No sale for Sale, even though many Sox fans liked the jersey giveaway

I find it ironic that the Chicago White Sox got themselves into a funk concerning their promotional giveaway from Saturday night.

 

The 'controversial' jersey

The ballclub had as its ballpark giveaway meant to attract fans to the game replica jerseys such as the team wore in the late 1970s. The ones of dark blue and white with the funky collars that were a ‘70’s take on what the team wore back when they were first created in the early 20^th Century.

I WAS AMONG the people who went to the ballgame (although I didn’t put up with the heavy rain that caused the game to be halted three times before ultimately being postponed until Sunday).

I saw for myself how there were several fans who were there specifically for the jersey giveaway (although to tell you the truth the jerseys being given away were cheap knockoffs of what the team actually wore in those days some four decades ago).

There were many people who, upon being handed the package containing the jersey couldn’t wait to open it and wear it – stripping themselves as quickly as possible of whatever shirt they were really wearing so they could change into their new freebie giveaway jersey.

 

This uniform has some interesting detail,...

For a team that perennially faces attendance issues (although the reality is that no team has a right to think they’re entitled to capacity crowds for every ballgame), the mood was a plus.

DESPITE THE HEAVY rains that came off and on, and the presence of Detroit Tigers fans who made sure to wear their own gear while working their own way around the ballpark.

 

...unlike this garish predecessor...

There just seems to be one person who couldn’t get with the program, so to speak. And that was White Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale – who probably was the other big reason that some fans chose the Saturday night game to show up at U.S. Cellular Field.

For he is arguably the best pitcher in the American League these days, and is one of the few assets the White Sox can claim as their own, and a reason to not totally count out their chances of competing for something resembling a championship this season.

 

...or this truly tacky successor

The plan was that the White Sox were going to wear the late ‘70s uniforms as well during the Saturday game – bringing to memory for those of us old enough to have see it such ballplayers as Francisco Barrios, Bill Nahorodny and Harry Chappas.

BUT DEPENDING ON whose report one reads, Sale either didn’t like the look or the feel of the uniform. He didn’t want to wear it.

And when team officials responded to his tantrum by telling him to just take the ball and pitch, he sliced up the special promotion uniforms with a knife. Meaning nobody was able to wear them.

The White Sox wound up wearing their uniforms they usually use for Sunday ballgames – the ones copied from the 1980s with the big red-white-and-blue stripe across the chest reading “SOX” that some have sarcastically dubbed as the “license plate” uniforms.

 

Maybe he didn't want to pitch in rain?

Now I know some White Sox fans don’t think much of the uniforms from the second coming of Bill Veeck (his wife, Mary Frances, designed them). They may well be willing to brand Sale as a hero for preventing the ball club from making a horrendous fashion statement.

WHILE OTHERS ARE quick to denounce him as a whiny baby – yet another ballplayer who thinks that what he does has some inherent value to society, rather than just serving as entertainment for the masses.

Personally, I always thought the lettering across the jerseys had some interest. The fact that the uniform has the White Sox wearing white socks also is a plus.

It will be interesting to see what kind of fan reaction he gets when he returns to play. Suspended for five days, he won’t be available to pitch again until Thursday which is the final game to be played in this week’s “city series” against the Chicago Cubs.

It could be more intriguing than the actual games – what with the way the Sox are struggling for that .500 winning percentage and would consider it a plus if they could be the team that knocked the Cubs off-stride in their own drive for a first National League pennant in 71 years.

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EXTRA: Hot dog varieties more memorable than ballplayer careers?

The one-time proprietor of Hot Doug’s is continuing his trend of crafting varieties of sausages for sale at Wrigley Field, and marketing them by naming them after 1970s-era Chicago Cubs ballplayers.

Not that the Cubs were all that great during that decade. They contended for a few months in 1977, but otherwise usually fought it out for “bragging rights” with the White Sox for which team would play worse.

BUT FOR THOSE people now approaching or just surpassing 50, these were the Cubs of childhood yore. Ernie Banks was gone, and Ryne Sandberg hadn’t come along yet.

The new varieties pay tribute to one-time pitcher Bill Bonham (an atomic pork sausage with cherry marmalade and smoked gouda cheese), Pete LaCock (rib-eye steak sausage with horseradish cream and blue cheese) and Champ Summers (Polish sausage with Goose Island beer mustard and fried onions).

Which makes me think that the hot dogs will be more memorable than the quality of play any of those people showed while wearing the baby blue of the Chicago Cubs.

Unless you get excited over the fact that one-time first baseman LaCock was the son of Hollywood Squares host Peter Marshall, or that he hit his only grand-slam home run off St. Louis Cardinals star pitcher Bob Gibson?

PERSONALY, I FELT compelled to write this mini-commentary because it gave me the chance to wade through old baseball card images from my own childhood. Nothing else.

Because at $9 per hot dog, I don’t feel compelled to rush out to Wrigley to try one. It must be a Cubs-fan thing.

Because I don’t think any White Sox fan would feel compelled to make a trip to U.S. Cellular Field if there were overpriced hot dogs named for Jorge Orta, Harry Chappas or Francisco Barrios.

 

Even though the Sout' Side brand of baseball was just as intriguing during that decade.

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Nothing’s certain when it comes to baseball and minor league prospects

2013 has been a crummy season for baseball fans in Chicago – the Cubs have been as bad as expected, and the White Sox have managed to be even worse.



Restoring the Sox to contender status?

Which is why the past week with its trade deadline has been anticipated – the idea that some established Major League ballplayers could be shipped off for several young prospects who will develop into talent.

TAKING THE REST of this season for a loss could pay off big! In theory.

My point being that minor league prospects are uncertain. There are so many factors that go into determining whether any success they had at lower levels of professional baseball will translate into success in the American or National leagues.

Replacing Ron Santo someday?

There’s no guarantee that Avisail Garcia (acquired from the Detroit Tigers as part of the deal that sent former Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy to the Boston Red Sox) will be a big hitter for the White Sox – even though he has had some success in the Tigers’ minor league system.

The same goes for Corey Black, whom the Cubs acquired from the New York Yankees’ system in exchange for Alfonso Soriano. Or the slew of ballplayers – Mike Olt, C.J. Edwards and Justin Grimm, along with one or two players to be named later – that the Cubs got from the Texas Rangers in exchange for pitcher Matt Garza.



Best minor league trade payoff ever?

PEAVY, SORIANO AND Garza are all expected to help their new ball clubs be contenders for a playoff spot in 2013. That much is certain.

What is uncertain is whether the newcomers will translate into anything for the Chicago ball clubs? They might, or they might not. We’re not going to know for several years whether these deals were worth doing, or not!

So those people (particularly Cubs fans) who are convinced that they have now restocked their organization to the point where they should be regarded as pennant contenders ought to take pause.

It would be nice if it works out that way. Although trades such as the one in 1977 when the White Sox sent shortstop Bucky Dent to the Yankees in exchange for outfielder Oscar Gamble (who had the best year of his career during his single season on the Sout' Side) and several minor league prospects (one of whom went on to become 1983 Cy Young Award winner LaMarr "Dewey" Hoyt) are so rare.

I REMEMBER THIS 36-year-old deal so much because its payoff was so unique.



No wonder the Cubs haven't won in decades

Some of the biggest-name minor leaguers never translate into Major League success.

I still recall Karl Pagel – a former Texas League and American Association MVP while playing with Chicago Cubs minor league affiliates. I recall how he was supposed to be a power hitter who would be able to take advantage of Wrigley Field’s configuration and become a dangerous major league hitter.

In parts of 5 seasons (48 games overall), he managed all of 1 home run – which he hit while playing for the Cleveland Indians in 1981 after the Cubs gave up on him.

WHICH IS ABOUT the same as the one-time White Sox shortstop Harry Chappas – who had a big year in 1978 playing for Appleton of the Midwest League. That translated into him getting a shot with the Sox – although the only thing that’s really memorable about him was his height.



Remembered solely for his height (or lack of)

Officially, he was 5-feet, 3-inches tall, although some suspect he was more like 5’-6” and might have been more of a gimmick by then-Sox owner Bill Veeck. He did equal Pagel, however, in terms of total home runs hit in the major leagues.

These two cases aren’t the least bit unique. I’m sure other fans could come up with countless more names of ballplayers – both younger and older – who never amounted to their hype.

So are Garcia and Olt future All-Stars at right field and third base respectively for the White Sox and Cubs? Or are they just a few more additions to the list of no-names that gets longer and longer with each passing baseball season?

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