 |
| The pride of Havana in Chicago? Or... |
Four
major league ballplayers with Cuban ethnic origins will be in and around Havana
through Friday, including star Sox slugger Jose Abreu and former shortstop
Alexi Ramirez – who may well wind up begging for his roster spot back by the
time spring training comes around.
IT
WON’T BE the White Sox going to Cuba to play some spring-training games (the
Tampa Bay Rays were chosen from a bowl a few weeks ago). But the Cubano fanaticos de beisbol will get to see the
elite of the White Sox portrayed as part of the game’s elite.
And
for what it’s worth, Abreu got to see his son for the first time in more than
two years – it was one of the drawbacks of fleeing his country that he had to
abandon his family.
Although
from news accounts, it seems the two occasionally have talked on the phone. And
when Abreu’s son was brought to the hotel where Jose was staying, the cap he
had perched on his head bore the Old English-style Sox logo that would make the
boy welcome in just about any South Side establishment.
Of
course, much of the public attention to baseball in the past couple of weeks
involved trades made by the Chicago Cubs that supposedly reinforce their
championship dreams.
INCLUDING
THE FACT that some St. Louis Cardinals ballplayers chose to leave that team so
they could play for the Cubs. Which led me to stumble across a parody story
recently that said Cardinals manager Mike Matheny left St. Louis to become a
third-base coach for the Cubs.
 |
| ... the pride of Chicago in Havana? |
Those
Cubs fans who think the whole world revolves around their preferred ball club
are sky-high.
Although
all I can remember is the winter following the 1977 season when New York
Yankees pitcher Mike Torrez left the team for a big-money contract with the
rival Boston Red Sox.
Everybody
was convinced this was the gesture that ensured the Yankees’ downfall. The Red
Sox ascension to their rightful place as champions. All would be right with the
world.
 |
| Only in fantasy is Matheny becoming a Cub |
IN
REALITY, WHAT happened in 1978 was that memorable tie between the two and that
one-game tie-breaking playoff. In which Torrez wound up being the losing
pitcher who gave up that immortal home run to one-time White Sox shortstop
Bucky Dent.
A
scenario I could see befalling the Cubs as much more likely than a
championship.
 |
| Is this the Cubs fate? |
Besides,
I couldn’t help but notice the Crain’s Chicago Business report that found a
Nielsen Scarborough study finding the most popular Chicago sports teams to be
the Bears and the Blackhawks – with the two baseball clubs bringing up the
rear.
That’s
what a Stanley Cup will do for a team’s popularity, compared to promises to
flirt with championship status that ultimately fell short for both the Cubs and
White Sox.
AND
BEFORE ANYONE of the Cubbiedom status goes on much, I couldn’t help but notice
both baseball teams experienced slight upticks in their popularity. Even the
White Sox, who were one of baseball’s biggest disappointments in 2015.
Even
with Jose Abreu, whose performance in ’15 may have been the best on the team
but didn’t match up with the 2014 statistics that made him the American League’s
Rookie of the Year.
Perhaps
an Abreu 2016 resurgence (along with performances closer to what was expected
this year by several White Sox players and the acquisition this week to play third base of Todd Frazier from the Cincinnati Reds) could be what brings South Side
baseball back up to anticipated levels.
 |
| What will happen come the next Chicago city World Series? |
And
who knows, if paired up with another Cubs team that doesn’t embarrass itself,
perhaps we could get that dream season of an all-Chicago World Series – one that
would let us put the South Side/North Side debate to rest for all-time with a
White Sox victory.
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment