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By Sara Normand
Take a moment. Close your eyes. What comes to mind when I whisper the words, “Chicago baseball”? If you imagined Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs, Harry Caray, the brick walls covered in green ivy, the Friendly Confines, Ernie Banks, or the place of Babe Ruth’s alleged “called shot,” you’re a pretty smart baseball fan. But if you pictured the team holding the best record in the majors, the team with arguably the best pitching staff in the majors, the team that could easily be the 2005 World Champions, you’re just brilliant.
After kicking and screaming so hard for some love and affection, the Windy City’s South Side competitor is finally getting some positive attention, and that attention is the working force to delude away the black cloud that has hung over the franchise’s head for so long after its involvement with the infamous Black Sox scandal of 1919.
The city’s two teams have always competed for fans’ loyalties, each trying to outdo the other. Yet as the Cubs boasted of the star they once had in Sammy Sosa, the White Sox quietly revel that Sosa actually started out on their team in 1989 before breaking out with the Cubs years later. And while the Cubs boasted the better record in 2004, the White Sox pitching staff is now busy batting their eyes at opponents and waving a black and white accordion fan in their faces.
Sox opponents aren’t the only ones trying not to blink twice. The buzzing on the streets of Chicago means two things—an approaching trading deadline and that playoff fever is already in the late-July air.
Greg Swigert, 46, of Rockland, Ill., can’t believe the hype.
“The Sox are the talk of the town,” Swigert said. “I’m a Cubs fan, but I root for the Sox when they’re not playing the Cubs.”
While the success of the White Sox has everyone in Chicago watching closely, not everyone supports Chicago’s AL team merely because they represent their city. Many Cubs fans are bitter because on paper they have a tough lineup and pitching staff as well, but injuries have left them handcuffed.
Allison Radice, 22, of Chicago, usually attends five to ten Cubs games a month and is one of those bitter fans.
“Bitter isn’t even the word to describe it,” Radice said.
She doesn’t approve of the many Cubs fans jumping on the White Sox bandwagon either. The Cubs are the ones with the storied history, and the Cubs are the ones who should be winning in Chicago.
“[The bandwagoners] are traders,” Radice said, “but I guess they’re just tired of losing.”
Radice did confirm, however, that she would never get to that point of switching allegiances if the Cubs never won again.
But where in the world did this White Sox team come from? When slugger Magglio Ordonez was traded in the off-season, it didn’t look good for the team that has thus far proved to be undoubtedly one of this year’s biggest surprises. As of Sunday, they’re atop the AL Central by 11.5 games and their 64-33 record stands uncontested as the best in baseball, with no one else anywhere near it besides the St. Louis Cardinals. Though White Sox history dates back to the early 1900s, this is the team’s best first half performance ever. Barring another Black Sox scandal, this will be Chicago’s first pennant win in five years if they can hold onto their huge lead. The team needs only about 20 more wins to have the same number of wins it finished with last year, which says a lot about manager Ozzie Guillen and the mental and physical toughness of his team.
Since 2001, Chicago has always appeared to be what I like to call a “contender on the outside.” They’ve always finished in either second or third in the division, always a .500 or above team. But don’t be fooled. On the inside, if you examine the final division standings of the last several years a little further, you see that the division leader (usually the Twins or Indians) was always ahead of the Sox by four games or more. In 2001 they were eight games out, 2002 they were 13 games out, in 2003, four games back, and in 2004 they were nine games back. This team turned it around from being nine games out of first last year to being 11 games in first this season. Remarkable.
So while their record seemed competitive last year, their muffs in the important games against divisional opponents kept them out of playoff contention. The old White Sox also had a bad case of homesickness, struggling to win on the road. This year, however, being away from hometown fans isn’t as difficult anymore because while more fans are going on the road with the team, even more fans are popping up outside of the city. Some have never even been to Chicago. Some have never even been to U.S. Cellular Field.
Hannah,16, is one of them. She is a White Sox fan who lives in Milwaukee, Wisc., and attended both exhibition games to start the year off when the Sox played the Brewers at Miller Park, not knowing what would be in store from the team from the South Side.
“White Sox fans flock everywhere,” Hannah said, “even to Milwaukee.”
Hannah started following the Sox when they acquired outfielder Scott Podsednik from her hometown team in the off-season, not jumping on the White Sox bandwagon but the Podsednik bandwagon.
“My friends think I’m crazy,” she said, “but Podsednik’s a guy that can really help a team.”
Chicago’s leadoff hitter is doing just that. Just like it’s important for a pitcher to get ahead of the count against a batter, Podsednik and his improved on-base percentage have helped the White Sox jump out in front of their opponents early on in games, outscoring them 71-35 in the first inning.
“Last year wasn’t too good for him,” Hannah said, “but bounced back this year and is doing great.”
The left-fielder has made many adjustments—decreasing his strikeouts, increasing walks (he’s on pace to surpass his season career high), and just becoming an overall solid hitter. Although Podsednik is on base more, one of the fastest guys in the game doesn’t stay put at first base for long. Leading the majors with 50 stolen bases so far, Podsednik is on pace to steal more bases than the White Sox had last season altogether (78).
“His speed and good judgment of when to steal is key,” Hannah added.
She also said he has something else going for him.
“He is absolutely gorgeous.”
Maybe it is his good looks that distract opposing pictures when he’s on base. And maybe it is the good looks of the starting rotation that keep opposing hitters from reaching base. With the likes of Jon Garland and Mark Buehrle, both in the top five in the AL for the most wins and lowest ERA, Chicago’s rotation is definitely intimidating. Garland is tied with Chris Carpenter of the Cardinals for the most wins in baseball with 14. Yet depth is a question with the less consistent starters—Freddy Garcia, Orlando Hernandez, and Jose Contreras. But in the bullpen, they’ve also got a league leader in Dustin Hermanson, who has been sidelined with a sore back recently but still ranks in the top five for number of saves (22). Everyone is quick to say that the pitching has been the main factor this year, but it’s the little things like advancing the runners that have gotten the job done as well.
Even if getting swept by Oakland to start off the second half is the beginning of a second half slipup, manager Ozzie Guillen has to be happy with his former team. Someday, when someone whispers the words “Chicago baseball,” maybe the picture we will all draw in our minds will be Guillen’s big Venezuelan smiling face, the 6-foot speed-demon Podsednik, the Garland-Buehrle one-two punch, and the ice on 40 White Sox World Series rings.
But how could we forget Shoeless Joe Jackson…
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