Rozner: After three decades with White Sox, Grim calling it a day

Ask any player about the most difficult part of leaving the game, and they'll tell you it's leaving the group behind.

It's the time with teammates off the field and away from the glare that can't be duplicated, and it leaves a huge void.

For Bob Grim, it will be precisely the same.

After 31 years as director of White Sox broadcasting, Grim retires Friday, calling it a career having seen through one final Opening Day.

And what a career it has been.

"It's sort of melancholy right now, but it's time to move on," said Grim, who's lived in Arlington Heights for nearly all of the last 30 years, save a brief time in Palatine. "I'm going to miss the people so much, but it's time to take a deep breath and finally have a summer that I don't spend at the ballpark.

"I owe my family a lot of missed time. I haven't once spent a summer with my wife and boys. There was never a summer vacation. There was a lot of sacrifice and now it's time to make it up to them."

It's not like there weren't benefits to having a dad working for an MLB team.

"No, there was a great upside," Grim laughed. "My four boys all grew up around the game, grew up at the ballpark. They became White Sox fans and baseball fans and they grew up loving baseball.

"I'm very grateful for that because it's such a great game."

Grim - whose uncle Bob was Rookie of the Year in 1954 when he won 20 games for the Yankees - was a catcher at St. John's and went to the College World Series in 1978, counting among his teammates John Franco and Frank Viola.

Born in New York and growing up a Yankees fan, Grim went to work for American League president Lee MacPhail, where he would frequently take questions from an unhinged George Steinbrenner and a friendly Jerry Reinsdorf, and then 38 years ago he moved to Chicago where he became associate athletic director for DePaul.

"What a time to come out here," said Grim, whom you have probably seen officiating high school basketball games over the years and just never knew it. "It was Ray Meyer's last year and DePaul basketball was such a big deal here and nationally.

"I've been fortunate to have been around so many great people. I thought it couldn't get better. Then, in 1990, I went to work for Jerry Reinsdorf."

Grim decided he had been away from baseball for too long. On the verge of being hired by Bud Selig in Milwaukee, Grim got a call from White Sox exec Howard Pizer, who lured him immediately to the South Side.

Grim has been there ever since.

"My first Opening Day was the last year in the old Comiskey in 1990. We opened the new park the next year. And now it's 32 Opening Days later," Grim said. "Physically and mentally, I'm done."

Sounds vaguely familiar.

"I'm gonna miss the game so much and the people ... " Grim said, his voice trailing off. "So many great people, from the players to the broadcasters to all the front office folks.

"You know, Jerry is so approachable and he treats everyone with such great respect. We're both Brooklyn guys, so I can't tell you how many times we sat down for lunch and just talked about life and talked about baseball. He's a humble man, a good man."

And the broadcasters. So many to remember, but Grim listed them off like they were all still working there.

If you had ever strolled broadcast row at the ballpark before a game - I did many a radio show from the booth - you would have seen a cast of characters that resembled "Bull Durham," with a hint of Cooperstown.

"People say, 'You could write a book.' It's not about that. I never looked at my job as a job," Grim said. "The players and managers and coaches I dealt with were exceptional. Crazy, right? I mean, you go to work at the ballpark in the morning, you work all day, and then at night you go upstairs to the booth and watch the game with Hawk and Stoney."

Hawk Harrelson and Steve Stone had the relatively quiet booth, compared to Ed Farmer and Darrin Jackson a few doors down. That was a three-ring circus every day.

"You never knew who was going to walk in," Grim said. "Moose Skowron, Chico Carrasquel, Pudge Fisk, you name it.

"So many great people to be around all the time. So much fun. You can't take it for granted."

Grim never did.

Those fortunate enough to work at a job where they feel wanted, and feel a part of something, are the truly lucky.

"I've been so blessed to have this career," Grim said. "I loved my job, really a dream job, things I thought about while I was at St. John's.

"I've been so fortunate to have this career. I just don't know how it could have been much better than this."

And now Bob Grim walks away from that dream job on his own terms. It's never easy to walk away, but when it's time, the best of all endings is the ending you choose.

That is some victory.