Were the White Sox just six some decades ahead of the pack with sirens?

Sept. 22, 1959 is regarded by some sports-minded fans as a day of infamy.

Could anyone outside Soldier Field hear the sirens?

That’s the date the Chicago White Sox managed to clinch an American League championship with a victory over the Indians in Cleveland. Back in Chicago, city Fire Commissioner Robert J. Quinn acknowledged the achievement by ordering the city’s air raid sirens to blast away.

FOR FIVE MINUTES, the warning sign of some alien attack or coming tornado rang out, scaring much of the populace who either were Cubs fans clueless as to the championship won that day – or else just overly paranoid and willing to believe the worst was coming.

There may even have been some who thought it natural – that the White Sox winning a championship of any sorts was evidence of the End of the World as We Know It.

To this day, Quinn’s reputation takes a knock from people who say he grossly over-reacted. Even though technically, he was merely acting in reaction to a City Council-approved ordinance that said, “there shall be whistles and sirens blowing and there shall be great happiness when the White Sox win the pennant.”

So what should we think of the Chicago Bears; who on Sunday beat the Green Bay Packers and included amongst the revelry at Soldier Field an air raid siren blasting away.

Lost to Indianapolis, of all cities

THE BEARS, AFTER all, are NFC North Division Champions!!!!!! They’re going to the playoffs for the first time in oh so many years. The hard-core of gridiron fandom in Chicago likely is already dreaming of the Super Bowl victory party to be held in Millennium Park.

All the more reason for pandemonium to run amok, and for us to have “whistles and sirens blowing” and “great happiness” even if it is for the Bears – because we honestly don’t have a clue when again the White Sox will give us occasion for such celebration.

Now I’ll admit this was merely a sound effect within the stadium. The rest of Chicago (many of whom likely watched the game on television) didn’t get woken up out of a deep sleep and scared into believing that disaster was impending.

The original siren blarers

And the Chicago Tribune managed to find a few fans who were offended by the ringing out of sirens, although team officials insist the sirens are merely part of the overall effects offered up at modern stadiums to try to get the crowd all excited.

HENCE, WE’RE LIKELY going to keep getting the sirens blared at future games as the Bears try to work their way through the various rounds of the playoffs toward a Super Bowl.

If anything, that’s the reason I can’t get quite too excited about the Bears phenomenon of 2018.

Literally half of the National Football League manages to qualify for a playoff spot each season. The real issue at stake isn’t whether the Bears are good enough to win the whole deal this year.

It’s really one more of how could they have been so god-awful pathetic that they couldn’t even qualify for a playoff spot in recent years. Not even one of those one game and done early in January.

AS FOR USE of a blaring siren, I can’t help but think it’s become a cliché, similar to shooting off fireworks in the sky to celebrate a sporting something.

Ultimate deities of Chicago sporting scene

What was considered outlandish some 59 years ago is now routine. An air raid siren ringing out to the skies to let people know something extraordinary has just happened.

Just as those ’59 White Sox ultimately lost the World Series that year, I wonder what it will feel like if the Bears can’t quite make it to the big game (to be played Feb. 3 in Atlanta)?

Will the air raid gesture seem like overkill? Instead of a victory party, will Bears fandom wind up holding the equivalent of a funeral procession for the team? And will the ’85 Bears (the ones who beat New England in the Super Bowl) be elevated even further in the pantheon of Chicago sporting history?

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World Series ratings on decline reminds us of Cubbie-blue ratings jolt of 2016

The World Series came to an end this week, and reportage repeatedly told of one fact – the Boston Red Sox/Los Angeles Dodgers matchup was a television ratings bust. Although most World Series of recent years have been disappointing – with one exception.

That was 2016, when on the night of two years ago Friday, the Chicago Cubs managed to prevail over the Cleveland Indians to win Chicago’s second baseball championship of this century – and their first in 108 seasons.

IN FACT, THE final game of that World Series had an average of 40 million viewers, with some 115 million people supposedly watching the series matchup at some point during the seven games.

Cubbie fans, of course, want to view this as some sort of sense of their superiority – as though the whole world was waiting for their victory. Which strikes me as being as ridiculous as that Super Bowl claim that people all over the world really care about the NFL championship game.

For the record, that 2016 World Series had an average of 12.9 percent of households watching the game, with 22 percent of television sets tuned in. By comparison, this year’s World Series had figures of 8.3 percent of households and 17 percent of households.

Of course, we could also compare it to 2005, when the White Sox managed to prevail in winning Chicago’s first World Series of the 21^st Century. The one that Cubbie fans always like to downgrade as insignificant, if not meaningless and irrelevant.

IT HAD SOME 11.1 percent of households, and 19 percent of televisions tuned in on average for its games. Not that much of a difference from the ’16 experience, which had its broadcast ratings boosted by being a seven-game series, compared to the ’05 four-game sweep for the Sox.

Not that any of these numbers really matter. Because to the fans of the teams, they’re watching regardless, and the memory of that final out made them forget suburban Northbrook native Jason Kipnis' big home run for the Indians that could have been the knockout punch. Fans could care less what the fair-weather types think.

Just as I’m sure Boston fans this week are thinking the rest of the nation doesn’t know what they missed by not tuning in -- although we know they're crazed for throwing beer cans at the World Series trophy.

The World Series is over. Meaning that baseball for 2018 is finished. We’ll have to wait ‘til springtime. Which is when we’ll see for ourselves if the Las Vegas oddsmakers have any clue what they’re talking about.

FOR THE CUBS, they’re being given 10/1 odds of winning the 2019 World Series, while the White Sox are at 65/1 odds. Which actually puts them ahead of all the other teams in their division except for Cleveland (12/1 odds).

.

And one final thought. A comparison of statistics involving Chicago's two 21st Century World Series experiences. The Cubs' victory celebration of '16 supposedly attracted some 5 million fans, compared to 1.5 million for the White Sox' celebration of '05. None of whom felt compelled to throw anything at the World Series trophy, like they did in Boston.

Anybody who seriously believes either of those figures probably thinks the all-Chicago World Series will occur next season. A fantasy we in Chicago have waited more than a century to see for real.

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EXTRA: A double-victory day for Chicago, and a White Sox winner!

It has been 13 years since Chicago baseball fans got their first World Series victory of the 21st Century. In fact, Oct. 26, 2005 was literally the date that the White Sox got the third and fourth victories of that series, which ensured them a spot in history books as 2005 champions.

Remember Geoff Blum, the late-season acquisition from the Houston Astros who literally got only one at-bat the entire series -- and he used it to hit that 14th inning home run that put the White Sox in the lead of Game 3. Which at 5-hours, 41-minutes remains the longest World Series game ever played, and also means the game on Oct. 25 spilled over into the early hours of the following day.

WHICH IS WHY the two teams were back in action that very same night for Game 4, which was a "nail-biter" that ended 1-0, but also could have been another extra-inning affair if not for the sharp defensive play by shortstop Juan Uribe (who also later played in the World Series for the San Francisco Giants and the New York Mets) to end the game and stop a tying run from scoring for the Houston Astros.

Blum, of course, left the White Sox after that season and eventually found himself playing again for the Astros -- for whom he now works as a radio broadcaster. Hence, when I stumbled across this video snippet, I couldn't help but include it. A 2009 game-winning hit by Blum against the Cubs.

Which in this age of chaos and calamity always makes the world seem right. At least to those of us spiritually from the Sout' Side of Chicago. There also are those of us who will remember the celebratory parade that came 13 years ago this Sunday.

Enjoy these memories, as we watch the current World Series and see if Alex Cora, the Red Sox manager who is the younger brother of one-time White Sox bench coach Joey Cora, can pull off a similar four-game sweep for Boston with wins over the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday and Saturday.

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Will 2018 be a “might’a been” version of a World Series for Chicago?

It’s one of the quirks of professional baseball these days that its championship event has so many rounds of playoffs and interest declines as teams get knocked out of play.

One-time White Sox ace now Game 1 starter

Which is why there were many people who were delirious this weekend when the Los Angeles Dodgers managed to prevail as National League championships over the Milwaukee Brewers. Having media market No. 2 (as in L.A.) works much better than media market 35 (the land of Laverne and Shirley).

SO WE’RE GOING to get to see a Boston Red Sox/Los Angeles Dodgers World Series – which some are trying to spin as a replay of 1916. Even though the Dodgers themselves were Brooklyn’s ballclub back then.

But I can’t help but perceive this year’s World Series (played one century after that series that used to be Boston’s last victory ever, when they beat the Chicago Cubs) in Chicago terms.

In which it’s the “What might’s been” World Series. We in Chicago can watch the event and speculate what might have happened for our city’s ballclubs – if only certain factors had played out different.

The obvious Chicago connection to this year’s World Series is in the form of the Red Sox’ ace pitcher – Chris Sale. Who actually is set to be the starting game pitcher for Game One, to be played Tuesday night.

WHO ALSO ACTUALLY was once Chicago White Sox property – from 2010 until the trade that sent him off to Boston prior to the 2017 season. The one that got the White Sox several minor league prospects – including Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech; whom some still say could develop into stars who could make the deal seem quite balanced.

Others who will only view Moncada’s mediocre hitting this season and the injury sustained by Kopech that will cause him to miss the entirety of the 2019 season are ready to write off the deal as a rip-off for the White Sox, and wish they could have Sale back in Chicago.

Cubs ace now Dodgers coach

They’re bound to be the ones watching the World Series this year, trying to fantasize how good life could have been in Chicago IF ONLY Sale were still wearing the black-colored hose of the White Sox. Ignoring the fact that Sale most likely would be the malcontent (I haven’t forgotten his jersey-ripping incident) ace pitcher of a third place ballclub.

But some fans are bound to want to find ways to be miserable. Which at times may be the real truth characterizing what Chicago sports fans are all about.

BUT IF CHICAGO fans will be following Sale and the Red Sox, I also don’t doubt that the Dodgers will stir up some interested. Particularly in the form of the team’s bullpen coach – the guy whose job is to make sure relief pitchers are properly warmed up and NOT being distracted by the blonde in the too-tight halter top sitting in the stands.

For the Dodgers’ coach this season was Mark Prior. Remember him?

Prior is the guy whom Cubs fans were convinced was going to be one of their all-time great pitchers, and whose teams of the decade of the Aughts (the 2000s) had the pitching pair of Prior and Kerry Wood. Whom Cubs fans back then were delusional enough to think were the elite of the National League.

One-time White Sox player and coach will see … 

Even though neither one wound up living up to their baseball potential.

PRIOR WAS SUPPOSED to be that elite pitcher who would lead the Cubs to a mid-2000s World Series victory (it didn’t happen). He’s the guy whom injuries would up cutting his playing career short.

But after leaving the Cubs, he filled several roles in the San Diego Padres organization, then this year was offered a coaching job with the Dodgers. Which put him in a position where he’s FINALLY with a team appearing in the World Series.

… if his younger brother can win World Series

As is Sale. One of them is going to get that World Series “ring” that supposedly is what a real ballplayer strives to get his entire athletic career – and that is supposedly the crowning achievement missing from Chicago players such as Luke Appling or Ernie Banks.

Of course, the other potential local angle is in the form of Red Sox manager Alex Cora, whom some are emphasizing is the first Puerto Rico native to manage a championship ballclub. He’s the brother of Joey Cora – who was the Chicago White Sox’ bench coach under manager Ozzie Guillen when the latter became the first Latin America-born (Venezuela) to win a World Series.

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Will the Cubbies still be relevant when the White Sox manage to rebuild?

I suppose there are segments of Sout’ Side Chicago who are elated these days – the Cubbies lost that wild-card game Tuesday night, making them the first team with championship aspirations this year to be reduced to irrelevance.

Century-old baseball memories … 

Not that I’m overly boastful. As a fan of the American League, I’m inclined to believe the relevant part of post-season (began Wednesday. The only use I have for the National League is for it to provide a team – any team – for the American League champions to beat upon in the World Series.

… that certain fans would just as soon forget

BUT WE HAVE the Cubs, whose fans want to believe they have performed something historic by qualifying in 2018 for the playoffs for a fourth consecutive season.

Personally, I think playoff appearances are cute, but you have to win a league championship and go to the World Series (which the Cubs did do in 2016) for it to mean anything.

Although as one who’d rather see the White Sox (it’s the American League, after all), I must admit to wondering how much longer this aberration of the Chicago Cubs being a ballclub of significance can last.

All things must come to an end, and it is just a matter of time before the Cubs return to their mode of irrelevance – it is their very character. The “College of Coaches” era is more Cubbie-ish than the notion of a World Series trophy being on display at Wrigley Field.

This ballpark billboard not yet obsolete. Photos by Gregory Tejeda

WHAT I FEAR is that this collapse is the beginning of the end. The Cubs have had their taste of a winning stint, and now it’s over. It’s time for things to return to the way they were.

And as someone who follows the White Sox, I have to admit – the thought of that stinks!

The White Sox 'winners' few and far between

For one of the intriguing parts of having the Cubs at a level of significance these days is that it created the possibility that we could someday have an all-Chicago World Series. A concept that has only occurred once before – back in 1906.

Yes, I do believe the White Sox are in a rebuilding mode that could take shape in coming years. They could become a legitimate contender (with a strong Cuban connection) by 2020. I wouldn’t mind if the Cubs could keep their respectable ways going just long enough for there to be a chance at a city series that matters more than those “Crosstown Classic” games of recent years.

YET HISTORY WOULD indicate that getting both Chicago ballclubs to levels of respectability at the same time truly is a unique event. Yes, we had both ballclubs winning division titles back in 2008 – but both teams got knocked out of the playoffs in the first round.

Star Chicago shortstop of the 1930s

With the Cubs not even capable of winning a single game!

In my lifetime, 1977 and 2003 are the only other seasons that both teams even challenged for playoff spots simultaneously.

More typical of the Chicago baseball scene is the 1930s when the Cubs managed to win National League championships every three years (1929, 1932, 1935 and 1938) while the White Sox were stuck in the doldrums of the days of Hall of Famer Luke Appling and a batch of losing ballplayers.

OR THERE’S THE 1950s, when the White Sox (of the Go-Go era) won an American League championship in 1959 and had winning records in other seasons, while the Cubs stunk up Wrigley Field with their Hall of Famer Ernie Banks surrounded by even more losing ballplayers.

Star Chicago shortstop of the 1950s

What is it about Hall of Fame shortstops that makes them want to play for otherwise atrocious Chicago ball clubs?

There’s most definitely a reason that an all-Chicago World Series seems like such a fantasy that we wonder if it was really nothing more than a dream in 1906 – when Hall of Fame pitchers Ed Walsh of the White Sox and Mordecai Brown of the Cubs went head-to-head and the South Side ball club prevailed.

Would it really be just my luck that Tuesday’s 2-1 extra-innings defeat by the Cubs to the Colorado Rockies is the end of an era – and by the time the White Sox are contenders the Cubs will return to their status as “lovable losers” whose fans forevermore live off 2016 memories of winning a World Series against Cleveland?

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Harvey vs Maria? Natural disaster spread thruout southwest, Caribbean

One reason I’ve heard given as to why everybody is supposed to be rooting for the Houston Astros to win the World Series this week is because of the devastation caused this summer by Hurricane Harvey.

The Clemente Award for charitable works

After all, the people of Houston need a moral victory of sorts to boost their spirits following the devastation spread across the Texas city.

NOT THAT I’M badmouthing Houston in any way. I’m sure there might be a few people who would think in such terms – as though seeing the Astros finally win a World Series for the first time in their 55^th year of existence might make up for any losses they suffered due to the storm’s devastation.

But I can’t help but think that such logic trivializes what happened with Harvey (the hurricane, not the one-time All Star Harvey Kuenn). As though Houston is now fully recovered just because they got a World Series victory – and will be able to stage a massive parade through the city as a result.

All of this may well be the reason why the most intriguing moment of the World Series activity that took place last week and this has to do with Anthony Rizzo of the Chicago Cubs receiving the Clemente Award from Major League Baseball.

The award named for the late Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente is presented every year during the World Series to the ballplayer who engages in charitable work aside from his ballplaying activities.

Clemente made ultimate contribution

IN RIZZO’S CASE, he operates a foundation meant to support groups that address the issue of children who suffer from cancer. Last year, his group helped provide some $4 million to fund the Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago.

A nice cause. But what does any of that have to do with the World Series or Houston?

It’s that Rizzo received a $25,000 prize for receiving the Clemente Award, and Rizzo immediately donated that money to relief efforts meant to help the people of Puerto Rico – who suffered devastation also this summer from Hurricane Maria.

Which has caused so much devastation and has such a messed-up relief effort that there are large swaths of the island commonwealth remaining without electricity or running water – even though the hurricane struck a couple of months ago.

Clemente replacement a star in own right

I’M NOT SAYING I expect Puerto Rico to be back up and running at full efficiency this quickly. No more than it shouldn’t be surprising there are still signs of Harvey damage in Houston.

But for all the people who try to diminish the significance of what is occurring in Puerto Rico these days for their own cheap political advantage (I’m looking directly at President Donald J. Trump when I make this statement), it’s nice to see someone bring up the relief effort at a time when certain elements would rather focus attention on Houston.

Particularly in a way that really doesn’t do a thing to benefit that city or its people. Like the cliché goes, talk is cheap. These people don’t want to kick in with cash that could help the efforts to rebuild the damage caused by so many storms that struck this summer – Mother Nature really was in a foul mood during 2017!

And yes, Puerto Rico is a U.S. commonwealth – giving our federal government just as much responsibility for overseeing a rebuild there as it has for any rebuild done on the U.S. mainland.

Would you really rather think of Yuli and Yu ...

THE FACT THAT Rizzo would bring up the Puerto Rico relief effort as part of an official World Series-related activity is a plus – particularly since it reminds us all of Clemente – the ballplayer who in his final game of 1972 got his 3,000^th base hit. Only to be killed in a crash months later when he tried to try an overloaded airplane with supplies as part of the relief of an earthquake that struck Nicaragua.

An event that I’m sure would be long-forgotten amongst many of us if it hadn’t have cost the Pirates a star ballplayer – got to get our “priorities” right. Is Puerto Rico worth less to many of us because San Juan (the capital) hasn’t been deemed worthy of a U.S. major league ball club?

... when remembering the 2017 World Series?

Thinking of Rizzo is certainly more interesting than much of the World Series activity – unless you’re the type who wants to use the taint of controversy over Yuli Gurriel’s “slant-eyed” mocking gesture to pitcher Yu Darvish to somehow downplay slurs expressed in this country.

I have heard some say that since Gurriel is Cuban and Darvish is from Japan, we should realize that such attitudes are universal, and that the five-game suspension Gurriel will get next season is unfair. Just like they probably think it unfair that Rizzo’s gesture drew attention away from Houston hurricane devastation and toward Puerto Rico.

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Can the Dodgers match the ’05 White Sox postseason accomplishments?

Can 2017 Los Angeles Dodgers ...

Now that we know there’s going to be a Houston Astros/Los Angeles Dodgers matchup come the World Series beginning Tuesday, I can’t help but be reminded of that magical moments of 2005 when it was the Chicago White Sox who managed to “win it all” that autumn.

... match '05 Sox postseason mark?

What was notable about the White Sox’ bid for league and overall championships was that, come playoff time, they became virtually unbeatable.

THE WHITE SOX won the first round of American League playoffs with a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox (with Orlando Hernandez making one of the greatest relief pitching performances I’ve ever seen), then lost only one game in the final round of league playoffs.

Then came their four-game sweep of the World Series proper – as they beat the then-National League Houston Astros (watching the Saturday night playoff game against New York at Houston’s Minute Maid Park, I couldn’t help but remember that extra inning home run by Geoff Blum that was a significant part of the White Sox’ ultimate victory all those years ago).

Now why is any of this particularly relevant as we go into the 2017 World Series – one that sees the now-American League Houston Astros try to win their first World Series title ever?

Chicago native Granderson to play in Series

It’s because of the Dodgers – the team that for awhile this season flirted with the notion of setting a new record for the most wins (116) in a regular season; and wound up actually winning 104, which is still very impressive.

FOR THE DODGERS are the team who this year went through the first round of National League playoffs with a three-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks, then went through the final round of National League playoffs by losing only one game to the Chicago Cubs.

Could it be that the 2017 Dodgers ball club will match the White Sox’ postseason achievement of an 11-1 record, which puts that team in some fairly historic categories.

Blum provided heroic moment in Houston

It’s comparable to the 1998 New York Yankees, who had a three-game sweep in the first round of playoffs, then a four games-to-two victory in the final round, then a four-game sweep of the World Series that year against the San Diego Padres (who nearly two decades later have yet to return to the “fall classic”).

Some say the 1976 Cincinnati Reds deserve recognition because they went through the whole of playoffs and World Series without losing a game. But back then, there was only one round of league playoffs prior to the World Series.

THEIR 7-0 RECORD in beating the Philadelphia Phillies, then the New York Yankees, isn’t quite comparable to what the ’98 Yankees or the ’05 White Sox did. Or what this year’s Los Angeles Dodgers manage to do – if they can pull off a four-game sweep of the World Series beginning Tuesday against Houston.

Just what are the chances of that happening? Is this year’s Dodger team going to be the historic element of the 2017 baseball season? Or is it going to be the notion of Houston becoming the first ball club to ever win championships for both the National and American leagues (which they were transferred to back in 2013, after having been in the “senior circuit” since the 1962 expansion)?

Honestly, I’m an American League fan who feels like the real American League teams all got knocked out of the running – and this year’s World Series will be the equivalent of a mid-season 1970s regular season ballgame of the old National League West.

So in that regard, I almost wouldn’t mind it if the Dodgers were able to pull off not only a victory – but a four-game sweep. It would provide an element of history to what otherwise would be remembered as the Yankees/Dodgers World Series that failed to come to be. Besides, since the Astros this year have shown they don’t really win on the road, the Dodgers (who have home field advantage) will have to be the favorite.

BESIDES, IF A four-game sweep were to become the end result – it means the baseball historians would have to delve into the records of the past to recall all the other ballclubs that suddenly became so dominant come October.

It means we’d have to give a plug to the first ball club from Chicago to take a World Series title in this century.

Which I think would be ironic since the fans of the Cubbie blue were convinced until just a few days ago that ’17 was intended to be “their year” to make some history – and certainly not a time for remembering the city’s “other” ball club.

So as I watch this week’s World Series action, I’ll admit that a key day will be Thursday. While many will think of it merely as a travel day from Los Angeles to Houston, I'll be remembering that moment of 12 years earlier at the same ballpark when White Sox shortstop Juan Uribe fielded that ground ball up the middle, then threw to first base for the final out that finally ended the White Sox’, and Chicago’s baseball championship drought.

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EXTRA: Back to 'Wait 'til next year?'

Are we back to flying the 'L' flag?

The dreams of Chicago Cubs ball clubs capable of winning championships in two consecutive seasons are now down the toilet -- the Cubs' 11-1 loss Thursday ensured the Los Angeles Dodgers will be the National League champions for 2017 and will go to the World Series beginning Tuesday.

It's a low blow to those Cubbie fanatics who were delusional enough to think their fave ball club is now among the league elite and was somehow entitled to a second-straight World Series appearance.

ALTHOUGH IT REALLY shouldn't be. Winning two straight championships in professional athletics is difficult. There are a lot of teams that would consider winning one championship (the way the Cubs did in 2016) to be significant. Nothing takes away that accomplishment.

It will be curious to see now the Cubbie faithful react to losing. Will they become obnoxious in their whining that somehow they were entitled to victory in 2017? Such arrogance is considered tacky when it comes from New York Yankees fans, but then again, the Yankees back up such talk with winning ways.

What I don't see is something along the lines of Bill Veeck during the 1940s stint that he owned the Cleveland Indians. He had them when they won their last (to this date) World Series ever in 1948, and when it became mathematically impossible for the Indians to repeat as champions in 1949, he conducted a ceremony in which he buried the World Series championship banner the Indians had flown that season.

Implying that the championship days were over, and it was time to focus on the future.

WHICH TO THIS date are still World Series-title-less -- to the point where I'm sure Cleveland baseball fans would be thankful to have come as close as the Cubs did this year to repeating (rather than losing to the Yankees in the Division Series round of this year's playoffs). Or Pittsburgh Pirates fans who made playoff appearances, but have been unable to break their own streak of four decades without a championship.

Kike matches Reggie's 3 homers

What I'm more inclined to expect is Cubbie fan whining along the lines of how 2016 is supposed to live on forever -- and how 2005 (the year the Chicago White Sox won this city's first World Series title in this century) is a year to be forgotten.

It will be this obnoxious attitude that will fuel the dislike that fans of Chicago's two ball clubs have for each other.

And could be the impetus of what could become an ultimate World Series, from the Chicago perspective -- a rebuilt White Sox with a Cuban connection at its core against the Cubs, perhaps by 2019. Which would be the centennial of that World Series that lives in Chicago baseball infamy and is in desperate need of erasure.

  -30-

Cubbies create nothing but a yawn from me, but White Sox offer no guarantees

I am a life-long Chicagoan interested in baseball who must confess that the presence of the Chicago Cubs in the 2017 baseball playoffs trying to get themselves a second-consecutive World Series berth leaves me emotionally flat.

Chicago baseball fans debate ...

I honestly could care less what the Cubs do this year. And not just because my interest in the local baseball scene focuses on the chances that the Chicago White Sox’ rebuild, with an intense “Cubano revolution,” will result in success.

BECAUSE OF THE White Sox interest, I’m an American League fan – one whom I must admit as a kid enjoyed the New York Yankees ballclubs of the mid-1970s and still remembers that two of their preeminent ballplayers were former White Sox Bucky Dent and Rich Gossage.

... which World Series relevant

I went into this year’s baseball playoffs focusing attention on the Cleveland/New York matchup, figuring that I’d wind up rooting for whichever team prevailed in that early round to go all the way to win the American League championship – then the World Series.

As for the National League? I check the box scores , but really don’t care which team wins. I only want them to ultimately lose to the American League champions.

If there is Yankee success in '17,...

I only saw the last two innings of that final Chicago/Washington playoff game – and will always believe the Cubs were downright lucky to get that 8^th inning pickoff play ruled in their favor because it put to rest the rally that WOULD HAVE resulted in a Washington victory (and the Cubbie faithful crying in their beers).

BUT REALLY, I’M not rooting against the Cubs at this stage of the playoffs Eventually I’ll root for either New York or Houston to beat up on either Los Angeles or the baby blue Bruins of the North Side – whichever prevails this week.

... it could be due to a trio ...

The part of me that roots for the White Sox during the regular season almost wouldn’t mind a Houston/Chicago matchup. It would be downright funny if the Astros – who only once in their history ever made it to the World Series; losing to the White Sox of 2005 before transferring leagues in 2013 – beat up on the Cubs!

White Sox fans mostly are apathetic about the playoffs (even though Cubbie faithful is deluded enough to think the whole world is obligated to root for their ball club), but would get a kick out of history recording the Houston Astros losing to their team, while beating the Cubs.

... of ballplayers with Chicago ties

Not all of Chicago is getting all worked up over Cubbie-mania. There are those of us with real lives, and those of us who are still living off the memories of that aforementioned ’05 World Series victory that was the first for a Chicago ball club in this century

JUST AS REGARDLESS of what happens with the Cubs against the Dodgers this week, Cubs fans will still have their memories of 2016 how they nearly blew a Game 7 lead to the Cleveland Indians, but managed to win in extra innings.

If Jose Lobaton hadn't been picked off ...

It’s the inherent character of Chicago baseball that fans have their team to root for – and the other might as well not exist.

The only way we’d ever get Chicago united over a post-season round of baseball playoffs is if we were to ever get the proper circumstances for an all-Chicago World Series.

Which is the goal of the White Sox re-build, to put their ball club in contention for a World Series berth at the same time that the Cubs may still have ballclubs in contention. That would be a circumstance that would create memories Chicagoans would talk about for the rest of their lives. Which when you consider how young some baseball fans are these days could easily stretch to the final days of the 21^st Century.

... it's likely the 'L' flag would be flying in the minds of Cubs fans

OF COURSE, THERE’S there’s always the problem that there are no guarantees in baseball – just like there’s no crying (remember the film "A League of their Own?"). Nobody knows just how the baseball season will play out until the ballgames are actually played.

It was just a couple of years ago the Pittsburgh Pirates had contending teams that were supposedly going to end decades of losing. Yet they haven’t won a thing – and their window of opportunity may now be over. Similar to those Seattle Mariners teams of the late 1990s to early 2000s – including the 2001 team that still has a record for the most wins in a season, but no league championship or World Series title to show for it. There also are many American League teams throughout the years that represented Boston, Chicago or Cleveland -- to name just a few examples of teams that came so close to winning it all.

A revival in Chicago?

Or maybe the story of coming years will be the resurgence of the Yankees (who haven’t won a World Series since 2009). What if the Yankees were to beat the Cubs in this year’s World Series, and have continued success that prevented the White Sox from winning a World Series birth in the near future?

Could the “Damned Yankees” be the uniting factor for both sides of Chicago baseball in years to come!

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’17 baseball season is ‘ovah,’ yet fan excitement strong on both sides of town

The Chicago White Sox season for this year stumbled to its end Sunday in Cleveland, with the White Sox being able to say they didn’t lose 100 games and are far from the worst team in baseball (they didn’t even finish last place in their own division).

As for the Chicago Cubs, they managed to pull off a third-straight year of appearing in the playoffs (which begin this year on Tuesday). It’s also the second-straight year of finishing a regular season in first place (something they hadn’t been able to do since 2007-08).

YET FOR THOSE fans of the cutesy Cubbies who are inclined to gloat, I say “Stuff it!”

Because the most disappointing aspect of baseball ending Sunday is that it means we have to wait some five months before we can see more progress in the great rebuild that White Sox management hopes will result in championship ballclubs sometime about 2019 or 2020.

While I’m sure that Cubs fans seriously believe the whole world is rooting for them to achieve a second-straight World Series title this year, there are those White Sox fans who will be anxious to see the rebuild progress. To see the youthful star Luis Robert progress up the minor league route (he may begin next year in Winston-Salem, N.C.) to get closer to Chicago.

Where he could pair up with established Cuban star Jose Abreu (a batting average of .305, slugging percentage of .554, 33 home runs and 102 runs batted in) and rising star Yoan Moncada to create that Cuban baseball revolution that could be the core of bringing a championship to the South Side in the name of the Cuban Comet himself – Minnie Miñoso.

OF COURSE, THERE are no guarantees in baseball. There are a lot of quirks that could come up that thwart a championship season. The “Damn Yankees” could resurrect themselves to a role of dominance during the next few seasons.

But White Sox fans are overly anxious, not wanting to see the on-field action stop because it means they’ll have to wait a little while longer for the title they’re hoping for.

And yes, there are elements of wanting to produce so as to “shut up” Cubs fans and their obnoxious streak of thinking that a lone World Series title now puts them in the same status as the New York Yankees (who have 27 such titles and are going for number 28 starting Tuesday).

In short, April 5 and Opening Day against the Detroit Tigers (the ball club that managed to bottom out and be worse than the White Sox this season) can’t some soon enough.

AS FOR THE Cubs, they now advance to the first round of playoffs against the Washington Nationals in the District of Columbia.

Their spirits would watch over ...

It will be interesting to see how Cubs fans react to not being the team of sympathy and underdog status. Don’t forget that Washington is now the city with baseball teams that have lengthy losing status – no D.C. ball club has won a World Series since 1924 or has even been in a World Series since 1933.

And the current Washington ball club has never won a thing (not even back in their days of being the Montreal Expos).

Yet the Cubs would like to think that their own losing ways still linger – and it would be of some historic significance if a Cubs’ team were to win a second consecutive World Series. Since the only two they ever had won before came in consecutive (1907 and 1908) years.

... any all-Chicago World Series of future

SO IT WILL be of some interest to see if a Chicago ball club can advance past Washington and Los Angeles (that’s what playoffs are for) to make it to the World Series.

Even if not as much interest as watching the rebuild taking place on the South Side that is now on hold for five months.

Because it would put us Chicago baseball fans a step closer to what would be the ultimate experience – an all-Chicago World Series. An experience we haven’t had in 111 years – and counting.

That would be the experience worth getting all worked up over!

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