‘Keep your eye on the ball’ some good advice for fans as well as ballplayers

Listening to Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon talk this weekend about how fans attending ballgames ought to pay more attention to the field reminded me of a pair of game-goers I met over a decade ago.

Too many fans act as though they're bobble-heads

That particular couple was sitting right in front of me at U.S. Cellular Field for a game against the Boston Red Sox. He was a Massachusetts native who married a South Side girl, and they now lived here.

FOR THIS PARTICULAR game, they brought their newborn son – who was clad in a Red Sox cap and White Sox-logoed pajamas. It was the first game they ever brought him to, and they were overly obsessed with taking all kinds of pictures of their son at the ballpark.

Which is cute. It is understandable.

But it also struck me then as being reckless, because we all were sitting just a few rows up from the field down the third base line. It was prime territory for someone who would want to catch foul balls hit into the stand during the game.

It was a likely place for some right-handed pull hitter to crack a line drive that would go screaming into the stands. One that would wind up sending a person to the hospital if they weren’t ready for it and capable of either catching the ball cleanly, or ducking to get out of the way!

FORTUNATELY, NO LINE drives came too close. One ball did land about 10 seats away. But I didn’t get the up-close view of an infant being bashed by a baseball.

Sunday wasn’t so lucky.

During the Cubs’ game against the Atlanta Braves, a woman sitting near the camera well on the first base side got hit by a line drive into the stands. Badly enough that she had to be taken to an area hospital.

Which led to Maddon’s comments about how fans, particularly those in the prime seats near the infield, ought to pay attention to what happens on the playing field. That would at least give them a chance at avoiding harm if a line drive were cracked toward their heads.
 

Are those fans in stands? Or targets for line drives?

IT’S THE LITTLE lie that too many people attending ballgames want to believe – softly lobbed drives into the stands. Instead of something smacked hard that WILL inflict pain and cause bone-crushing damage (particularly to the skull) if there is physical impact.

I remember the closest I ever came to having a ball hit to me it came so fast that my reflexes were too slow to react. A good thing for me that the ball wound up going about eight feet to my left – and somebody else wound up getting their hand smashed!

The problem is too many people act like clowns and don’t pay attention.

If anything, all those video boards that exist in 21^st Century stadiums wind up serving as a distraction. They motivate people to think they ought to be watching somewhere other than the infield.

WHICH IS SOMETHING I really don’t understand.

For the price of tickets these days (the last ballgame I went to about a month ago, the seats in the outfield were $40 apiece), you’d think people would want to actually watch the game – instead of whatever silly sponsor-driven stunt is being promoted that day.

If anything, it was the fact that my brother actually managed to catch himself a baseball at the game a month ago – the first ever in his life – that ought to be evidence that paying attention has its merits.

Either that, or we’re going to literally have to fence off the entire playing field to protect fans from their own refusal to watch out for themselves.

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How bad does behavior have to get before ball club becomes responsible?

It has been 36 years since I first attended a ball game in Chicago, and the closest I ever came to having an incident was one White Sox game I went to with my brother and cousin when I was in high school.

Sometimes, the beatings come outside the ball park

It was the end of the game and the three of us were waiting outside Comiskey Park for our pre-arranged ride home to show up. We became aware of the fact that a couple of guys appeared to be eyeing us a little too closely.

BEFORE ANYTHING COULD happen, the three of us decided to walk around and mix in with the crowd that was leaving the stadium. We literally took a lap around the ballpark – which put us right back in the same spot.

By then, our potential attackers had moved on. Our ride wound up arriving a couple of minutes later, and the night ended without incident.

It stands out in my mind solely because it reinforces the fact that the stadium crowds usually are harmless. Some people overserve themselves. But, by and large, they are a hazard solely to themselves.

So what should we make of an incident that occurred at U.S. Cellular Field last season that has resulted in a lawsuit recently being filed.

FOR IT SEEMS that a couple attending a ball game last year left the ballpark, only to find that a trio of men were publicly urinating in the parking lot – and chose their car as the place to spray their piss.

When the couple tried telling the men to get lost, the men allegedly took offense and started beating up the couple.

As it turned out, the three men were arrested a couple of days later. They all now face criminal charges in Cook County court. Those cases are still pending.

Where the legal fight is now taking place

But the couple has now filed their lawsuit against the White Sox and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority – the state agency that owns the stadium. Admittedly, they’re also suing the men who allegedly did the beating – claiming they incurred medical expenses because of the incident.

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE reported that the couple said in their lawsuit that the ball club’s security did absolutely nothing to try to intervene to prevent the beating from taking place. They argue that since it was ballpark property, the ball club is responsible.

Now aside from those whiny losers who look for any excuse to take a White Sox pot shot, what amazes me is to read some of the (anonymous, of course) Internet commentary that implies the couple themselves should have known better.

As though they should have let the trio finish their public urination and go staggering away, then drive their vehicle to the nearest car wash to have the stink of piss removed.

There are those who think the couple got what they deserved.

OF COURSE, THERE also were those who felt the need of the multiple stories of public urination that has taken place throughout the decades outside of Wrigley Field. Which is about as irrelevant to this incident as is possible.

Personally, I’m inclined to think of anyone who can’t control where they piss as something of a loser. Particularly at U.S. Cellular, where there are actually public restrooms accessible from outside the stadium.

I can see where a couple would be upset to see nothing being done about such a scene being made all over their automobile. Why security would deliberately ignore such actions is beyond me. But it will be intriguing to see how the courts ultimately rule with regards to this lawsuit.

Do we need to have the Piss Police patrolling the areas outside of both of our ballparks? Or is an occasional coating of urine on our automobiles now an occupational hazard, so to speak, of attending a ball game and watching our hometown teams get their butts whomped once again?

  -30-

Maybe that’s why some fans think of Wrigley Field as ‘the Urinal’

A part of me wishes I could dump all over the Chicago Cubs organization for their Opening Day festivities that kicked off the entire 2015 baseball season Sunday that clearly had inadequate toilet facilities for the fans who attended.
                    

But if I’m to be honest, I have to admit that washrooms are a persistent problem at large-scale events, including at a ball park where there are some facilities built into the place.

THERE SHOULDN’T BE a need to have port-a-potties on the premises, although it seems the Cubs organization on Monday admitted there were problems sufficient that they’re going to have to install the portable toilets for the next month or so.

At least until the renovations are complete – and that could be mid-May.

Which is going to make Cubs games an even more unpleasant atmosphere than the quality of baseball being played on-field usually makes them.

And before any of you starts giving me the line that the Cubs are now a quality organization that is in serious contention for the National League championship of 2015, I’d point to the Sunday night scoreboard and the fact that the arch-rival St. Louis Cardinals have the “W,” which ultimately is the only statistic that matters!

ACCORDING TO THE reports, the problem stemmed from plumbing problems that have left half of the toilet facilities in the ballpark’s upper deck unusable.

That caused those fans to have to come down to the lower deck of the 101-year-old building, which meant they were jam-packed. There were reports of people having to wait up to an hour in line before they could walk up to one of the troughs and do their business.

Yahoo! Sports even included pictures of empty beer cups left on the floor – except that the cups had been refilled with what appeared to be urine of people who just couldn’t wait to get in the rest room proper!

I write “appeared” because I wasn’t there, and even if I had been, I wouldn’t have been bold enough to walk up and take a whiff of the cups to sense what was actually in them.

ALTHOUGH I SUPPOSE I could come up with some sort of joke about the content of those cups not differing significantly from the ballpark beer usually offered up for sale.

The conditions on hand Sunday night were severe, and made worse in the context of a ballpark undergoing a major renovation to make it a more modern facility.

Instead, we got to see that Wrigley really is a building lingering into the 21^st Century with 19^th Century toilet facilities. Perhaps the attention ought to be on an upgrade to restrooms, rather than to installing a video board that will merely let the fans see replays of all the plays that the Cubs players botched up on the field?

Perhaps that would bring an end to the stories I have long heard from Lake View neighborhood residents about how obnoxious of neighbors Cubs fans can be with acts of public urination – particularly in the alleys of the buildings directly surrounding the ballpark.

YET I HAVE to admit to having seen similarly disgusting moments while attending Chicago White Sox games. I remember one incident a few years ago when an inebriated fan walked into a rest room, saw the lines of people waiting for the proper urinals that exist at U.S. Cellular Field, and decided to relieve himself right into a public sink!

I wish I could say he was a Cubs fan who simply didn’t know how to behave in public, but I can’t say for sure.

Then again, it actually reminded me of a moment during the first ball game I ever attended as a kid at the old Comiskey Park. At game’s end, I went to the rest room and used a trough similar to what still exists at Wrigley, then went to a sink to try to wash my hands. At which point, another Sox fan told me I was crazy to do that because of the generations of people who had used the sinks for disgusting purposes.

I suppose it means that Sunday night at Wrigley could have been much worse than the sight of piss-filled beer cups scattered all over the floors!

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Yeah, yeah. I know -- 10-1!?! All across Missouri, baseball fans are filled with glee, while we count down the 161 remaining games of 2015.

Quinn determined to have one last political power play while in office

There was some intense politicking taking place Monday in San Diego, where Baseball Hall of Fame officials ultimately decided that none of four former Chicago White Sox ballplayers – Dick Allen, Jim Kaat, Minnie Miñoso and Billy Pierce – were worthy of recognition.

Yet that might not have been as intense as the hard-ball that was played Monday at U.S. Cellular Field, where the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority met and decided to hire a new executive director.

WHICH ISN’T A big deal, except for the fact that the authority’s board is controlled now by people chosen by the Illinois governor, which means it is Pat Quinn who got to decide who got the executive director’s post.

Not Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who also has appointees on the authority’s board. And most certainly not Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner, who would have got his chance to get involved with the agency that runs the White Sox’ ballpark and which paid for the renovation of Soldier Field for the Chicago Bears.

It would seem that Quinn, who wasn’t able to get the General Assembly to approve a measure providing for a statewide increase in the minimum wage so he could have a “last hurrah” of sorts signing it into law, will have to claim this appointment as one of his final acts of significance.

As it turns out, he gave the executive director’s post to Lou Bertuca, who was the campaign manager who led Quinn to his 50-46 percent defeat in the November general election for governor.

SO AT LEAST Lou is taken care of, from Quinn’s perspective. He has a job for the next two years, even though Rauner on Monday spewed a bit of cheap rhetoric about how he’d like to undo the appointment.

It’s not going to be a pleasant job, however. For I expect Rauner will replace all of the gubernatorial nominees on the authority’s governing board with people loyal to him.

I also expect that Emanuel’s people on the authority will not look too kindly to their new director. Bertuca could easily wind up having to deal with a governing board openly hostile toward anything he wants to do – along with a pair of chief executives who likely will dig for any dirt they can find for use as grounds to try to remove him!

I don’t know that I’d want to take a job under those circumstances – even if it does pay just over $175,000 per year.

OF COURSE, THIS isn’t the first time Quinn has had controversy related to the executive director’s post of the sports authority.

Bertuca replaces Kelly Kraft, the former television news broadcaster who got Quinn’s appointment in 2012 despite the belief of many authority board members that she wasn’t qualified.

That was when Quinn orchestrated the appointment by removing one of his appointees on the board who was opposed to Kelly, and replaced him with someone who would vote exactly the way the governor wanted.

It had a backlash, of course. For the person who got removed was Manny Sanchez, a high-profile attorney who wound up signing on early to the Rauner gubernatorial campaign and being one of the “prominent” Democrats who did what he could to undermine Quinn’s chances of re-election.

WHICH MAKES ME perceive this move as being more a gesture of hostility toward the political establishment that is preparing to cast him off in coming weeks.

It might not be as hostile as the one when former-Gov. Rod Blagojevich went out of his way to name Roland Burris to the U.S. Senate despite the desires of many others that he butt out of the matter. But it definitely comes across as a final cry for attention.

It’s not like there’s any activity coming before the sports authority in the near future that an executive director appointment couldn’t wait a couple of months. But it does entertain the political geeks amongst us who always enjoy the mechanizations behind political maneuvers.

Just as much as White Sox fans will spend the next few months complaining about how the Hall of Fame could be so stupid as to exclude (once again) such stars as one-time MVP Allen and the “Cuban Comet” himself in Miñoso.

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Pizza at the zoo? I don’t think so

Pizza, as far as I’m concerned, is one of those odd foods. It’s not always worth getting.

I'll take the corner slice

If we’re talking about a pie that was freshly made and is eaten while still piping hot, then sure. I don’t even mind a cold slice that happens to be left over from that pie.

BUT WHEN I happen to encounter a snack stand at some event and see that they’re offering up pizza as one of their menu choices, I rarely bother to get it. Too much is lost in the translation of having to produce a large mass of slices available for people to munch on – rather than on focusing on trying to make an individual pizza that is worth consuming.

So excuse me for getting a giggle at the reports this week that the Lincoln Park Zoo has reached agreement with a new company to sell pizza slices to those people who are visiting the world-class zoo and whose appetite has not been killed off by the aromas of various substances generated by the animals after they have eaten.

People who want pizza at the zoo can now claim that they are eating pizza from Aurelio’s, a suburban Homewood-based chain whose fanatics will claim it to be the best pizza one could ever consume.

I know because I can recall high school being surrounded by those people (I attended a South Holland-based high school that had – still has, actually, an Aurelio’s located one block away from campus) who thought I was insane for the fact that I didn’t care for the product.

EVEN BY PIZZA standards, there was just too much grease – to the point where it overwhelmed the pizza toppings, rather than enhanced them.

Now, zoo-goers are going to get to share that same experience, in between staring at the animals occupying space that I’m sure makes real estate developers drool while fantasizing about what kind of monstrosity they would build on the land – if ever given the chance!

I noticed in statements that Aurelio’s officials are saying their bringing their “special pizza-making processes” to the zoo. I don’t know what those special things are. But it could be what makes the difference between a slice of pizza that bears a resemblance to the restaurant, and something covered in gobs of cheese that tastes no different than what you’d buy in the frozen foods aisle of whatever supermarket you prefer to peruse.

Calling it “Aurelio’s” pizza could be the equivalent of deceptive advertising – albeit one that Aurelio’s approves of because it puts the name out there.

IT’S NOT GOING to be something that gets me out to the zoo anytime soon.

Having a brand-name pizza isn’t even going to be what gets me out to U.S. Cellular Field this season. I’ll go to a ballgame or two in 2014. But the fact that they now also have a deal with a local pizzeria isn’t that big a deal.

In the case of the Chicago White Sox, it is Beggar’s Pizza that is operating the concessions stands that sell pizza slices. Now I’ll admit to preferring Beggar’s to Aurelio’s (something about those extra-large chunks of toppings – particularly sausage – makes their pizza interesting).

But I’m not optimistic that the same taste will translate to the ballpark. It may be even further off-the-mark from Aurelio’s at the zoo. Although it’s going to have to be better than the DiGiorno frozen pizza brand that was sold at the ballpark in recent seasons.

ALTHOUGH THE KEY to getting a pizza worth anything may well be to stop off at a Lou Malnati’s restaurant after the ballgame/zoo trip. Although perhaps a deep-dish or pan pizza is a totally different type of food item.

That is, unless you have a neighborhood place nearby that has the absolute best pizza cut into squares that one could ever find – and which nobody else knows a thing about.

Those are usually the best, and can’t be replicated anywhere else.

  -30-

EDITOR’S NOTE: My personal fave from a pizza are those bite-sized slices you get from the corners of a round pizza cut into squares.

When will we start hearing demands for a new stadium on the South Side?

Perhaps it’s just because I’m desperate to ignore the first snowfall that hit Chicago on Monday – more than a month before the official start of winter.

Already obsolete?

 

But I couldn’t help but be shaken up by wire service reports emanating from Atlanta; where the Braves plan to move their ball club from their city-based stadium to one based in the suburbs in just a couple of years.

THE EXISTING BALLPARK – Turner Field – came about in the wake of the 1996 Olympic Games staged in that southern city, then reconstructed into a modern ballpark beginning with the 1997 season.

Turner Field might not be among the stadia that gets people’s hearts all atwitter (like the ballparks in Baltimore and Pittsburgh). But it is among the modern round of construction – sports teams that saw themselves get new buildings in the 1990s and early 2000s that were meant to be more than just a place to sit while a ballgame is played in front of you.

There’s nothing structurally wrong with the current Braves’ building. It’s just that the officials in suburban Cobb County are willing to give more amenities to the ball club, if they can steal away some baseball business for themselves.

Now why should I care about this southern politicking taking place? It’s because these stadiums always seem to get built in groups. Which means that now that the current set-up of stadia can start to be thought of as obsolete, it makes me wonder how many more ball clubs are going to start screaming for new facilities from their home communities.

How soon will calls for "the Cell's" replacement start?

 

EVEN IF, IN some cases, those current facilities aren’t fully paid for yet.

And if that happens, how long will it be until our own city’s ball clubs start screaming.

Renovate Wrigley? This action by the Braves may convince the Cubs they’d be better off at a location in suburban Rosemont (since the Cubs could claim the same line of logic that the Braves are using to justify their move – it puts them closer to the geographic center of their fan base).

In need of replacement before it's rebuilt?

 

Or what about the White Sox? The building now known as U.S. Cellular Field cropped up in 1991. Making it possibly the oldest of these new-style ballparks.

BY THE BRAVES’ line of logic (Turner Field’s stint as a major league stadium will last exactly 20 years), the White Sox ballpark is an antique.

It’s also an antique that has never gotten much love from amateur architectural aficionados.

Will the White Sox get it into their heads that it’s time for them to get a building that will gain admiration – instead of mere functionality – from outsiders?

Now I realize the political reality locally is that the process leading to the construction of U.S. Cellular Field ate up a lot of political goodwill. There are people who are still bitter that the building was ever constructed and that they were unable to kill the bill that back in 1988 ensured that the 2005 World Series was played on the South Side – and NOT in St. Petersburg, Fla.!

BUT THE BUILDING is now part of an era that is being replaced. It’s just a matter of time before officials want to start talking up the replacement of “the Cell.”

I recently read an essay written by someone trying to have some fun – speculating about what professional baseball would be like in the year 2114. He guessed that the White Sox would have a new stadium by then – perhaps built across the street on the site of the old Comiskey Park – because the new building would last the same 80-year stint as the old.

Will the "Old Roman's" statue gather pigeon poop at another ballpark?

I doubt it! The cycle of replacement of the current stadia has now begun.

My guess is that U.S. Cellular will see its demise some time around the year 2030. By then, the demands to replace it with something “more modern” will just be too intense.

THE 2033 MAJOR League Baseball All-Star Game (the 100^th anniversary of the original All-Star game played at Comiskey Park) could well be the first moment of glory for a new White Sox stadium somewhere.

The real question is will 2005 be the only World Series championship won in the current building, or will there be a few more before its demise? A part of me thinks that is more likely than a championship at Wrigley any time soon!

  -30-

EXTRA: Would we have preferred a Capitol renovated on the cheap?

It seems the new dirty “word” for followers of Illinois state government is $669,608.

Maintaining the 19th Century look

That is the dollar figure being placed on the portion of the Illinois Capitol renovation that paid for three sets of copper-clad wooden doors that were meant to replicate what was installed at the Statehouse when it opened in 1871.

WE NOW HAVE people complaining about waste in government, citing the doors that went for just over $220,000 a pair. They were most definitely custom-ordered, and not something that could have been picked up at the nearest Home Depot store and installed by the governor himself, coming into work on a Saturday to do the work and save the state some money.

That ridiculous image might be what some people dream of being done. Yet it just isn’t realistic.

Which is why I personally am not all that offended by the renovation – which is costing the state some $50 million overall. Funded by a bond sale, it will be repaid by the state during the next quarter-of-a-century.

State officials say the reason renovations needed to be done at all related to the ventilation (air conditioning in summer, heat in the winter), fire escape and disabled access – all of which were inadequate in the building that is approaching its 150^th year of use by state government.

PUTTING THOSE KINDS of things in without totally ripping apart the building is naturally going to be more costly. That is just a reality. People who are upset are getting a little too irrational in expressing their partisan contempt for government.

While I’m a little concerned about cost and realize that somebody has to pay for everything, I also realize that doing the job on the cheap would create just as many complaints.

We’d have some people (perhaps even some of the same people) claiming that the Statehouse was somehow defaced with a mediocre renovation that didn’t respect the building’s character.

And let’s be honest, when the structure was built in the years after the Civil War, it was meant to be an ornate palace, of sorts, that celebrated the significance of Illinois and its government.

A CHEAP JOB would have been disrespectful of that concept.

If state officials had delayed the job until a time when state finances are allegedly more sound, we’d either be waiting forever (because there’d always be something they’d want to consider a higher priority) or we’d be hearing complaints about the inadequate escape access in the event of a fire or the difficulty of people with disabilities to get in (and out) of the Statehouse.

My point being that we were going to hear complaints about this renovation no matter what was done. It is why I can dismiss the complaints we’re actually hearing now.

For those who want to say this cost could have been scaled back somewhat, I’d cite another state-built structure on the South Side – U.S. Cellular Field.

JUST A FEW months after the General Assembly was pressured into approving the bonds that would raise the money to build a new stadium for the Chicago White Sox, there was the potential for cost-overruns.

Would we have wanted a government version of this?

 

Knowing there’d be no way of getting legislators to back more money for the project, the design was scaled back. A lot of the details that would have given the building some character were eliminated.

Which led to the rants of a generic, over-bloated building that we used to get (and occasionally still hear) about the stadium. Future renovations added some of those details in.

But I wonder if those complaints would have been heard in excess about the Capitol. The truth being that some people just want to complain – and ornate chandeliers gives them something to gripe about.

  -30-

Sox hit high point when it’s too late

About the only way the Chicago White Sox were going to get any R-E-S-P-E-C-T this season was because of singer Aretha Franklin’s involvement on Saturday in the Civil Rights Game being staged at U.S. Cellular Field.

Only now, in what is probably a typical happening for the White Sox in 2013, “Lady Soul” herself won’t be able to attend.

SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO RECEIVE Major League Baseball’s Beacon Award – which is supposed to honor people who encouraged positive change toward civil rights. She’s citing health reasons for being unable to be in Chicago on Saturday.

Which is kind of a shame. Since Franklin’s appearance at the ballpark prior to the White Sox’ game against the Texas Rangers could have been one of the most interesting happenings to occur at U.S. Cellular Field this season.

Saturday is still the Civil Rights Game, and a luncheon at the Marriott Hotel located near Tribune Tower. Only we’re going to have to settle for honoree Bo Jackson, and memories about how the Negro leagues of old used to play their annual East-West all-star game nearly every season at the old Comiskey Park.

Somehow, the whole “Bo Knows” movement seems a bit old – even if Jackson’s story of refusing to give in to an injury that should have been career-ending is inspiring.

BUT IT WILL be interesting to see how the White Sox manage to stage the event that in the past has been played by major league teams in southern cities as a way of paying tribute to the role that professional baseball played in desegregating the nation.

Although there are times I wonder if baseball fans pay more attention to the annual April tribute to Jackie Robinson (the one where all 750 major league ballplayers wear uniform number “42” – not just Mariano Rivera of the Yankees) than they will to what happens Saturday on the Sout’ Side.

Which would be typical of this season for the White Sox – one in which the ball club went into Friday’s game needing to only lose seven of their 35 remaining games to ensure a losing record for the season.

The fact that the White Sox played outstanding ball this week – in fact, winning eight of their past nine games, and sweeping the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals in three-game series played against each – may give hope to some fans that the team can overcome the Minnesota Twins.

THE WHITE SOX are only four games behind Minnesota. Although when a team looks at fourth place as a goal to be achieved (rather than fifth place), you know things aren’t good.

Only Sox past in '13

Which is what made Thursday’s freaky victory against the Royals all that more bizarre.

Conor Gillaspie broke up a 12^th inning, 3-3 tie with what turned out to be a freaky inside-the-park home run. Gillaspie chugged his way around the bases while the Royals’ players did nothing to chase down the ball and try to throw him out.

Yahoo! Sports’ “Big League Stew” tried to make this interesting by writing about the “Hilarious Hawk Harrelson home run call.” They claimed his broadcast of the moment was truly ridiculous.

ACTUALLY, IT MERELY reflected the confusion on the field, as it appears the Royals’ outfielder, Jason Maxwell, thought that Gillaspie’s fly ball to deep right field went into the stands for a Home Run! It really bounced off the top of the wall and wound up on the field – meaning it was still in play!

Which means that Maxwell is the one at fault for not picking up a ball and trying to throw it in and get Gillaspie out on the base paths. Although it seems that none of the other Royals players had a clue either.

Let’s be honest. When you first heard the White Sox were involved in a fielding misplay that resulted in a home run, didn’t you figure that it was the White Sox defense that screwed up?

It may not rank up there with a ball bouncing off the head of Jose Canseco into the stands for a home run (as did occur in Cleveland many years ago), but it was close.

A FLUKY PLAY working to the advantage of the White Sox? When combined with those six victories in a row this week?

This may well be the baseball highlight of 2013 in Chicago.

Unless you want to take into account that series the White Sox swept from the New York Yankees a few weeks ago – when many fans seemed more intrigued by the idea that long-time (and soon-to-be retired) relief pitcher Mariano Rivera would never pitch again in Chicago.

Even that fits into the late season theory; which is that this White Sox team is only capable of playing up to its talent level when the pressure is off and it no longer matters – just like the Cubs!

  -30-

EXTRA: Rodriguez can play (for now); boo-birds to unleash their lung power

It seems that Alex Rodriguez will be available to play the next few games against the Chicago White Sox.

While Major League Baseball announced a series of suspensions against a dozen ballplayers for links to the Biogenesis anti-aging clinic (to try to use performance-enhancing drugs), it seems that Rodriguez of the New York Yankees is determined to fight the allegations.

A DOZEN BALLPLAYERS on Monday were told they were being suspended for the rest of the season, and they all are accepting the penalty without a fight. No one from the White Sox or the Chicago Cubs were on that list.

Not that it matters much, with as bad as both ball clubs are playing this season.

But the belief among many baseball people is that Rodriguez not only used substances to artificially bolster his strength, but also tried to cover up his involvement.

Nothing has definitively been proved, but Rodriguez on Monday was suspended for the rest of this season, the playoffs and all of next season. For a ballplayer on the decline who’s already 38, that could be the equivalent of a lifetime ban.

SINCE IT COULD throw his routine off that he’s never able to play at a competitive level again.

But Rodriguez, who got that major contract (he is the $25-30 million-a-year man) a decade ago, with an extension that should keep him paid for another four seasons, wants his money. That’s why he wants to challenge the penalty – and why he will want to take the playing field at U.S. Cellular Field come Monday.

Which will be interesting because Rodriguez was among the many key players who have suffered injuries this season – derailing the Yankees’ own desires to win a championship this season.

Monday will be Rodriguez’ first major league game of 2013. The national attention circulating around 35^th and Shields will be intense – crews were set up at the ballpark by noon.

EVEN THOUGH BALLPLAYERS themselves hadn’t shown up yet!

So Rodriguez will be on hand, and the White Sox hecklers will vent their rage – which will make the South Side an ugly place to be through Wednesday. Moreso than the usual Yankee-hatred that crops up around the American League's cities.

Particularly since it also seems that Yankees star Derek Jeter won’t be on hand for this week’s series in Chicago. He’s another key player who has been out with injuries, and he was diagnosed this weekend with a Grade 1 strain of his right calf.

So much for seeing Jeter in Chicago. The on-field highlight may well be the return of Alfonso Soriano to the Second City.

  -30-

The Yanks are coming? Will A-Rod be with them? Or will we settle for “C.J.”

The Rodriguez fans despise

The arrival of the New York Yankees in Chicago each season is always a moment of excitement – sometimes the highlight of a baseball season.

Yet it has been just over a decade (the Yankees' first ball game after the World Trade Towers incident of 
Sept. 11, 2001 was in Chicago against the White Sox) since anyone nationally was paying attention to the activity at U.S. Cellular Field just because of the presence of the Bronx Bombers.

THE YANKEES ARE in town this week for a three-game series beginning Monday against the Chicago White Sox. Our city’s Sox are struggling to avoid 100 losses, while the Yanks are coping with severe injuries to so many key players that it’s a wonder they have a winning record these days.

The Rodriguez fans used to love

But the reason the Yankees’ arrival in town is a big deal is because of the third baseman Alex Rodriguez – who has been one of the injured. He has yet to play a single game for the Yankees this season. Although in recent days, he has been undergoing minor league therapy in Trenton, N.J., and theoretically could play his first major league game on Monday.

Which could mean the White Sox faithful (along with the Midwestern-based Yankees fans who make their one visit to “the Cell” when they come to town) will get to see Rodriguez – and heckle him unmercifully.

Do Yankees fans want to crop him out?

We could be treated to the spectacle this week (my brother, Chris, and I will be at the stadium for Tuesday’s game) of Chicago showing its contempt for Rodriguez at its most intense level.

THEN AGAIN, MAYBE we won’t.

Because Rodriguez is one of a few ballplayers who are suspected of using certain chemical substances to enhance their strength and make themselves appear to be better ballplayers than they would otherwise be.

But officials say that Rodriguez’ involvement, and efforts to cover up, may be at a higher level. Which is why the speculation is that Rodriguez will be suspended on Monday for the remainder of 2013 and the entire 2014 season.

The beginning of the big-money era

If it turns out that Rodriguez is able to play on Monday (the speculation Sunday is that he will appeal his penalty, and will be allowed to play while the appeal is pending), he’s in for a hellish experience. Although I suspect even if he’s not able to play, the fans who turn out on Monday (and to lesser levels Tuesday and Wednesday) will make their level of contempt known.

THERE’S NO WAY to shut up a sports fan who feels compelled to boo and razz someone!

I’ll be honest. When I’m at the ballgame, I’m probably going to be more focused on the level of intensity expressed against Rodriguez than I will be on the game itself.

The Yankees may be able to boost their quality of play this month and next and still qualify for a playoff spot (that’s more likely than the White Sox being able to turn 2013 into a season with a winning record). But it likely is a “lost” season for both ball clubs.

The heckling level will be more memorable than the game itself. Although considering it will be the first ballgame I’ve made it out to this season, it will still be a pleasurable experience just for being live baseball.

SO THE YANKS are coming. Oft-injured shortstop Derek Jeter is likely to be in the lineup on Monday – after having sat out a weekend series against the San Diego Padres. We’ll get to see former Chicago Cub Alfonso Soriano, who is trying to show that his Cub-like quality of play was a fluke. A victory or two this week would be the highlight of the White Sox'  season!

Coming back to the old neighborhood

Although the most memorable thing may well be center fielder Curtis “C.J.” Granderson – a Chicago-area native who plays for New York, but plans to spend some time this week with kids in suburban Lansing and Lynwood just to promote their interest in baseball as a game.

Considering how much of the contempt level felt by baseball fans for Rodriguez is because of his record-setting contract, it is nice to see at least one ballplayer who hasn’t forgotten where he comes from and is willing to give something back to his home community.

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Political people want to keep Cubs at the 'humble abode' of Elwood J. Blues

How much will structure change after renovation?

There’s one inherent fact to comprehend when it comes to the way Chicago political people interact with the professional athletic teams that represent this city.

They don’t want change!

THE WHITE SOX will always be at 35^th Street, while the Bulls and Blackhawks (who’d have ever envisioned so many wins in this strike-shortened season?) will play their games on Madison Street.

The Bears will be in Soldier Field. While the Cubs will forevermore be the team that plays at Clark and Addison streets.

Think about it. The White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks moved to new stadiums in the 1990s that were located across the street from their old buildings – allowing for minimal change in the way we think of those teams.

The Bears play in that flying-saucer contraption located within the old Soldier Field, no matter how hideous it makes the overall structure look.

SO NOW THAT the Chicago Cubs are trying to engage in serious negotiations about a renovation of their stadium so that the 99-year-old building will survive a few more decades, the Cubs have the serious drawback in negotiations that they can’t seriously play a threat to move.

Even though I suspect some of their northwest suburban base of fans would probably prefer it if they no longer had to make the trek to the Lake View neighborhood and could instead go to a place like Arlington Heights or Schaumburg.

Of course, that would go contrary to the trend of modern-day stadium building – which comes up with structures that like to pretend they’re based on the classic ballparks of old but are usually built on the fringes of downtown.

TUNNEY: Talking tough, because he can!

But we’ve never had that attitude in Chicago. When the White Sox tried back in the 1980s to talk of building a new stadium in DuPage County, or when others tried to talk of a multi-purpose stadium for the White Sox and Bears in the South Loop – they were non-starters!

THE POLITICAL PEOPLE back then only wanted to talk about construction that would keep a sports team at 35^th Street near the Dan Ryan Expressway – as though it is written in stone that the ball club can go nowhere else.

Even though a modern facility probably would have fit in better at a different location than it does on the fringes of the old-school Bridgeport neighborhood.

The same attitude is going to prevail with the Cubs – which will limit the amount of change that will be permitted to the structure to make it competitive with the new stadiums that are overglorified shopping malls with sports themes, or perhaps baseball-themed amusement parks.

Where the game on the field is secondary to the whole spectacle of being present in the building.

THE RICKETTS FAMILY that now owns the Chicago Cubs wants to do a significant overhaul of the old building, but city officials are making it clear they’re not about to give in on much change.

Alderman Thomas Tunney of the 44^th Ward has said he wants assurances of more parking (which Wrigley Field now notoriously lacks), better police protection and guarantees that the renovated ballpark wouldn’t become an architectural albatross that overwhelms the neighborhood – such as what U.S. Cellular Field sometimes does to the Armour Square neighborhood.

And Mayor Rahm Emanuel seems determined to treat the Cubs as he might have once treated Republican politicos who were trying to undermine Barack Obama’s presidential authority.

What brought this thought into my mind was reading the assorted Internet comments being posted. There are those who think the Cubs ought to tell the city to “Shove it!” and move to a suburban location.

AS THOUGH LIFE were that simple.

Particularly since I suspect many suburban officials like the idea of having the amenities of life’s entertainment nearby without having them within their own boundaries. Because then, they’d be responsible for their maintenance.

It may well be only Chicago city officials who would want to take on a project such as a $300 million overhaul of Wrigley Field (with another alleged $200 million to upgrade the surrounding neighborhood).

Which may well mean that Chicago gets the upper hand in these negotiations.

WHILE I DON’T have a problem with professional sports teams playing in city- (or state-)owned stadiums, I only wish these governments could negotiate worthwhile deals that make it viable for them – as well as the teams!

Not selling out the house to benefit the Cubs could well be a major accomplishment for the Emanuel administration. Let’s only hope that city officials don’t forget that fact.

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