Is 1919 World Series ball fom 'Black Sox Scandal' key to 2024's dismal White Sox season?
Grab some peanuts and crackerjacks!
Let’s take a breather from worrying over destructive hurricanes that are hopefully behind us and a nail-biter presidential election that still lies ahead of us. And we’d better hurry before Elon Musk shows up on our doorstep with Donald Trump buttons.
So how about a bit of baseball banter in the wake of last season’s disastrous White Sox run, a record losing streak of 121 games in one season?
And who better to bring a sense of suspense than mega baseball Sports memorabilia collector/showman Grant DePorter, the guy who detonated the notorious Chicago Cubs “Bartman ball” in 2004 to end an old “Cubs curse.”
DePorter, a publicity pooh-bah who is CEO of Harry Caray’s Restaurants and founder of the Chicago Sports Museum at Water Tower Place, which displays the detonated carcass of the legendary “Bartman Ball,” is heading to the mound again. This time he’s pitching a plan to end the “miserable” 2023-24 White Sox slump, which made fans frantic and bleacher bums bananas.
Only this time DePorter has found a new game ball to target — and a less destructive fate.
Now in his cross-hairs is the ball used in Game 5 of the 1919 World Series, which saw six White Sox batters struck out in a row. That sorry series has gone down in history as the “Black Sox Scandal” over accusations that eight White Sox players were bribed to throw the series.
Say it ain’t so
Long forgotten, the rotting, chewing-tobacco stained, paraffin waxed “shine/spit” World Series baseball was found in 2022, hidden in an old copper time capsule during conversion of the old Tribune Tower into luxury condos.
Developer Lee Golub asked sports memorabilia buff DePorter to verify its history. DePorter subsequently placed the “bad luck ball” near the battered remains of the exploded “Bartman Ball” at his Michigan Avenue sports museum.
Natch.
DePorter claims he has the figures to prove that the White Sox slump began shortly after the Black Sox ball’s relocation to the museum in 2022.
“After the ball was removed from its hiding spot in 2022, the White Sox team's winning percentage fell to .321,” he said. “They lost 101 games in 2023, and in 2024, and the Sox set MLB’s all time loss record with 121 losses.
“It’s a bad luck ball,” said DePorter. “Eight Sox players banned from baseball forever, including “Shoeless Joe” Jackson.
Blown off rather than blown up?
DePorter’s plan to lift the White Sox curse? And hopefully stop fans from cursing?
Put the 1919 World Series ball back in its time capsule where it was found at 435 N. Michigan Avenue.
Here’s the scooplet: DePorter now tells Sneed he has found the perfect venue for the “Black Sox cursed” ball’s removal ceremony before it is trucked back to the Tribune Tower.
“The ceremony will be held on March 18tj as part of the 27th Annual Worldwide Toast to Harry Caray at Navy Pier,” chirped DePorter.
Well, foxy moxy you.
“The original copper time capsule will be on stage. White Sox legend Ron Kittle will be in attendance. The ceremony will all take place on Major League Baseball’s opening day — and worldwide fans at the toast will embrace Harry Caray’s days when he was the White Sox announcer [1971-1981],” said DePorter.
Later that night, the time capsule will be returned to a secure location in the Tribune building.
Ah, a showman in a city besotted with baseball!
Turn it off!
Watching CNN’s Anderson Cooper getting whip slapped, hosed, and battered by 16 inches of Hurricane Milton rain for hours Wednesday night as it moved across the Tampa area in Florida was painful, heroic and comedic to watch all at the same time. And ditto for CNN’s Randy Kay, barely able to stand up against Milton’s pummeling wind force. Argh! What was that all about?
Sneedlings …
Don’t be surprised if Hillary Clinton winds up huddling with her old Park Ridge pals when she hits town Sunday to pitch her new non-fiction book: “Something Lost, Something Gained: Reflections on Life, Love, and Liberty … The “Kid’s” Korner! Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin will pitch her first book for young people: “The Leadership Journey: How Four Kids Became President” on Oct. 22 at an event presented by Winnetka’s revered “The Book Stall” at the Skokie School Auditorium in Winnetka
Saturday birthdays: CNN’s Chris Wallace, 77; actor Hugh Jackman, 56; jazz musician Chris Botti, 62 ... Sunday birthdays, Paul Simon, 83; country singer Lacy J. Dalton, 78; singer Marie Osmond, 65; actor Sacha Baron Cohen, 53; singer Ashanti, 44.