advertisement

Imrem: Is this how White Sox compete with Cubs?

The Chicago Cubs are heading to the playoffs and the other baseball team in town is heading for wherever.

Oblivion maybe?

That's if you accept the debatable premise that there still is another baseball team in town.

What the Cubs are doing must have slipped under the Chicago White Sox' level of awareness.

The Cubs have been doing a good enough job of burying the Sox without the Sox announcing last week that they're retaining Robin Ventura as manager.

At least the Sox will be fresher in the TV booth after Monday's revelation that Hawk Harrelson is going part time.

So much is going so wrong on the South Side regardless.

The Cubs have one of baseball's most dynamic managers in Joe Maddon, and the Sox have whatever it is that Robin Ventura is.

The Cubs have a foundation that promises sustained success, and the Sox have a tired product promising futility and frustration.

The Cubs have a collection of attractive young players magnetizing baseball fans, and the Sox' best players are hardly noticed.

Consider Monday's news release stating that Cubs rookie third baseman/outfielder/slugger Kris Bryant “has the most popular player jersey in all of Major League Baseball for the 2015 season.”

Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo ranked No. 8, while not a single White Sox player cracked the Top 20.

Sox first baseman Jose Abreu didn't, even though he is only the second player ever to record 30 home runs and 100 runs batted in during each of his first two big-league seasons.

Sox pitching ace Chris Sale's jersey wasn't in all that much demand either, even though he's one of the best left-handers in baseball.

Even the Sox' best players are afterthoughts nationally, and now increasingly locally, because their team as a whole is an afterthought to the Cubs.

Yet while the Sox could use a fresh look from a manager, Robin Ventura will return after three straight losing seasons.

Before the home opener in April, general manager Rick Hahn said that Ventura would be held to a higher standard because the Sox expect to contend after a flurry of major off-season moves.

Yet for some inexplicable reason, Ventura was retained after a 76-86 season in which the Sox were always closer to last place than first place.

About the only thing that could steal media airtime and newsprint inches from the Cubs would have been the firing of Ventura and subsequent hiring of his successor.

That shouldn't be the only reason to fire a manager, but there was that won-lost record, and in the Sox' predicament grabbing attention should be a consideration.

As the Bears' crowd thinned out of Soldier Field on Sunday, one wisecrack heard in the press box was “this is starting to look like a Sox crowd.”

The thing is that while the Sox aren't about to start losing money — MLB is too flush with cash — they might start losing even more fans.

The last time the Cubs had anything resembling sustained success was six straight winning seasons from 1967 through 1972.

During that time span the Sox were lost in Chicago's baseball fog, drawing as few as 495,355 fans for the entire 1970 season.

Updating, Sox attendance increased this season after declining eight straight years but still ranked 26th among MLB's 30 teams.

More important, the Sox are maybe No. 3 or No. 4 in a two-team baseball town.

Still, the Sox thought it was a good idea to compete with the Cubs by keeping the same losing manager.

mimrem@dailyherald.com

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.