EXTRA: How baseball has changed

I dug out my copy of “Ball Four,” the diary that one-time major league pitcher Jim Bouton wrote of his 1969 season, and his recollections of the first contract he signed to play ball for the New York Yankees was noteworthy.

Major league minimum, and thankful for it

For the record, he got $6,000 (the then-major league minimum salary) to pitch in 1962. His contract was offered to him on Opening Day, just before the National Anthem was played for that game. He was told to “sign it!” because all rookie ballplayers were given $6,000.

BUT THAT WAS a half-century ago. Times truly have changed with baseball’s economics – and not just because the major league minimum now is $555,000 for a rookie ballplayer.

The Chicago White Sox have got their share of national attention for the contract they gave to outfielder Eloy Jimenez – one of the kid ballplayers whom the White Sox are banking on to become stars who revitalize the ballclub into champions.

Jimenez this week signed his first contract to play major league ball – he’ll likely be with the team when they have their April 4 Opening Day against the Seattle Mariners at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Yet Jimenez didn’t even have to think in terms of the major league “minimum” in terms of pay. He got a six-year deal, with two more seasons if the White Sox want them, with pay being $43 million (or more like $70 million-plus, if the White Sox add on those extra seasons).

Richest White Sox even before 1st game

IT ACTUALLY QUALIFIES for the most expensive, longest-term deal ever paid out by the White Sox to a single ballplayer. And he has yet to play in his first major league ballgame.

Yet this isn’t about spending money. It’s about saving it.

Because the White Sox are convinced that Jimenez will be such a big star that he’ll be capable of demanding even higher payouts in upcoming years. So by tossing out “big bucks” now, they’re hoping they can commit him to less than the “bigger bucks” they’d have to pay in the future.

Of course, Jimenez could wind up injuring himself, or finding some other glitch in his game that keeps him from becoming all he can be. In fact, the more cynical of White Sox fandom are convinced that’s exactly what will happen.

Strategy worked for Indians

BUT THE WHITE Sox are banking that this contract will be similar to many of the significant contracts the Cleveland Indians gave to their youthful talents of the 1990s – thereby enabling them to hold their team together for several years during that decade when they dominated the American League Central division with division titles won five straight seasons.

However, by the time 2001 came around, the contracts turned out to be less-than-market value. All those stars wound up ditching Cleveland for other ball clubs – including eventually Jim Thome doing a stint with the White Sox themselves.

So it will be intriguing to see just what becomes of the youthful talent of the White Sox. Are we bound to see baseball bargains the next few seasons that will make Sox fandom happy? Particularly since Jimenez was the one-time Chicago Cubs minor leaguer whom the Sox will be able to claim a steal!

Or is there going to be continued griping, with fans finding the most exciting aspect of going to the ballpark being the new popcorn laced with bacon to be served at concession stands this season?

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EXTRA: Thome in, Big Z out, Sosa survives for consideration another year

Jim Thome, the slugging ballplayer who spent nearly four of his 22 years as a major league baseball player with the Chicago White Sox, learned Wednesday he is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Come July, a bronze plaque immortalizing him amongst ballplayers will be presented at the hall’s museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., to the man who helped lead the White Sox to that tie-breaking  end-of-season victory over the Minnesota Twins that gave them their most recent playoff appearance in 2008. He got 89.8 percent voter support.

THE MAN WHO hit 612 home runs, the 500^th of which came while wearing the black and white pinstripes of the White Sox, gets to be considered as one of the all-time greats because of the perception that he never resorted to anabolic steroids to try to bulk up and give himself greater strength.

Which is a lot more than Sammy Sosa, the one-time Chicago Cubs slugger who came up with 609 home runs, with 545 of them hit on behalf of the North Side ball club. It seems the suggestion that steroids were behind his sudden burst of power (and three seasons with 60 or more home runs, a peak level no one else has ever achieved) is enough to keep him far from the 75 percent level of voter support required for Hall of Fame induction.

As it is, 33 baseball writers did think Sosa worthy of Hall induction, giving him 7.8 percent support and the right to be considered again come 2019.

As for other ballplayers who will get a chance again next year, longtime star shortstop Omar Vizquel got 37 percent support. The star for Seattle and Cleveland who also played a short stint for the White Sox will contemplate his prospects all through this year while working his current baseball job – as manager of a White Sox minor league affiliate in Winston-Salem, N.C.

THEN, THERE'S ONE one-time Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood, who created lingering memories of that game where he struck out 20 men and whom I’m sure Cubs fandom thinks is worthy of baseball immortality.

The rest of the world does not – only two people voted for Kerry to be in the Hall of Fame. Which is better than the one who voted for former White Sox outfielder Carlos Lee.

Although El Caballo (he supposedly ran like a horse) managed to get more support than Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano.

The “Big Z” was shut out – a result desired while pitching a ballgame, but not one enjoyed when one’s professional career assessed, particularly since it means the Venezuelan star will be remembered primarily for his erratic, and occasionally violent, behavior.

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612 or 609 – are 3 home runs really the difference for baseball’s Hall of Fame?

Chicago ballplayer likely to get into Hall

In just over a week, the Baseball Hall of Fame will announce which ballplayers of the 1990s will be the newest inductees for immortalization with a bronze plaque at their museum in upstate New York.

Based on some of the information that has come out thus far, one-time Chicago White Sox slugger Jim Thome will be among the inductees. It seems the 612 home runs he hit during a nearly two-decade career are enough for him to be considered one of the game’s all-time greats.

The one who likely won't

YET AMONGST THE other ballplayers up for Hall of Fame consideration is one-time Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa – the man with 609 career home runs and the only ballplayer ever with three seasons of 60 or more home runs.

If you look solely at the statistics and take nothing else into account, the two of them ought to be comparable. In fact, one could make an argument that Sosa was far more significant to the Cubs than Thome was to the White Sox.

Thome may well have have hit his 500^th home run while wearing the White Sox uniform, but Sosa had 545 of his home runs in the baby blue of the Cubbies.

The way Cubs fans will spin Thome

Sosa was also a major player in that 1998 season where he and St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire gave baseball fans a show many will forevermore remember as they pursued the single-season record for home runs. Then, they followed it up with an encore in 1999.

YET AS FAR as the Hall of Fame is concerned, the question will be by how far Thome exceeds the 75 percent of sportswriters with a ballot who support his candidacy.

A bigger question will be whether this is the year that Sosa finally falls below 5 percent support (he was just over 8 percent last year), which is the level at which he gets knocked off the ballot.

Or are there just enough people with pleasant memories of Sosa’s clownish on-field behavior that he’ll live on for another year’s consideration?

Sosa, of course, is the ballplayer who is tainted by the perception that he was among the ballplayers of the 1990s who used anabolic steroids to bolster himself.

Sox fans have tried to forget this happened

WHICH HAS MANY fans thinking of him as being the equivalent of one-time pitcher Roger Clemens and slugger Barry Bonds – two other stars whose statistics would have one think they’re shoo-ins for Cooperstown admittance.

I’m sure Cubs fans are going to go through their own squirming routines when the final Hall of Fame results are announced Jan. 24. They’re going to hate the notion that a White Sox player will get top honors, whereas the man whom they once thought of as becoming the new “Mr. Cub” (replacing Ernie Banks in that niche) remains a baseball “nothing.”

White Sox fans, of course, will snicker at that notion, particularly since White Sox fans were on to the notion that there was something phony about Sosa back when Cubs fans were proclaiming him as the ultimate evidence of their ball club’s superiority.

Of course, Thome isn’t really a part of the White Sox story, even if he played a few seasons in Chicago (and is a Peoria native who grew up rooting for the Cubs and the home run antics of Dave Kingman). I’m sure that when he gets Hall of Fame induction, he’ll be remembered primarily for his contributions to those Cleveland Indians teams that won league championships in 1995 and 1997 and were generally among the American League’s better teams of the ‘90’s.

Thome surpassed his childhood idol

I’M WONDERING HOW much the Cubbie types will want to insist Thome is only an Indian, and that Chicago has no claim to them. Of course, White Sox fans will forevermore have Sosa to sling at Cubs fans when they get cocky about the fact they actually managed to pull off one lone championship a couple of years ago.

Sosa is a millstone to the Cubs, which is why he hasn’t already had his moment of immortalization a few years ago – even though he is without a doubt one of the best ballplayers from the Dominican Republic to play professional ball in this country.

Even Cubs management say they can’t fully embrace his place in their legacy until he comes forth with the “truth” about whether he used steroids to bolster his strength artificially.

Something that Thome has never had to address. Which goes a long way to explain how two one-dimensional sluggers who are only 3 home runs apart will be remembered so differently.

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EXTRA: Chicago wins its second World Series title of the 21st Century

It seems the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday didn’t manage to blow it big time. They won a World Series championship – their first in 108 years. Although it took extra innings in the final game to achieve.
 

Did 1st pitch honors 'sted of Charlie Sheen

It’s also the second World Series won by a Chicago baseball team in this century – let’s not forget the Chicago White Sox won a title back in 2005. Even though Cubs fans have been going out of their way for the past week to try to ignore that fact.

THE SARCASTIC SIDE of me wants to say “It’s about time” those lazy slackers on the North Side managed to win something on behalf of Chicago. Quite frankly, I’m tired of dealing with out-of-town crackpots who presume there has to be something wrong with Chicagoans as a whole because we take the loser Cubs seriously.

But some of us do, and I don’t doubt that they’re feeling a certain level of glee that White Sox fans felt some 11 years ago. Hope you Cubbie-fan types enjoy your parade that the city likely stages for you in coming days. Although I somehow suspect that the White Sox title meant more to the city and then-Mayor Richard M. Daley than this year’s Cubbie victory does to Mayor Rahm Emanuel – who did finally deign to show up at the ballpark for Game 7 on Wednesday in Cleveland.

As for the celebration, I’m sure Cubbie-types will get all worked up and think it’s a historic moment. I know there are Sox-fan types who can tell you exactly where along their parade route they stood, and how close they were to first baseman Paul Konerko when he voluntarily handed over the final ball from Game 4 to team owner Jerry Reinsdorf.

Not that any of this is in any way a sign that our city is “united” behind a ball club. That will never happen. The character of Chicago baseball is the very split, and the hard-core of each side would consider it sacrilegious for any kind of unity to occur.

 

Hit a grand slam (not a Denny's breakfast)

HOW ELSE TO explain those Bridgeport types who actually deigned to wear caps bearing the Chief Wahoo logo in recent days. I strongly suspect those caps will be mutilated in coming months – perhaps the first time that arch-rival Cleveland makes a visit to Chicago in 2017 to play the White Sox.

Because seeing the Indians in the World Series was a reminder that the White Sox weren’t, and may have hurt even more than the Cubs’ presence there. Although I did get my kick out of seeing that for Game 7, the Indians used for their first ball ritual one-time White Sox slugger Jim Thome. Thereby sparing us the sight of actor Charlie Sheen, who wants us to think he really played for Cleveland.

 

Hit a more-legendary 4-bagger in '05

I’m sure there are some Cubs fans who felt a tinge of annoyance at having a Sox slugger so prominently displayed – even if he also was an Indian (and a Phillie and Twin).

I wonder how long the resentment will carry out on Jason Kipnis, the Indians infielder from suburban Northbrook who hit that home run in Game Four that put the hurt on Cubbie blue hearts for a little while.

ALTHOUGH I’M SURE the Addison Russell grand slam home run of Tuesday night helped console them. While also reminding White Sox fans about that similar shot Paul Konerko hit back in Game 2 of ’05.

Which brings us around to what will be the lasting bit of trash talk that Chicago baseball fans will now start to engage in for years to come. Who was better – ’16 Cubbies or the ’05 Sox?!?

As much as I already hear that “best team in baseball” nonsense being spewed all year by Cubs fans, anybody with sense knows that the Buehrle/Garland/Garcia/Contreras pitching rotation would shut down the baby blue bears over and over and over again. 

We're long overdue for a rematch, don't you think?

Which is why we need to have an all-Chicago World Series, and soon! Although there are times I wonder if Chicago could handle the stress level that a Sox vs. Cubs series would create in the chill of a Second City October?

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Thome helps keep Legislature busy

So just what DO our state legislators do with their time when they’re not addressing the lack of a state budget for the current fiscal year?

There was a bit of a stink a few weeks ago when the General Assembly managed to pass the measure that declared corn to be the official state vegetable for Illinois. Some from people who argue corn isn’t a vegetable (it’s a grain), while others just think it is a totally pointless thing to do.

WILL THESE SAME people come crawling out of the woodwork in coming weeks when the state Senate will be asked to consider a measure designating a portion of U.S. Route 24 in Peoria as the Jim Thome Highway?

As in the same Thome who included a few seasons of his professional baseball career with the Chicago White Sox and hit his 500^th Home Run of his career in the White Sox pinstripes – although the 600-home run milestone was achieved while he wore the dingy and dumpy uniform of the Minnesota Twins.

The measure already has come before the Illinois House of Representatives – where it was approved without opposition earlier this week. Hey, the legislators had to do something to justify their per diem payment to cover their living expenses to be in the Illinois capital city to NOT approve a state government budget.

Unless Chicago Cubs fans who serve in the Illinois Senate decide to get more ornery and cranky than usual (that’s what a century of losing does to you) and refuse to vote for anything that honors a White Sox player?

WHO’S TO SAY!?! Although it should be noted that the general concept of the Thome Highway was already in a separate measure the Senate considered – one sponsored by state Sen. Darin LaHood, R-Dunlap. He being the Republican nominee to replace Aaron Schock in Congress.

Does anyone think Chief Wahoo looks better in bronze than Old English "Sox"

I doubt he wants to have his final Springfield act be a dissing of Thome’s reputation. That could cost him big-time in the Sept. 10 Election Day.

Not that this measure was meant to honor Chicago in any way. Thome is a Peoria-area native who graduated from a Bartonville high school and played baseball briefly for Illinois Central College before signing with the Cleveland Indians organization where he played a significant portion of his career.

600 home runs not enough for Hall?

Which means, sadly enough, that if Thome’s 600-plus home runs is good enough to get him into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., someday, his bronze plaque likely will depict him in a cap bearing that ridiculous-looking “Chief Wahoo” head instead of the Old English “Sox” logo.

IF YOU THINK I’m kidding that 600 home runs isn’t enough for recognition, keep in mind that Sammy Sosa’s Chicago Cubbie glory days are no longer considered Hall of Fame-worthy, even though he also achieved that immortal standard.

But even if Thome doesn’t make it, he now will be able to say he has a highway named in his honor in his hometown. It may even be an excuse for White Sox fans to find an excuse to visit the city – if only to get their pictures taken with a Thome Highway sign in the background.

Thus far, Thome seems to have a reputation for being a ballplayer who didn’t use anabolic steroids to bolster his strength and baseball career.

Unlike people like Sosa and Mark McGwire, the one-time St. Louis Cardinals star who back after his 1998 stretch of 70 home runs that season had the interstate highway that leads from Illinois into downtown St. Louis named in his honor.

THAT IS INTERSTATE 70 (Get it!), and I remember when St. Louis officials were tickled pink (the same color that Cardinals uniforms turn once they fade due to age and/or poor laundering) to have the McGwire Highway.

No longer worthy of a highway in St. Louis

But the steroid stories connected to McGwire caused that highway to become the “Mark Twain Highway” back in 2010.

It would seem that the “Thome Highway” will be longer-lasting in Illinois.

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Thome didn’t ‘do in’ the White Sox

It is a vivid memory from recent baseball seasons past. The two big bats of the Chicago White Sox – Paul Konerko and Jim Thome – both managed to get base hits and are on base hoping that someone can follow them up with a hit that will allow them to score runs.

The problem, however, is that both Thome and Konerko, particularly Paulie, are dreadfully slow. They can’t run worth a squat. They’re the kind of guys who have trouble scoring a run from second base if someone hits a single.

IN SHORT, THEY clog up the bases. Several potential rallies that could have resulted in a few runs scored by the White Sox turned into a run or two – or a pitcher managing to get out of the inning with both Konerko and Thome stranded on base.

It was frustrating to watch. But it is the type of baseball that one gets to see too often when a team thinks that deep fly balls hit over the outfield fence are the key to success. Heck, Chicago Cubs fans know this better than anyone else.

It was the reason why when I learned just under a year ago that the White Sox were not going to bring back aging home run hitter Thome in 2010 for a fifth season on the South Side, I didn’t immediately have an outburst of anger.

When I heard manager Ozzie Guillen say how he wanted some flexibility and some athleticism in being able to put together lineups from game to game, I got where he was coming from. He was sick and tired of the base-clogging that took place in recent years just like many others were.

BUT IT SEEMS that “logic” is being ignored, because way too many people (including too many sports-related pundits) are quick these days to come to the conclusion that the reason the White Sox fell short of winning at least a division title is because they let Thome go.

What makes it worse, as they see it, is that Thome managed to latch on for the 2010 season with the Minnesota Twins, who last week DID clinch the division title. Twins baseball fans are quick to say it was Thome’s hitting that helped them fill the gap when star Justin Morneau was knocked out with a back injury for the entire second half of the season.

There are those people who for years have been getting on Guillen’s case who now want to claim this is the ultimate evidence that Ozzie doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing in running a baseball club on the field.

Sports Illustrated’s latest issue features a photograph of Thome at bat in the act of hitting a home run for the Twins, with a subhead saying that Thome “has the power to bring October magic to Minnesota.”

I’M SURE THE central Illinois native would be happy. If it happens (I’d favor either the New York Yankees or Tampa Bay personally), it would be a first World Series appearance for the slugger approaching 600 home runs in his career for the first time since 1997 when he was a young star with the Cleveland Indians.

But when I look at this year’s White Sox team, I honestly don’t think Thome would have made a difference. In part it is because Konerko has managed to come up with a season where he may wind up with 40 home runs (38 as of Sunday) and over 100 runs batted in. He still provided the team with the big bat that would have been essential to a legitimate contender.

What I see as the White Sox shortcomings is the fact that they lost the pitcher who was supposed to become the team ace half way through the season. If Jake Peavy were still pitching, I think we’d still have a competitive race – instead of a final week of the season that means little.

There also is the fact that those relief pitchers all managed to seem to lose it come August. Not just Bobby Jenks. I still remember the appearances of J.J. Putz back in mid-August – which is the point where in my mind the season really ended because that is where the gap between the two teams became big enough that it would have taken a miracle collapse by Minnesota (something along the lines of what the White Sox did when the two teams played in mid-September) for there to be playoff baseball on the South Side this October.

IF ANYTHING, THE difference between Minnesota and Chicago this season is that when Morneau suffered an injury that could have devastated their chances, Thome was in a position to fill the gap. When Jenks became unreliable in relief pitching, the White Sox came up with guys who became even more unreliable.

Which is my way of saying that had Thome somehow come back to the White Sox in 2010 and paired up with Konerko and the two of them had the kind of seasons they had this year, it wouldn’t have mattered.

The pitching problem would have overcome it.

We’d still be complaining about the White Sox’ inability to hold onto a lead in late innings And we’d definitely be griping about how ridiculously slow Konerko and Thome are on the basepaths – bringing a premature end to way too many a rally.

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