Daily Herald opinion: Be careful what you wish for, White Sox fans
When news broke last week that White Sox majority owner Jerry Reinsdorf was open to selling the franchise and in active discussions with a group led by a former major league pitcher, the reports weren’t met with mass protests at Guaranteed Rate Field or calls for Reinsdorf to keep the team.
Rather, the news was met with a shrug. Some people were even excited at the thought of Reinsdorf selling the team.
Some of that apathy might be related to the Sox coming off a historically bad season.
Most of that apathy, however, is probably aimed at Reinsdorf himself. Years of not signing top free agents and finishing in the middle of the pack will do that to a fan base that is hungry for a winner.
But what if the Sox leave Chicago?
The Athletic is reporting that the longtime White Sox chairman is talking with a group led by Dave Stewart, a former pitcher, coach and agent and baseball executive who has been active in trying to get an expansion team in Nashville.
If the pairing of Nashville and the Sox sounds familiar, it is.
Last year, Reinsdorf reportedly met with the Nashville mayor during baseball’s winter meetings. Rumors were he was considering moving the team there.
Since then, the Sox have been pushing for a new stadium in the South Loop and are reportedly seeking $1 billion in public help to make it happen.
If this play seems familiar, it is.
In the 1980s, Reinsdorf threatened to move the team to St. Petersburg, Florida.
The state jumped in and kept the Sox in Chicago with a last-second deal that paved the way for what is now Guaranteed Rate Field.
This time, neither Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker nor Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson seem ready to step up to the plate and bail the Sox out.
We agree that taxpayers shouldn’t be put on the hook for a new stadium.
Guaranteed Rate Field might not be flashy, but it’s not even 40 years old, and still functional.
A new ballpark in a new neighborhood isn’t going to solve the White Sox’s attendance issues. A better team — and a commitment to winning from management — will do that.
Fans have been calling for Reinsdorf to sell the team for several years now. Those cries grew louder this season with each loss.
But what if Reinsdorf sells the team and it moves to Nashville?
Generations of Chicagoans have grown up as White Sox fans.
From the Go-Go White Sox in 1959 to the South Side Hit Men in 1977, the 1983 run to the American League West title and the World Series title in 2005, Sox fans have lived and died with the team on the South Side.
If the Sox leave, there’s no guarantee a new team will take its place.
Baltimore waited more than a decade for an NFL team to replace the Colts after they left town in the middle of the night for Indianapolis.
If Reinsdorf does sell the Sox, we hope he makes sure that the new ownership group is committed to keeping the team in Chicago, or the suburbs.