".

Good to see him coming around but where was he when we needed him?