It’s that World Series time of year – which ballclub do we follow in Chi?

I’m amused by the knowledge that Jake Peavy is scheduled to start the second game of the World Series on Wednesday, pitching for the San Francisco Giants as they try to win their third World Series title in the past five years.

For let’s not forget that Peavy also was active this time of year one year ago – he was with that Boston Red Sox ballclub that managed to slip an American League championship in between two last place seasons. He got to pitch in the 2013 World Series.

TWO YEARS IN a row, Peavy is a starting pitcher for ball clubs that have a shot at the top title in professional baseball.

Of course, during the parts of five seasons that Peavy was a starting pitcher for the Chicago White Sox, he was supposed to be the big game pitcher who would lead the Sox to a World Series appearance.

Only it never happened. The White Sox flirted with playoff baseball during his time in Chicago. But it never was fulfilled for the South Side ballclub and its fans.

So what should we think when Peavy pitches on Wednesday. Are we going to secretly be rooting for him? Or wondering why the big bum couldn’t get his act together for Chicago (a 36-win, 29-loss, 4.00 earned run average record was far from what the White Sox expected).

NOW I’M NOT necessarily wishing ill will on Peavy. I’m just pointing out he’s one of the few ballplayers who will be taking the field beginning Tuesday in this year’s World Series matchup between American League champion Kansas City Royals and the National League champ San Francisco Giants that has a Chicago connection.

One of the few for whom we can scream at our television sets “Why couldn’t you do that here!!?!?” while watching him play the summer game in the days leading up to Halloween.

He’s not the only one.

There’s also Jason Frasor, a relief pitcher who’s on the roster of the Kansas City Royals.

SOME MAY REMEMBER he pitched part of a season (the second half of 2011) with the White Sox. It wasn’t all that substantial.

His connection is more home-bound. He was born in Chicago, raised in suburban Oak Forest and played college baseball at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale – before going into the professional ranks that has seen him pitch in Toronto and Arlington, Texas, along with the Royals and the White Sox.

It will be a first World Series appearance for Frasor – in fact, this is the first time he’s ever played for a ballclub that managed to get into the playoffs.

Thank goodness for all those wild cards that now permit lesser ball clubs to have a chance at a league championship and World Series appearance. Otherwise, the Royals would all be sitting at home, on account of the fact that the Detroit Tigers were one game better than they were during the regular season.

BUT WE DO have these expanded playoffs in baseball, and some people like the idea of these almost-good enough teams getting a second chance. Which the Royals have take advantage of – having not lost a single ballgame during the playoffs. While also giving us the all-Wild Card World Series for 2014.

Beginning with that wild card qualifier game against the Oakland Athletics – who had the guy who many thought was going to be the Chicago connection to this year’s World Series.

After all, the White Sox’ Adam Dunn was traded to Oakland in early September, giving them a big bat (home runs, plus many strikeouts) to bolster the team in October.

Yet his “Super Whiff” characteristics kept Dunn from even playing in Oakland’s one playoff game – in which Kansas City overcame the rest of the team, got hot at the right time and has given us countless moments on television of watching one-time Royals third baseman George Brett cheer on the boys in baby blue as they try to win their first World Series title since that ball club Kansas City had in 1985.

MUCH HAS BEEN made of the fact that Kansas City hasn’t won anything since the middle of the Reagan Administration. Although those of us who will be watching the World Series on television this week and next will snicker at the idea of 1985 being all that distant.

Particularly for North Side baseball partisans – where despite playoff appearances in recent years, there hasn’t been a World Series victory since the days when the U.S. flag only had 46 stars.

Nor even an appearance since (with apologies to Steve Goodman) “the year we dropped the bomb on Japan.”

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Retiring Sox sluggers? Not likely!

It seems to be the theme story that sportswriters for many outlets feel compelled to write about these days – the notion that the two “big bats” for the Chicago White Sox are on the verge of quitting!

A different uniform more likely than retirement in '14

 

I have lost count of the number of news outlets that have come up with stories speculating that both Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko will retire as professional athletes following this season.

PERSONALLY, I DON’T think either one will “hang it up,” so to speak. I expect to see both of them in a uniform in 2014 – albeit at least one of them with another ball club.

The one I refer to is Konerko, who came to the White Sox back in 1999, has worked his way up the career team records list in several categories and is one of the few ballplayers who can claim to have been parts of the first-place finishing White Sox teams of 2000, 2005 and 2008.

But he has a contract that expires after this season. At age 37 and just from watching his on-field play this year, it is obvious he’s no longer as good a ballplayer as he once was.

Which means it shouldn’t be surprising if White Sox management decides that sentiment is not a good enough reason to retain him. It is likely the White Sox will decide to offer him only some sort of a token-pay contract – IF they don’t just decide to let him go altogether.

Konerko's not the next Bernie Williams

IF THEY LET him go, he could negotiate a deal with another ball club. Which wouldn’t be unusual. Few ballplayers (even the ones who wanted to, like one-time White Sox star Frank Thomas) play entire careers for one major league organization.

So Konerko wearing another uniform? Trying to get in another season or two before he decides to hang it up (just like one-time Chicago Cub Mark Grace wound up finishing his playing days with the Arizona Diamondbacks)?

He's more likely the next Big Hurt

The idea seems too hurtful to some fans, who want to believe that Konerko would sooner quit the game than wear another team’s uniform. Kind of like what happened to Bernie Williams when the New York Yankees let him go after 2006 and he declined offers from other teams.

There may be some sense of loyalty from Konerko to the White Sox organization. Yet I just don’t see him passing, particularly since there are hints that he is capable of playing for another season or two.

Will Adam Dunn top Mr. October?

ADD KONERKO TO the list of Mark Buehrle and A.J. Pierzynski of prominent White Sox players now working for other ball clubs. It’s just fact.

Not that Konerko is the only one whom is facing speculation that he’s done. Adam Dunn could also be gone – if we want to believe the rumor mill.

It seems to be based on the idea that Dunn has said he will quit playing baseball when it is no longer fun for him. Even though he has a contract running through 2014 (at $15 million for the season). Would he give up that kind of money because he’s miserable?

Dunn likely to top Slammin' Sammy

I doubt it. Even though I realize many White Sox fans would like him to leave because of his performance the past three seasons in Chicago.

DUNN IS A muscle-bound guy (a one-time college football player) who has always amounted to home runs or strikeouts when he bats. As of Friday, he has 30 home runs this season – sixth best in the American League.

But he also has 162 strikeouts in the 131 games he has played this season. When matched up with his .226 batting average (only .328 percentage getting on base), the sense is that the home run total just isn’t worth the overall package.

Which makes me think that the people who are “predicting” a Dunn retirement are engaging in wishful thinking – not what he’s inclined to do.

Mr. 2,193, and counting

It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Dunn, who is 33, wants to play a few more seasons just to show that this White Sox portion of his career has been an aberration. If he makes it to 500 career home runs (he’s 64 short of that goal), it would cause many fans to forget just how many times he struck out.

UNLESS, OF COURSE, he also winds up setting a career strikeout record. At 2,193, he’s short of Reggie Jackson’s record.

He’s also shy of Sammy Sosa’s strikeout total of 2,306 – which probably would have increased enough to top Jackson, had he not burned so many bridges in baseball that he’s effectively black-balled from the game.

That could be the next statistical achievement done by a White Sox player in coming seasons. Perhaps while Konerko watches from first base while playing for another ball club.

See what we get to look forward to in 2014!

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EXTRA: The beginning, or the end, for the Sox? Will we have to look to Gary, Indiana for a summer baseball fix?

The Chicago White Sox have won their past three games, and four of their last five.

Adam Dunn – the man who’s supposed to be the big home run bat in the White Sox lineup – managed to hit two in one game Wednesday against the Minnesota Twins and had a game-tying hit in the Thursday game against the Los Angeles Angels.

ALL IN ALL, it has been a good week for the White Sox; who continue as of Friday to be in last place in their division. Although the only reason for hope is that even as bad as they have played, they are only 4 games behind the tied-for-first place Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers.

Meaning that nobody in that particular division (American League Central) is all that outstanding. And we’re not even at the Memorial Day holiday – which is the point when I start seriously paying attention to baseball standings (any earlier is just too early, not enough games played).

So what should we think? The beginning of the turnaround? Or is this soon-to-be completed week The Highlight of the 2013 season?

It may well be so. Which may also mean many of us wind up turning to the minor league ball clubs in suburban Joliet, Gary and Crestwood (all of which opened their seasons Thursday) for a live baseball fix this summer.

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Black Monday? So in character for Chicago baseball on both sides of town

Call it incredibly frustrating. But learning that the Chicago White Sox managed to pull off an 11-0 blowout of the Cleveland Indians Monday night was possibly even more annoying than any of the losses in the 2-10 stretch (2-5 during the last week of home games) the ballclub did in recent weeks that took them out of the pennant race.

'Comeback player' the best Sox can hope for?



Wouldn’t you know it that once it no longer matters, the White Sox would regain their hitting stroke.

I SAY ‘NO longer matters’ because it doesn’t. The Detroit Tigers were at the point where all they needed was one more win this season on their part, and they would clinch an American League division title and a spot in the playoffs.

They got that victory Monday night, beating the Kansas City Royals 6-3. It’s over. The White Sox who held onto first place for so much of the 2012 season (even though so many people were convinced this would be a historically awful ballclub) are now mathematically eliminated from contention.

History will record them as a second place ballclub in 2012, and one whose players get to watch the playoffs on television instead of from the dugout, while slugger Adam Dunn gets to wonder if his 40-plus home runs this season are good enough to win him Comeback Player of the Year honors.

But it wasn’t just the White Sox who managed to accomplish something on Monday.

LET’S HEAR IT for the Chicago Cubs, who on the same day that the White Sox were knocked out of contention managed to achieve their own “goal” for the season – they lost their 100^th ballgame.

Diamond in dung-heap of Cubs' '12 season?

And they managed to do it to the one team that may be worse than the baby bears – the Houston Astros already had 106 losses going into their final three games of the season being played at Wrigley Field.

So no contender for the Sox, all those losses for the Cubs, and a whole lot of misery for those of us with any interest in watching a contender on the playing field.

Although I suppose none of this should be surprising.

AFTER THE AWFUL season the White Sox managed to put out during 2011, there were many people who were convinced that it would happen again – which is what drove down the season ticket sales that made the White Sox all-the-more reliant on walkups to the ticket window.

And anytime that happens, you become reliant on quirks such as weather and timing. So many things can drive down attendance – which is why the White Sox fell just short of the 2 million mark in tickets sold (1,965,505, for those who have an anal-retentive attention to detail) this season.

Which is about 1 million short of what the Chicago Cubs are likely to draw by the time their home games are complete come Wednesday.

Which makes me wonder if Theo Epstein is still gleeful about his professional prospects of revitalizing this Cubs franchise. He knew he didn’t have a contender, but I doubt he realized he had a historically-awful ballclub.

THAT’S WHAT 100 losses means, although I’m sure those in Cubbie fandom will take their solace in the fact that they won’t have to put up with White Sox gloating over having a playoff-bound ballclub.

In fact, about the only happy person in White Sox-land these days is general manager Ken Williams (whom some reports say will be “bumped up” to another administrative post so that long-time deputy Rick Hahn can be general manager).

Nice 'digs' for one-time utility outfielder



Crain’s Chicago Business used its website to report that the ballclub gave Williams a $2.15 million loan so he could buy a century-old luxury home in the Gold Coast neighborhood. It seems Kenny is confident he’s still employed – even if his ballclub did flop in the end.

Although the real story these days may well be at Wrigley Field, where the Astros are playing their final ballgames as a National League team. In a touch of irony, Houston played their first games in the National League back in 1962 against the Cubs – whose “College of Coaches”-led ball clubs were as bad as this year’s version.

IN A RESTRUCTURING of the leagues, Houston is moving to the American League, where officials hope they will become a vicious rival of the Dallas-Fort Worth-area team, the Texas Rangers.

I don’t know about that happening. But it does remind me of that moment nearly 4 decades ago when Ron Santo joined the White Sox following a career with the Cubs in the National League.

On Opening Day, he was greeted by the Comiskey Park faithful with a banner reading, “Welcome to the major leagues.”

So as an American League fan, I say “Welcome!” to the Astros, who may well be the one ballclub that had wackier scoreboard antics at the Astrodome than those of the old Comiskey Park.

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A DAY IN THE LIFE (of Chicago): What makes place historic? Helps if old

It seems Chicago has a new site on the National Register of Historic Places – although my guess is that it won’t be one that comes to most peoples’ minds.

The National Park Service has created the Cermak Road Bridge Historic District fto help influence future development of the blocks around the bridge that crosses over the South branch of the Chicago River.

I DON’T KNOW of anybody who lives in that district, or of any businesses in that area that I patronize on a regular basis. In fact, when I think of the area, all I envision are some warehouses.

Yet that is what federal and state officials (the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency helps administer the historic sites program) are hoping to pay tribute to. Because it seems that all of the buildings within the district date back to the first few years of the 20^th Century, and the bridge also was constructed back in the same time period.

In short, it is a place that has changed very little despite the passage of time. It still looks much the same. So it gets the historic designation – even though any events that actually occurred in that area during the past century likely wouldn’t trigger any memories in the minds of the average person.

The desire to preserve the “feel” of Chicago from those old days is what will be behind the historic designation. I’m just wondering how long will it be before some developer tries to come up with ideas for “revitalizing” the area that he complains are being interfered with by these “history zealots” the way that some people rant and rage about environmentalists somehow interfering with business?

YES, I HAVE to admit to getting a kick out of this newest historic site designation. Because I realize that our society has to keep some sense of where we’ve been, if we’re to fully appreciate what direction we ought to be heading in.

It would be easy for one new development to crop up to something of significance and ruin the effect. To me, the best example of that is the National Park that was created out of the blocks immediately surrounding the Abraham Lincoln home in Springfield, Ill.

Federal officials try to make the neighborhood look like it did when the Lincoln family actually lived there in the 1850s. But because officials didn’t get control of all the property in the area until the 1940s, some of the neighborhood houses have advanced beyond the desired time period. It can have a jarring effect.

What else is notable these days about life along the shores of the southwestern portions of Lake Michigan?

NOW WE KNOW WHAT HE WON’T DO:  I got my chuckles from listening to soon-to-be former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who told us he won’t run for political office and won’t become a criminal defense attorney.

He claims not to know what he’s going to do with his life once his “summer break” is complete. It seems he did make a recommendation to Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., as to who he thinks should succeed him. But it seems that Durbin is honoring Fitzgerald’s desire not to publicly name that person at this point.

So we really don’t know at this point what’s going to become of the man, except for one thing.

He’s not planning to go back to his native New York City; he’s come to love living in Chicago. He says he’s staying. Which means on some level, he has some sense!

YOU CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN:  Author Thomas Wolfe could have written the headline for the reports this week about the disappointment felt by Barack Obama for the couple of days he was in town during the NATO Summit held at McCormick Place.

The president publicly said that he couldn’t be at Wrigley Field to watch his fan favorite White Sox beat up on the Cubs because he’s not allowed to have much fun built into his working schedule.

But on a more serious note, he wasn’t even allowed to stop by the family residence in the Hyde Park neighborhood for a quickie visit. Which was something he had hoped to do.

Security was so tight that the roads leading up to his home were shut down for the duration. Even the president got inconvenienced by the NATO-related security.

SOMETHING FOR SOX FANS TO LOOK FORWARD TO?:  Could the big story of Chicago baseball in 2012 turn out to be a battle for who gets to be Comeback Player of the Year?

The annual award to the player who showed the most improvement compared to the prior year is something that could wind up being won by a White Sox – although whether it would be the “Big Donkey” or the man some fans try to call “Joliet Jake” is arguable.

The “Donkey,” of course, is Adam Dunn, who has wisecracked about how he expects to win the award this year because of how awful his 2011 season was.  Going into Friday, Dunn had hit 14 home runs and had a .568 slugging percentage – although the one category he was leading the American League in was strikeouts (68 in 155 at-bats).

But then there is Jake Peavy – the one-time National League Cy Young Award winner who has been truly mediocre pitching in Chicago. Thus far this year, he has a 5-1 won/loss record with a 2.39 earned run average and has a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 5-1 – which is overpowering.

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EXTRA: Dunn not done?

I’m not yet convinced that Chicago White Sox slugger Adam Dunn is restored to his role as a professional home run-hitting machine. But at least he doesn’t seem to be the dud he was last season.

Dunn on Friday hit a home run in the White Sox’ 5-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals. It is his 11^th home run of the 2012 season – which matches the total number he hit during all of 2011.

WHICH WAS SUCH a decline from his previous status, when he consistently managed close to 40 home runs per season for eight straight years.

Between Dunn (who also has struck out 47 times – leading the American League this season), the possible resurgence of pitcher Jake Peavy to the form that won him a Cy Young Award back in 2007 (when he was with the San Diego Padres) and that perfect game Philip Humber managed to throw last month, the White Sox season hasn’t been totally depressing.

Not that I’m stashing away cash for World Series tickets yet.

Because even with the Friday victory, the White Sox still have a losing record (16 wins, compared to 17 losses). Nobody’s going to mistake them for the New York Yankees anytime soon.

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No first-place battle in Chicago; will Cubs revitalize Ozzie’s Marlins?

My advice to baseball fans is not to even look at standings until the Memorial Day holiday weekend. By then, one-third of the season is complete, which is enough time for things to have settled down to the point where we can accurately assess how good (or bad) things will be.

Anything any earlier than that is purely freakish.

TAKE WHAT COULD have occurred in upcoming days here in Chicago.

If the Baltimore Orioles had managed to win on Sunday against the Toronto Blue Jays, they would have been in first place by themselves in their American League division. Meanwhile, the White Sox (by their loss to the Detroit Tigers) fell one-half of a game out of first place.

Naturally, that means Baltimore is making its only visit to Chicago this season for a four-game series against the White Sox beginning Monday. Whodathunk either of those teams would even sniff “first place” this season? Let alone at the same time!

How much of a conniption would the world of professional baseball be having if this week’s early season series turned out to be a battle between two first place teams?

OF COURSE, IT’S not working out that way, and it would be ridiculous to think of it that way (although I’m sure Ken Harrelson would have had no problem getting all worked up in announcing such a series).

It’s just early-season baseball. It’s nice to see (particularly those who say Adam Dunn’s swing doesn’t seem as mucked up as it was last year – maybe those two doubles Sunday are evidence of good things to come?).

But there’s still just over 150 ballgames to play.

And without the “battle for first place” taking place on the Sout’ Side, we can shift our attention to Miami – where Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen will return Tuesday to his 4-6 ballclub (last place in their National League division) just in time for a three-game series against the equally-awful 3-7 Chicago Cubs (who are battling with the Pittsburgh Pirates for the “honor” of “worst” in their division).

FORMER WHITE SOX ace pitcher Mark Buehrle is tentatively scheduled to start Wednesday’s game against the Cubs.

If Ozzie’s ballclub can’t even beat up on the Cubs these days, THAT is something he should be more ashamed of than anything he said (or meant) about Fidel Castro.

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New bat, not ballpark, for Chgo baseball

So what was the big story on Thursday for Chicago baseball – the fact that the White Sox picked up the hard-hitting bat that many believe is the reason they failed to win their division last year?

Or the fact that the Illinois General Assembly finished the fall veto session (and their business for 2010) without ever paying serious attention to the Ricketts’ family’s desire for state assistance in raising the kind of money it will take to revamp Wrigley Field so that it can remain a useful structure for decades to come?

I AM INCLINED to think it is the latter. Because this is now going to become a perennial issue before our state’s Legislature – what will they do to help the Chicago Cubs?

Now that the concept of “civil unions” is on its way to becoming law, it is only appropriate that a new issue come up that can be dragged before the Legislature for many sessions before anything gets done about it.

The Chicago Cubs are now a political football, in addition to a mediocre-to-dreadful baseball team.

I will be the first to admit that a long-term plan to renovate Wrigley Field is essential. The repairs that have been made in recent years are nothing more than short-term renovations, and I don’t blame the ballclub for being interested in finding a way to keep the 94-year-old building at Clark and Addison streets structurally sound, and in use, for several more decades.

I EVEN AM realistic enough to understand that our governments, whether it be the city, county or state (or a combination of all three), will in some way be involved.



After 94 years, it's only natural the old building needs serious upgrades



So when people start to rant that state government shouldn’t be thinking about this issue at a time when their finances are so stretched, I say those people would be equally opposed even if state finances were solid.

It is the political legacy of U.S. Cellular Field – some politicians give a knee-jerk “no” vote whenever anything related to a sports team comes up. That sentiment was involved with the Illinois Legislature’s refusal to even consider the issue during the fall veto session that finally came to an end in the Illinois Senate on Thursday.

The Cubs are now trying to figure out some other funding scheme that might be more politically pleasing to the legislators in future years. Considering that it took the Chicago Bears some two decades of political squabbling before the Legislature finally approved a funding means for the renovation of Soldier Field, I only hope Cubs fans will realize this issue is going to take time.

UNLESS THEY’RE WILLING to play the same kind of hardball politics that the White Sox used back in 1988 to force the issue to be considered on the ballclub’s timetable – rather than the state’s.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported about the failure of the Legislature to act, saying the team is now considering measures such as turning Wrigley Field into a Tax Increment Finance district or to enlarge the “downtown” entertainment district where hotels and restaurants are taxed at a higher-than-usual rate to raise money to pay off the bonds that built U.S. Cellular (and renovated) Soldier fields.

More money could mean that the Cubs could tap into that funding source. Not that it matters to the political types. They either are knee-jerk sports fans who will go along with anything put before them, or they’re openly hostile toward doing anything.

This is going to be an issue that we will hear for many years that will not be open for any serious debate. Political people largely already have their minds made up – before they even hear the specifics of the proposal.

MY ONLY HOPE is that when our government officials do finally approve something, they will insist on some serious compensation from the Cubs in return for the aid in raising money to pay for the renovation. My doubt is that anything will happen prior to the 100^th anniversary of the building’s opening (on April 23, 1914 as the home of the Chicago Whales of the Federal League).

Will they get something done prior to the 100^th anniversary of the Cubs moving into that building (April 20, 1916, when they beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-6)?

With all that political intrigue for future years, the White Sox’ acquisition of Adam Dunn (who left the Washington Nationals when the Sox offered him $56 million for four years of play) is of lesser-lasting significance – although if he can repeat a season like he had in 2010 (38 home runs and 107 runs batted in), it would help the ballclub (where some fans are determined to hold onto the memory of slugger Jim Thome and say that’s the reason the White Sox didn’t win).



If it turns out that Paul Konerko chooses not to return to the White Sox, Dunn would go quite a way toward replacing him. Although if it turns out that Konerko does leave the team, it would leave only pitcher Mark Buehrle and catcher A.J. Pierzynski remaining from that World Series-winning ballclub of ’05 – now that relief pitcher Bobby Jenks also is history.

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