Posted on 06/22/2005 9:04:58 PM PDT by Nachum
CHICAGO (AP) -- The Chicago White Sox are the best team in the majors, with no idea what second place is like this year. They're a likable, entertaining bunch, and their manager is one of the most colorful in the game.
Anywhere else, they'd be the toast of the town, adored by casual fans and diehards alike. But the White Sox are the second team in the Second City, consistently underappreciated while their neighbors on the North Side are showered with love no matter how dismal their record.
``It's always been that way,'' said Bill Hyde, 68, a lifelong White Sox fan.
In Chicago, South Siders root for the White Sox, North Siders for the Cubs and that's all there is to it. Allegiances are handed down from generation to generation, and they aren't switched or shared, even when crosstown moves, marriages or politics are involved. Richard Daley may be mayor of all of Chicago, but his loyalties are on the South Side. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich remains a committed North Sider.
With more than 7 million people in the Chicago area, though, there should be more than enough fans to go around for both teams. Yet here the White Sox are, with a seven-game winning streak and a 49-22 record, and they're still trailing the Cubs in attendance.
The White Sox had drawn 885,906 through Tuesday night's game, an average of 24,609 per home game. The Cubs, who began the day just three games above .500 and 8 1/2 games behind St. Louis, have already drawn 1,354,376, an average of 37,622 per game.
``The Cubs, they draw regardless of what type of team they put on the field,'' said White Sox slugger Frank Thomas, who qualifies as an expert after spending his entire career on the South Side.
``It's always more of an event over there to see a ballgame,'' Thomas added. ``Over here, it's about winning. When we win here, we draw very, very well. When we don't play well over here, we don't draw well. That's just the way it's been.''
Attendance has picked up lately. The team averaged almost 31,000 fans over the last five games, and they're sure to get another bump with this weekend's visit from the Cubs.
But on a warm, sun-splashed afternoon, only 24,544 turned out for Wednesday's 5-1 victory over Kansas City. While that's the largest crowd the White Sox have drawn on a Wednesday this year, it's still well below the 39,000-plus who were at Wrigley a week ago.
``It's a shame, because they're in first place,'' said Lisa Lopiccolo, a longtime White Sox fan who goes to about a half-dozen games a year. ``I don't understand, because they pack them in at Wrigley.''
The reasons are varied, but lore and location can be blamed for most of the White Sox's attention deficits.
The White Sox have gone almost as long as the Cubs without a World Series title -- 1917 to 1908 -- but the Cubs were so inept for so many years that fans couldn't help but root for them. They weren't just losers, they were lovable losers, and the curse of the billy goat only adds to their folksy charm.
Bill Veeck tried all kinds of gimmicks to sell the White Sox -- remember those uniforms with the shorts? -- but their history isn't quite so endearing. There was the Black Sox Scandal, when Shoeless Joe Jackson and seven other players were suspended for throwing the 1919 World Series, and a near riot on the ill-fated Disco Demolition Night.
In 1994, Chicago had one of the best records in baseball when the strike occurred. Only Montreal was hurt worse by the work stoppage.
``The strike didn't help,'' said John Klepitch, who brought his 11-year-old daughter Shelly to a game earlier this week. ``It took me a few years to come back.''
It doesn't help that the Cubs play in a shrine, a must-see for fans of any team. Wrigley Field is the second-oldest ball park behind Boston's Fenway Park and still looks much as it did when it opened in 1914. The ivy on the outfield walls and picturesque upper-deck views of Lake Michigan give Wrigley a quaint, old-time feel, and the dozens of bars and restaurants nearby turn games into a daylong party.
``The Cell'' can't compare. When it opened in 1991, the topmost upper-deck seats were so dizzyingly steep they should have come with a Sherpa, and the outfield concourse was little more than a bland stretch of concrete. The view was of one of the city's meanest housing projects, and there were few bars or restaurants nearby to entice fans to come early and stay late.
``They have a unique thing going there, playing in a shrine, in a great neighborhood,'' said Brooks Boyer, vice president of marketing for the White Sox. ``But we think the experience we provide fans when they come here ... is second-to-none.'' The team has also tried to make games more affordable, with ticket deals most Mondays and Tuesdays.
``The ballpark right now is family friendly,'' manager Ozzie Guillen said. ``That's how you create fans. Make sure the kids are White Sox fans.''
While the White Sox aren't about to replace the Cubs as the city's favored team just yet, there are signs they're gaining ground. With attendance up about 12 percent so far, the White Sox are on pace to have their best attendance since 1994, and Boyer said sponsorships are at an all-time high.
When the White Sox traveled to San Diego and Colorado earlier this month, left-hander Mark Buehrle was stunned at how many White Sox fans they saw -- and heard.
``We'd be coming around the bases and we'd be like, `Are we at home or on the road?''' Buehrle said. ``You're seeing more Sox gear, more stickers on cars, people wearing shirts and hats.''
But to win over a city like Chicago, the White Sox know their best bet is to just keep doing what they're doing.
``Our fans, much like us, we're tired of second place. We've got to prove to them they're coming out to a see a winner,'' general manager Kenny Williams said. ``That's something to aspire to.''
Cubs fans are metrosexuals. White Sox fans are real men. --- Clemenza, Chicago Resident 1997-1999.
Bill Melton, Wilbur Wood, No-Neck Williams bump to you.
Two Words. And a rejoinder...
Steve Stone
20-game winner AFTER he joined the Orioles...
Full Disclosure: Heh heh heh. :-)
Same here... but when the Cubs are doing good I will root for them also. My first choice though is the Sox, I have been to Sox games and never been to Wrigley Field.
Well, yeah, sure - in the sense that getting to and from a Sox game requires a flak jacket, armored car, and a bazooka.
Bill Melton led the A.L. in homers in 1971.
Wilbur Wood (IIRC) went 20-19 and 20-20 in successive years in the late 60's - early 70's neck of the "Woods". (sorry for the pun).
Gotta love those knuckleballers!
Remember, when at Comiskey walk west to Schaller's Pump on Halstead, not East over the Dan Ryan.
I was at the Cubs-Brewers game in Milwaukee last night. They might as well count that game in the Cubs' home attendance numbers. The Brewers fans were outnumbered.
I think Wilbur actually went 24-20 one year -- maybe the year they were wearing those shorts. I remember they had him and Jim Kaat on the same pitching staff -- talk about junkballers!! They didn't throw 90 MPH combined!! I can even remember Billy Pierce, Nellie Fox, Looey Aparicio, Jungle Jim Rivera and Sherm Lollar. And who could ever forget Mike Hershberger?
I think these are significant factors.
Before I post some more, let me explain "where I'm coming from": Born and raised on the north side of the city, back in the days when the North/South "wall of separation" was even more intense. Went to hundreds and hundreds of games at Wrigley Field as a kid and young adult, saw hundreds and hundreds more on WGN local TV (pre-superstation). But in the 1970s--the Bill Melton, Wilbur Wood, Dick Allen, Richie Zisk teams, when Veeck owned the team and Harry Caray broadcast for them--I also went to a fair number of Sox games at old Comiskey Park. The Sox put an entertaining good product on the field, even though it was on the stinky South Side (literally--between the Stockyard smell wafting in and the beer & piss smell of the drunken, brawling fans).
This current Sox team deserves more support than they're getting.
I've made that road trip to see a Brewers-Sox game (when I lived in Illinois). It was a great park, fans, and a lot of fun. The pubs in Milwalkee serve up a good burger too.
The '67 team managed by Eddie Stanky was pretty darn good. Came real close.
Don Buford, Bart Johnson, Tom Bradley, Rich Gossage, Terry Forster. . . .
I remember Luis Aparicio, and also Walter Williams and Gail Hopkins.
Dick Donovan, Early Wynn, Minnie Minoso. . . .
And that's for a day game. At night you have to be REALLY well armed.
I've only been to one Sox game (before that nasty new stadium was built) and will likely never go again.
Plus, it was a chance to see some of the big AL stars. I remember seeing Frank Howard and Reggie Jackson launch MAMMOTH home runs there.
And do you remember Dave Nicholson? He was one of the few guys to hit a ball over the ROOF at Old Comiskey.
Remember the famous poster of Bart Johnson throwing a punch? The poster's motto was "Fighting White Sox".
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