Baseball Way Back: What was, might have been and still might be with the White Sox

With one click of a YouTube link, I step back 15 years in time.

The camera surveys the scene. A classic Chicago "dive" bar on Halsted Street. A stamped tin ceiling bristling with the stems of pendant lamps. A spinning ceiling fan. Random memorabilia, including a baseball emblazoned with the Miller Lite logo. And the aisles jam-packed with fans, their eyes trained on a TV at the end of the bar, shouting, "C'mon, Bobby!"

And then it happens. Bobby Jenks coaxes a grounder to Juan Uribe, who fires to Paul Konerko for the out that brings Chicago its first World Series championship in 88 years.

The camera fixes me for posterity among the cheering throng, along with my friend Andis, a fellow scribe who has shared many hours with me at similar bars, notably the late lamented Lakeview Lounge. In the crowd is my friend Dan, another fellow scribe who shook the walls of my condo jumping up and down when the Sox clinched the pennant against the Angels, waking my son in his crib in another room.

The night of Oct. 26, 2005, was only the start of a crazy celebration capped by the parade that ended near Michigan and Wacker, where I stood with my friend Sam, who had lived on my floor at Illini Tower during our college days and had joined me on opening day in 1985 at Comiskey Park to see Ozzie Guillen's home debut at shortstop.

With the championship, it seemed that the South Side baseball demons had been exorcised. No more would we be haunted by Jerry Dybzinski, the threatened move to Florida, the demolition of Comiskey Park, playoff losses in 1993 and 2000, the stolen 1994 season, or the September swoon of 2003.

It also seemed to erase nagging questions about what would have happened if, instead of Jerry Reinsdorf, another owner had taken charge 25 years earlier.

On Oct. 25, 1980, The Associated Press reported that the American League turned down Edward DeBartolo Sr.'s bid to buy the White Sox from Bill Veeck.

Although an 8-6 majority favored DeBartolo's $20 million offer, 10 votes were needed for approval.

American League President Lee MacPhail gave "absentee ownership" - DeBartolo was based in Youngstown, Ohio - and the shopping mall magnate's interest in Louisiana and Illinois race tracks, including Balmoral, as reasons for the rejection.

The DeBartolo family's holdings already included the NFL's San Francisco 49ers and the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins, and DeBartolo had already attempted to buy the Oakland A's with the intention of moving the franchise to New Orleans.

In July 1980, DeBartolo's son, Edward DeBartolo Jr., met with Veeck.

Yes, the same Edward DeBartolo Jr. who won five Super Bowls as owner of the 49ers and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

He told United Press International, "I think it is a dynamic, super franchise in an exciting city. You can just feel the heritage at Comiskey Park."

But Veeck told the press, "I hope he doesn't make an offer. The White Sox are a Chicago team that should be owned by Chicagoans. We don't need an absentee owner."

There were other candidates to buy the Sox, including a group headed by White Sox directors Nick Kladis and Fred Brzozowski and another group led by Chicago financier and White Sox shareholder William Farley and Reinsdorf.

When the agreement for DeBartolo Sr. and his daughter, Marie Denise DeBartolo York, to purchase from Veeck was announced in August 1980, DeBartolo Sr. said, "We will expend every effort to revive the hopes of Chicagoans in redeveloping a vital, pennant-seeking baseball team."

However, Vince Bartimo, described as a "top lieutenant with the DeBartolo Corporation," said the Sox could be moved without impediments, because "the White Sox are one of only three baseball teams - the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers are the others - that own their own real estate."

In the end, DeBartolo was rejected again in December 1980, and Reinsdorf, with a new partner, Eddie Einhorn, prevailed.

And while the DeBartolo family could boast the Super Bowl rings and one Stanley Cup with the Penguins, Reinsdorf would bring Chicago six NBA championships and one World Series title.

And who knows? Maybe under Tony La Russa, Sox fans once again will taste success along with their beverage of choice somewhere on Halsted Street.