PICKING A TEAM

[poppysox]

When I was 10 years old back in 1955 I discovered being a baseball fan.  My immediate family were for the Cubs.  Thank God my Grandparents were Sox fans and steered me right.  My reason for picking Sox was their recent 3rd place finishes in the 8 team league compared to last place Cubs.  The Cubs fans had only Ernie Banks.  Carrasquel and Fox were our double play combo---Aparicio came a year latter.  I was hooked on good defense, stolen bases, high batting averages and winning.  The Cubs were left with waiting around until Banks came to bat.  4 years latter we had added enough "good" players around the stars to win the championship.

Currently some boys & girls will make the same lifetime choices.  They will look at reasons to pick Cubs or Sox and be stuck for life.  Yesterdays game was just great for winning over some new fans.  While Cubs are in last place we played exciting baseball with lots of action.  Our lineup is full of exciting guys like Moncada, Abreau  and Anderson with many more coming soon.  

Main point ---this will be a critical time period in White Sox history.  This year and the next few will see many kids get hooked on the White Sox.  I love that most of this era will be about the home grown system players and not the hired gun free agents.  It's going to be a fun ride.

[black jack]

My father used to get free Sox tickets.  

He didn't care about either team, but going to a few games every year made me a fan for life.

 

Edited April 6, 2019 by black jack

[zisk]

32 minutes ago, poppysox said:

When I was 10 years old back in 1955 I discovered being a baseball fan.  My immediate family were for the Cubs.  Thank God my Grandparents were Sox fans and steered me right.  My reason for picking Sox was their recent 3rd place finishes in the 8 team league compared to last place Cubs.  The Cubs fans had only Ernie Banks.  Carrasquel and Fox were our double play combo---Aparicio came a year latter.  I was hooked on good defense, stolen bases, high batting averages and winning.  The Cubs were left with waiting around until Banks came to bat.  4 years latter we had added enough "good" players around the stars to win the championship.

Currently some boys & girls will make the same lifetime choices.  They will look at reasons to pick Cubs or Sox and be stuck for life.  Yesterdays game was just great for winning over some new fans.  While Cubs are in last place we played exciting baseball with lots of action.  Our lineup is full of exciting guys like Moncada, Abreau  and Anderson with many more coming soon.  

Main point ---this will be a critical time period in White Sox history.  This year and the next few will see many kids get hooked on the White Sox.  I love that most of this era will be about the home grown system players and not the hired gun free agents.  It's going to be a fun ride.

Nice post. Dick Allen and Wilbur Wood did it for me. 1972 and 1977 still mean a little more to me than 2005, but it was great to win it all.

[Ducksnort]

Same here. I was ten when I discovered being a baseball fan, except that was in 2004. Half my family were cubs fans, half were Sox. Very glad I chose the south side. Of course, them winning it all the next year hooked me for life, so yes, I agree that the next few years will be very crucial for the future of this baseball team.

I also appreciate the different generations of fans on here. I enjoy listening to stories from baseball back in the day before I was born, one of the many reasons I loved listening to Hawk growing up.

[poppysox]

My brother is two years older and the Cub fan.  We at one time got into fights over our teams and perceived disrespect.  We currently live in different states and spend a couple hours every other week on the phone.  Main topic is still Cubs vs Sox.  We are both far more diplomatic today.

[Quin]

My man.

Caps lock.

[poppysox]

1 hour ago, Quin said:

outMy man.

Caps lock.

Just my way of reminding that we can disagree without being disagreeable.

Edited April 6, 2019 by poppysox
make post more clear

[pcq]

I picked up baseball in the early 60's as a Tiger fan. The Sox were the only game in town. The Cubs played summer day games on Channel 9 and had Joey Amalfitano. They had a run of bad years while the Sox were chasing the Yanks. 

[Jose Abreu]

2 hours ago, pcq said:

I picked up baseball in the early 60's as a Tiger fan. The Sox were the only game in town. The Cubs played summer day games on Channel 9 and had Joey Amalfitano. They had a run of bad years while the Sox were chasing the Yanks. 

How did you end up switching from Tigers to Sox? 

[Jack Parkman]

My dad is from Bridgeport and is an absolute Cub hater. I had no choice. 

When we we weren't at Sox games the words to Take Me Out to the Ballgame were., according to my dad: Root for whoever's playing the Cubs

Been raised a Sox fan, was born into it you could say. My dad is one of those Sox fans Cub fans complain about. He'd rather the Cubs lose than the Sox win. I don't blame him, because in the 70s and 80s neither team was much to write home about outside of 3 seasons. 

Edited April 7, 2019 by Jack Parkman

[pcq]

13 hours ago, Jose Abreu said:

How did you end up switching from Tigers to Sox? 

We came back to town after six years in WNY and I wanted to follow the home team. Had to give up Ernie Harwell for Harry Caray but glad I did. 

[TomPickle]

22 hours ago, Jack Parkman said:

My dad is from Bridgeport and is an absolute Cub hater. I had no choice. 

When we we weren't at Sox games the words to Take Me Out to the Ballgame were., according to my dad: Root for whoever's playing the Cubs

Been raised a Sox fan, was born into it you could say. My dad is one of those Sox fans Cub fans complain about. He'd rather the Cubs lose than the Sox win. I don't blame him, because in the 70s and 80s neither team was much to write home about outside of 3 seasons. 

Pretty much the same, but my dad is from Mount Greenwood. Growing up in the 90s and having some solid teams and Frank Thomas didn't hurt either.

[hogan873]

I grew up near Pittsburgh and was a Pirates fan, but I wasn't a huge baseball fan.  We moved to NC when I was 13, and there are no baseball teams around there.  The only games I could routinely watch were Braves games on WTBS.  This was in the late 80s before they became a perennial playoff team.  I watched a ton of games on my 13" TV in my room.  I wasn't really a Braves fan, but I was becoming more of a baseball fan.

When the Pirates bad their good team in the early 90s, it was exciting.  I still couldn't watch many of their games, but I followed them in the paper.  I was able to go to game 6 of the NLCS in 1991 in Pittsburgh.  They lost that game, and the game the next day (to the Braves).  The 1992 season was another heartbreaker (to the Braves).  The dismantling of the team in 1993 cooled my interest in the Pirates, and the strike in 1994 cooled my interest in baseball altogether.

I've lived in Alaska, Connecticut, and Maryland since then before moving to Illinois in 1999.  I met my wife here, and she was a big Sox fan.  Because of her and her fandom, I got back into baseball and am now a die hard Sox fan.

It's been tough to be a Sox fan the past few years, but I still see the future.  The coming years look very exciting.  I've never been knowledgeable about the minor leagues until the last couple years.  Now I'm a self-proclaimed expert on the Sox farm system and argue constantly with other "less informed" fans who do nothing but b**** and talk shit about the team.  My son and I have been saying "2020!" for the last year or so.  We get laughed at, and maybe they'll have the last laugh.  But, I still think things are going to look a lot better next year and beyond.

Edited April 8, 2019 by hogan873