Chicago fans take turn for the worse
Posted: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 2:13 PM
What has happened to major league baseball in Chicago? In the late 1970s, I went to college in Indiana, close enough to enjoy baseball in both Chicago ballparks. As a New Yorker, I was accustomed to tough press, fans that boo and the expectations created by the “Bronx Zoo” Yankees of that era.
So what did I find in Chicago? Mellow ball. Broadcaster Jack Brickhouse sounding like your favorite uncle selling mediocre Cubs players as budding stars. Ernie Banks wanting to play two and fans watching Cubs games from rooftops across the street from a half-full Wrigley Field. It was friendly, calm and probably too complacent. Winning was hoped for, not demanded.
On the South Side, White Sox owner Bill Veeck ran his victory lap with his team wearing softball uniforms, destroying disco records and Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall serving as comic relief on broadcasts of the club’s games. It had more of an edge than Wrigley Field, but baseball at Comiskey Park was still serene compared to New York.
Thirty years later I watch as Chicago has morphed into a Midwest version of New York. There’s craziness as personified by Cubs manager Lou Piniella, whose volcanic on-field blowups were catalysts for a postseason run by the Cubs last season and White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, whose mouth would have had many a manager fired.
It’s bitterness as boos now rain down on Alfonso Soriano, he of the numbers that don’t match his $136 million contract. The same accountability that has reigned in New York for three decades now exists in Chicago.
And it’s mean-spirited as a morning “gasbag” (the immortal description of many a sports-talk host coined by Al Michaels on HBO’s Costas Now) adopts a posture of “dim-witted machismo” (Joe Klein, TIME Magazine) in attacking Guillen and challenging anyone with a “problem” to a showdown on his turf. Pathetic and a reflection of Chicago sounding more like a big East Coast market.
When Dusty Baker took over managing the Cubs I shared with him my belief that he would love Chicago. How wrong I was! Baker left four years later, stung by the negativity that he had rarely experienced in San Francisco but which was thriving in Chicago.
Chicago. It’s a hell of a town…unless you’re hitting .210, blowing saves or playing under .500 baseball.
FIVE MORE SWINGS
1. THEN THERE’S TAMPA…and St. Pete, Clearwater and every other town that comprises America’s second bay area. Eleven straight home wins and they Rays lead the American League East with a payroll nearly double their 2007 number -- all of $43 million. There are so many wonderful angles to ply here, but I look at two pitchers, both 24-year-old dynamic talents who were shunned by their original teams, Matt Garza (Twins) and Edwin Jackson (Dodgers). How important they have been to rounding out a promising young rotation.
2. THE SWINGS JINX…struck Reds shortstop Jeff Keppinger, just two days after the love thrown his way in this space. He fouled a pitch off his knee, fracturing his kneecap. The severity of the injury and length of his absence will soon be determined.
3. YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS UP…Armando Benitez lives! Back in the bigs, he’s one of the worst closers of this decade and a negative clubhouse influence. But Toronto took a chance that Benitez can still pitch some setup innings. The bet here is that he doesn’t survive the All-Star break.
4. SOMEONE ELSE IN THE SAME BOAT AS BENITEZ COULD BE...Jason Giambi. Here are the numbers: for a salary somewhere between 21 and 23 million, he has a batting average of .194 with decent power numbers (7 HR, 20 RBI) and walk total (22). The hope that Giambi could carry some of the load missing with A-Rod’s injury has died.
5. COULD HE POSSIBLY REACH 300 WINS? Don’t count out Randy Johnson. More hittable than ever (45 hits surrendered in 37 innings pitched this season), Johnson still won No. 287 last night. He looks healthy and he is playing for a strong team that can score runs. It’s unlikely Johnson could make it this year but if he gets close, does Arizona bring back a 45-year-old next season to chase a milestone?
