Rapping with Reinsdorf on all things White Sox

GLENDALE, Ariz. - There was a time when White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf would regularly sit down and chat with the media.

But that was years ago, before babbling talk radio, before columnists started sniping from afar and way before the blogger boom.

Now 73, Reinsdorf has preferred remaining in the background for the most part. But during the Sox' 8-4 Cactus League win over the Texas Rangers on Saturday, Reinsdorf invited the four beat writers covering the club into his Camelback Ranch suite for a relaxed, engaging discussion.

Here are some of the highlights:

Q: Do you anticipate the economy taking a toll on the upcoming season?

A: "No, we're in pretty good shape for the season. I'm worried about 2010. We lost a number of sponsorships coming into this year, but there are more deals that expire next year, in 2010. I'm concerned about that. Ticket sales, interestingly enough, we're running ahead of last year. Other than teams that are opening up new ballparks, I don't know if anyone else is, so we're doing all right there."

Q: Do you renegotiate with sponsors before their contracts expire in 2010?

A: "Oh yeah, but there are people who are out of the business in sports marketing. Bank of America, for example, is a big sponsor. They're gone. We lost Pontiac this year. I assume we'll lose Chevy next year when their deal is up. This is going on all over sports."

Q: Will losing sponsors lower the White Sox' payroll?

A: "If you have less money, you can spend less money. But I don't think it's really going to impact us. (General manager) Kenny (Williams) has a three-year roster, what he thinks what the roster is going to be. You want to cycle your veterans out and bring your younger players in. Even if there's a decline in revenue in 2010, I don't see how it will affect us with respect to the players we want to have."

Q: What about the young players on this year's club?

A: "We're going to have a heck of a team in (Class AAA) Charlotte because these guys can't all make the team. Kenny did a super job of reloading after (former scouting director Duane Shaffer) left; things have gotten better. I think we're in great shape growing forward."

Q: Are the White Sox rebuilding?

A: "To me, rebuilding is when you get bad and then you bring in young guys because you're trying to get better. That's not what we're doing. We're trying to avoid rebuilding. We're trying all the time to tinker with the roster so as players get near the end of the line, you try to move them out and have younger players ready to come in.

"Branch Rickey was probably the only genius in the history of baseball, and he always said it's probably better to trade a guy a year too soon than a year too late. This is why it's important that I don't make these decisions, because what Kenny has to do is not fall in love with players. I fall in love with players. I'd never move guys out. It's a tough act to do, but if he can keep doing it the way he's doing it, maybe we don't ever have to rebuild, or at least not for a long time."

Q: Are you still happy being chairman?

A: "If I didn't like doing it, I wouldn't do it. This is (my) 29th season. When I got into it, I thought I would do 25 years. When 25 years came, I didn't know what else to do."

Q: What about leaving after winning the World Series in 2005?

A: "That would have been a good time to quit. The value of the team was probably higher than it ever would have been. But my attitudes have changed. I don't live and die with every single game like I used to. I don't kick things over anymore. I don't swear, except every once in a while. I sort of like it."

Q: Does it matter if people like you?

A: "Sure it matters. Nobody wants to be vilified. Based upon the mail I get and the people that stop me, it's probably pretty good, whereas there was a time when it wasn't so good. It was at the lowest when there was the chance of (moving the Sox) to St. Petersburg (Fla., in 1988). People didn't understand what we were doing at that time. Comiskey Park was not going to stand; it was going to fall down. And (former governor) Jim Thompson said to me: 'They only way you're going to get a (new) ballpark is if you have an alternative.' So we had to do that. So that would have been the low point, and the high point was after the World Series."

Q: How special was winning the World Series?

A: "I never imagined the impact on a community of winning the World Series. You could have gone to any cemetery the next day, and the graves were decorated, including Mayor Daley's grave. People came up to me wherever I went, and women that stopped me were crying."