You Can Catch it All on WGN(again)

     In a somewhat surprising development in the arena of local sports, the Chicago White Sox announced yesterday their new radio affiliate for the 2018 season and beyond: WGN, and your eyes are not deceiving you here. Some background: for the past few years, the White Sox have been broadcasting their games on WLS, but recently the parent company of that station realized that the contract was unprofitable. They filed suit in court, won the case, and received the right to terminate their broadcast contracts with the White Sox and the Bulls. The Bulls moved over the 670 The Score, but there was some doubt about where the Sox would be until yesterday, when they reached a new deal with WGN. This is fascinating for a couple of reasons. First off, WGN has had a decades-long relationship with the Cubs, making them returning to the broadcast game with the White Sox interesting. Plus, for about 10 years, the Cubs were on WGN and the White Sox were on The Score. Now starting in 2018, the Cubs will be on The Score and the White Sox will be on WGN. This all just goes to show that the local sports scene is constantly changing and constantly evolving.

Paulie!

     Over the past 15 years, there has been one constant on the city's South Side. Between new stadium names, managerial shakeups, good seasons, bad seasons, and everything in between, White Sox fans have always been able to count on seeing Paul Konerko step up to the plate for the team. Yesterday, Paulie played his final game as a member of the team, capping off a career that has seen him bring a World Series title to the South Side, as well as make a name for himself. It all started out in 1994 when he was drafted by the Dodgers, entering into their farm system and briefly making it to the big league squad before being traded to the Reds. After spending a few games in Cincinnati, he ended up coming over to the Chicago White Sox.

     In 2000, he made his arrival known by helping the Sox make it to the playoffs for the first time since 1993. Even though they were swept in the first round, Paulie had made his impression. In 2005 the team returned to the postseason. That venture was slightly more successful. Konerko made an instrumental impact on the ALCS, driving in several runs and punching their ticket to the World Series. Once they got there, Konerko made another impact, smacking a Grand Slam homer to motivate the Sox and helping them to a sweep of the Astros. At their victory rally, Konerko produced another memorable moment:

    After the departure of Frank Thomas, Konerko became the face of the franchise, and he had several more special moments left in his career.  In 2008 he became the final opposing player to hit a home run in Yankee Stadium.  The next year he partnered with Jermaine Dye to become the first ever players to both hit their 300th home run in the same game.  Late in the 2010 season, he was hit by a pitch in Minnesota, which led to a contentious conclusion to the game.  In 2011 he was elected to his 5th All-Star Game in the midst of a season where he hit 30 homers and had 105 RBIs.  After Ozzie Guillen's departure following the season, Kenny Williams even considered making him player-manager.  Ultimately he decided against it and hired Robin Ventura, but Konerko remained a valued team-mate.  He announced that this 2014 season would be his last, and wrapped up his baseball career having played all but 81 of his 2,348 career games with the White Sox.

Jordan Rising

     Summertime is upon us.  Basketball season is a distant memory.  But today bears special significance in the history of the Chicago Bulls.  Read on for more...


     At the end of the 1983-84 NBA Season, the Chicago Bulls found themselves looking up from the cellar of the Eastern Conference with 55 losses, and the 2nd worst record in the Conference.  The team officials make the trek to Madison Square Garden on June 19, 1984 with the third overall pick, hoping to make something of it and put themselves in a position to once again be competitive.  What they got with that #3 pick not only turned their fortunes around, it wound up changing the game of basketball forever.  The Houston Rockets kicked off the draft with the 1st overall pick, then it was the Portland Trailblazers who were up to bat.  Portland ended up making one of the most infamous decisions in draft history when they selected Sam Bowie with the #2 pick-bypassing UNC standout and NCAA Champion Michael Jordan.  Next pick: Chicago Bulls.


     With the #3 pick, they didn't make the same mistake as Portland did.  They drafted Jordan. The rest is History.  Jordan's career records and accomplishments speak for themselves.  The Jordan-led Bulls dominated the 1990s with 6 championships, coming in 2 separate 3-peats, making them one of only 3 teams to ever accomplish the feat, as well as the most recent team to do so(and even finding time to hang with Walter Payton[twice] and Andre Dawson.  Although he made a brief stop with the White Sox, and even got a hit at Wrigley Field, he is remembered the world over for his contributions as a member of the Chicago Bulls.


     In one more fascinating postscript, Jordan was not the only athlete drafted by the Bulls on that day.  With the 208th pick, they selected Carl Lewis.  Yes, that Carl Lewis.  The one who in just over a month's time would go on to win 4 Gold Medals in Los Angeles at the 1984 Summer Olympics.  Lewis had never played a single game of basketball in High School or College.  The Bulls management drafted him because he was simply the "best athlete available".  Needless to say, Lewis never played a single minute with the Chicago Bulls.

The Top Of Their Game: Cubs/Sox Week Day 3

     In 1906, the Cubs and the White Sox faced each other in the World Series.  The matchup led to such a commotion and an upset victory by the White Sox that it quickly became the stuff of legend.  Over the intervening decades, the two teams never again approached playing each other when it counted.  Then, the 1977 season saw both the Cubs and the Sox leading their respective divisions in the summertime and thoughts began to turn to another all-Chicago World Series.  Alas, both teams bottomed out by the Fall, and it was not to be.  31 years later, the flames of destiny would be fanned once more.

     The year was 2008, and it was the 100th Anniversary of the Cubs' last World Series victory.  Not just that, but both teams were doing surprisingly well.  When the time came for the annual face-off, the two teams were at the top of their divisions, and the gauntlet had been thrown down.

     The Series touched off on June 20, at Wrigley Field.  Heading into the final stretch of the game, the Cubs were down when Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez homered to tie up the game.  Then Ramirez smacked a walk-off homer to seal up the game 4-3.  For Game 2 of the series, the Cubs were down 4-1 in the 4th inning, when the team lit up the Sox for 9 runs in the 4th, ultimately prevailing by a score of 11-7.  The next night, the Cubs dazzled before a national audience with a 7-1 victory, prompting A.J. Pierzynski(2 years removed from his infamous bout with Michael Barrett) to parrot Lee Elia's infamous rant from 25 years previously.

     The following weekend, the series reconvened at U.S. Cellular Field.  The first pitch of Game 4 was thrown out by newly acquired Bulls guard Derrick Rose, after which it was the South Siders turn to produce a laugher, beating the Cubs 10-3.  The following day saw the White Sox stifle a Cubs rally to win the game 6-5.  Finally, the Series Finale saw the White Sox emerge victorious by a score of 5-1.  Final Results of the 2008 Crosstown Classic: 3 wins for the Cubs, 3 wins for the Sox.

     At the end of things, the all time series was tied 33-33, and the two teams still led their divisions.  There were still murmurs about another all-Chicago World Series, and while both teams made the playoffs in the same year for the first time since 1906, they both lost in the Division Series.

Fight! Fight! Fight!: Cubs/Sox Week Day 2

     The date is Saturday, May 20, 2006.  The White Sox are still ecstatic over their World Series win over the Cardinals the previous October.  The Cubs are in the midst of a moribund season that will see them lose 96 games and lead to the firing of Dusty Baker.  But as is customary for Cubs/Sox each year, you can throw the records out the window, because the unexpected can and does happen.

     On this specific occasion, our attention turns to the second inning of the ball game.  At that time, Brian Anderson of the White Sox had just hit a sacrifice fly, trying to drive in A.J. Pierzynski.  As he was sliding into home, he ran headlong into Cubs catcher Michael Barrett, who wound up dropping the ball from the shock of the impact.  The home plate umpire called A.J. safe, who slapped home plate in an emphatic celebration before turning back towards the dugout.  Perturbed over something, Barrett got in Pierzynski's face and decked him in the jaw.  As is customary, both benches immediately cleared and a brawl broke out right at home plate.  After the fracas finally cleared, the umpires were debating for more than 15 minutes over who would be ejected from the game.  After the umps restarted the game, Scott Podsednik loaded up the bases for the Sox, who received a Grand Slam when Tadahito Iguchi brought everybody home.

     The game was eventually won by the White Sox 7-0.  The White Sox ended up taking the season series that year 4 games to 2.  As for the fallout, Michael Barrett was suspended for 10 games, Brian Anderson missed 5, and Pierzynski received a fine.  And the flames of the rivalry were fanned for another year.

The Rivalry: Cubs/Sox Week Day 1

     This week, the Cubs and the White Sox reconvene for their 18th Annual tilt of games.  Here at Chicago 365, I've decided to take a look back at some of the memorable moments from those games.

     Ever since the American League was founded in 1901, there had been a rivalry between the two leagues, with the AL openly poaching both players and fans from the more established National League.  This rivalry extened to the teams themselves, including the Chicago Cubs and the new AL affiliate in town, the Chicago White Stockings.  The tension started even before the White Stockings played their first game, as the owner of the Cubs had filed suit to prevent Charles Comiskey from even moving another team into the city.  The courts let Comiskey move in the team, and the animosity had been stoked.

     In 1906, both teams made the World Series(which was actually the first time that two teams from the same city played each other in the Fall Classic).  The Cubs had won 116 games that year and were the odds on favorites.  The White Stockings had won 93 games and were known as the Hitless Wonders.  Regardless, the Cubs wound up losing the Series to the South Siders.  For several years after the '06 Series, the two teams played a post-season series that served to provide bragging rights.  By the '40s, that series was no longer played.

     Then, in the late '80s, the idea was resurrected for the annual Crosstown Classic charity game.  This wasn't too momentous, other than the fact that it led to Michael Jordan starting a game at Wrigley Field(this was when Jordan played in the White Sox farm system).  Finally, in 1997 MLB organized regular season interleague play, and the two teams faced each other when it counted for the first time in 91 years.  Since then, the White Sox have won the series 9 times, with the other 8 being either Cubs wins or ties.  The series commences once again tonight, and who knows what kind of a show we're in store for.

1 Day. 4 Wins.

     April 18, 2009 started off like any other Saturday: warm, springlike, full of promise. The time of getting excited for what the summer had to offer, overall a great day to be alive. However, it was about to get a lot better. On that day, the Chicago Bulls were all set to tip off their playoff tilt against the Boston Celtics. Meanwhile, the Chicago Blackhawks were celebrating their return to relevancy by opening up their first postseason series since 2002.  Elsewhere, the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox were getting ready to play early-season games of their own. Here's how that day progressed:

      To start things off, the Cubs played the Cardinals at Wrigley Field. Before any baseball was played, the first pitch was thrown out by none other than newly-signed Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, who also sang the 7th-inning stretch. The game was won in a thrilling walk-off fashion by Aramis Ramirez, who belted a two-run homer in the 11th inning, wrapping up Ryan Dempster's first home win of the year. One person who did not partake of the win was Milton Bradley, who was serving a 2 game suspension(gee, what a surprise)

      Heading south down the Snowbird Trail, we find ourselves following the White Sox as they took on the defending AL Champion Tampa Bay Rays. Mark Buehrle gave up 8 hits, but he still managed to gut it out and start the season 2-0. Additionally, this kicked off once again the annual tradition of the Rays being stymied by qualified pitchers.

      Back in the Windy City, the Blackhawks were hot to trot in their comeback tour after languishing for years in Hockey Hell. After digging themselves a 2-0 hole against the Calgary Flames, the offense sputtered to life, scoring 3 goals in the second period, including Jonathan Toews' first playoff goal, to put away the Flames 3-2.

     And over in Boston, the 7th-seeded Bulls were starting off their series against the 2nd-seeded Boston Celtics.  All of the commentators and most of the fans were predicting a relatively easy victory in this series for the defending champion Celtics.  However, tonight's game cast doubt on those assumptions.  By the end of it, Derrick Rose had tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for best playoff debut, the series had seen the first of seven overtime periods, and all of a sudden we had the makings of an instant classic series on our hands.

     And there you have it folks.  1 Day.  4 Teams.  4 Wins. 1 incredible and true day in Chicago Sports History.

The South Side Anthems: Fight Song Week Day 3

     In 1959, the Chicago White Sox made it back to the World Series for the first time since the infamous 1919 Series.  After Richard J. Daley made everybody think the Soviets were invading, the team got to work getting ready for the World Series.  All that time, they were being spurred on by this little ditty:

     Earlier that year, Al Trace(a former Sox minor leaguer) wrote the lyrics, and was looking for someone to record it.  Enter Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers, a country-comedy duo who were famed for releasing the jingles for the Roto-Rooter and Green Giant.  The song was a hit at the time, but was eventually forgotten until June 2005.  At that point, one of the employees of the Sox dusted off an old record of the song and decided to play it during a game.  The act went over without a hitch, so now the song has made a return to prominence on the South Side.


     Ever since the 1990s, the White Sox have had a distinctive way of welcoming their players into the game:

     Released by the band AC/DC in 1990, Thunderstruck quickly caught on for all kinds of sporting events, as evidenced by the video above, as well as the fact that it was used by numerous other sports teams throughout the country.


     When the White Sox made it back to the World Series in 2005 for the first time since 1959, they did so with yet another song in tow.  However, whereas the last one had been specially composed for the team, their '05 song was one of the most iconic 80s songs ever:

     The whole thing started out when some of the 2005 White Sox heard this song playing in a bar in Baltimore and liked the sound of it.  As the season wound on, the team was looking for a rally song, and this seemed to fit the bill.  After rolling through the playoffs and capturing their first World Series title since 1917, they went so far as to invite Steve Perry to their victory rally, where some of the players sang the song a capella with Perry.

Day 193: The Night that Disco Died

     Some say that Disco jumped the shark after the release of Saturday Night Fever in November of 1977.  Others would say that Disco didn't sign off for good until Disco DAI bid farewell to the genre with 24 hours of Donna Summer in the mid 80s.  But no matter who you are, you can certainly agree that the events of July 12, 1979 rendered a death blow to the genre.

     That night, the Chicago White Sox were playing a game at Comiskey Park against the Detroit Tigers.  Ever the showman,  Bill Veeck decided that this was the perfect time to cash in on the growing distaste with the disco genre.  And if you were going to stage an anti-disco rally, well there was simply nobody you could call who would be better suited to the job than Steve Dahl.  Steve Dahl was the 24-year-old Chicago DJ who had most recently worked at WDAI before they switched to an all-disco format.  This might be a good time to quickly detail the Two Rules of Radio: Number One, you WILL BE fired multiple times on your career. But don't fret, because Number Two, if you have any kind of a talent or following(preferably both), you'll be back on air in no time.

     Back to the story now. Needless to say, Dahl soon left Disco DAI, but he soon found a new home at WLUP. Meanwhile, Bill Veeck came up with a rather, um, novel idea for the promotion. Fans could come to the gates bearing nothing except 98 cents(to symbolize the station that Dahl was now with) and the disco record of their choice, and they would be granted admission to the ballpark. From that point, the plan was to play the first game of the doubleheader, then take all of the condemned disco records, put them in a huge crate in the middle of the field, call out Steve Dahl to say some words, and then blow the conflagration sky high. That was the plan, but (obviously) that plan did not pan out.

     First off, the White Sox were expecting the promotion to attract a few thousand extra fans to the game. Alas, word spread like wildfire, and eventually more than 50,000 people showed up at the gates(some unconfirmed eyewitness reports put the number at closer to 90,000). The sheer crush of people overwhelmed the gatekeepers, and so hordes of fans started streaming into the park unmolested. As the game was full already, all of the latecomers were standing around, making things quite crowded. Needless to say, many members of the crowd were under the influence of many substances, which always throws a wrench into the works. Also, all of the latecomers were holding disco records that had not been deposited.

     So, the first game finishes, the field is cleared, Steve Dahl rolls up in a Jeep, decked out in full military garb, and proceeds to rile up the already rowdy crowd to an even higher degree. Dahl then blows up the records, and all Hell breaks loose. The drunken latecomers want to be in on the destruction as well, so they take their disco records and rain them upon the field.  To further complicate things, what little security staff the Sox had on hand was down by the entrances attempting to keep even more people from coming into the already overstuffed ballpark.  So in the absence of any supervision, the fans hopped the fence and rushed the field.  By this point, chaos was winning the day as drunk, stoned, and disorderly fans were swarming Comiskey Park(including a 21-year-old actor named Michael Clarke Duncan).  At some point, the fans are beseeched to return to their seats in a vain attempt at restoring order-made by none other than the one and only Harry Caray(who was still 3 years away from moving to the Cubs).  Finally, the Police(no, not those guys) come in, close the entrance ramps to the stadium from the Dan Ryan, and clear the field.

     By this point, the combined forces of the explosion and the riot have completely destroyed the field, and the game is postponed.  The next day, the game is officially ruled a forfeit(as of 2013, it is still the most recent American League game to be forfeited).  34 years later, the game still goes down in history as one of the most infamous promotions of all time, and it all happened, right here in Chicago.

Day 186: Comiskey's Palace

     By 1910, the Chicago White Sox had been in their current ballpark(which stood on the site of a field that had been erected for festivities surrounding the 1893 World's Fair) for 17 years, and the small size(only 15,000 seats) was starting to constrict them.  So, owner Charlie Comiskey purchased the site of an old garbage dump located on 35th and Shields to function as the team's new ballpark.  Upon its opening, the 32,000 seat stadium was for a time known as the "Baseball Palace of the World".  The park had been designed with the input of one of the Sox' most prolific and well-known pitchers, making the field very hostile to hitters(a tale borne out in the fact that no player ever hit 100 home runs or more in the entire lifetime of the park).

     The park hosted the World Series three years in a row between 1917 and 1919.  First in 1917, the Sox defeated the New York Giants four games to two.  In 1918, the Cubs came down and borrowed the park, since it's seating capacity at the time was larger than Wrigley Field's was.  The next year, the White Sox played the Cincinnati Reds in the 1919 Series.  The Sox proceeded to drop the Series 5 games to 3(it was a 9-game set that year), which ushered in the Black Sox scandal that dominated much of the off season.  The fallout of that scandal left the White Sox decimated, and neither they nor their park were much of a factor in baseball again until the 1930s.

     But once that time came, the park shot to prominence once again by hosting the very first All-Star Game, the brainchild of a writer with the Chicago Tribune.  The field wound up getting lights in 1939, and by 1950 the All-Star Game came back.  This time, the biggest highlight was Ted Williams hitting a wall and ending his season.  The field saw the World Series for the final time in 1959.  Ten years later, the stadium saw the addition of a stop on the newly-constructed Red Line.  In 1979, the stadium witnessed a public execution(as well as a riot) when Steve Dahl marched in and declared Disco to be dead.

     By the late 80s, the ownership of the White Sox wanted a bigger stadium.  Under threat of the White Sox moving to Florida, the Illinois legislature(headed up by Jim Thompson[who is no relation to Big Bill Thompson]) voted to give money to build a new park(after they stopped time in its tracks).  In 1989, construction began on a new stadium across the street, which opened in 1991.  The stadium was demolished that same year, though the site of home plate and the foul lines are emblazoned on the parking lot of U.S. Cellular Field.  One final note: in 2005, the team started out their victory parade by taking a spin around the block, paying tribute to the former site of the park, and all of its important contributions to sports history.

Day 170: Don't Stop Believin'-Championship Week Day 2

     When the Houston Astros went down swinging in Game 4 of the 2005 World Series, it broke a championship dry spell even more long-lasting than the one that would be broken by the Blackhawks 5 years later. The Chicago White Sox had not won a World Series since 1917, and they were ready to celebrate.  And what an achievement they had to celebrate, having just reeled off a nearly-perfect postseason record of 11-1, a mark that has only ever been equaled once by the Yankees.

     Their day of celebration started off much as the Blackhawks had started off theirs(except with a lot less bar-hopping), with a parade that started out at U.S. Cellular Field, and then wound its way downtown before stopping at Wacker for a special rally. At that point, various dignitaries took the stage, most notably Mayor Richard M. Daley, who has always been a lifelong White Sox fan(as indicated by his Irish roots).  After Daley's bit, Paul Konerko came up on stage and presented team owner Jerry Reinsdorf with the ball that he caught in order to end the series.  After that, Steve Perry came onstage and proceeded to sing the lines to the Sox's rallying song of 2005, Don't Stop Believin'

     The parade and rally were very highly attended, and in 2010 Ozzie Guillen would look back and claim that the White Sox actually drew more crowds than the estimated 2 Million that attended the Blackhawks' parade.(I think not)  Regardless, the 2005 season will always go down in history as a special time for the Chicago White Sox(for half of the city anyway)

Day 114: Bronzeville's Station

     In the buildup to the 1893 World's Fair, the first rapid transit line in the history of Chicago was commissioned, the South Side Rapid Transit.  There were ten stops on that line, one of which we've already talked about.  Today we will be taking a look at the station at 35th Street.  When the stop was originally opened in 1892, it was located at the same level as the trains running by(aka: grade level), but that was changed in 1907, when the state passed an ordinance mandating the elevation of all station facilities in order to allow for expansion of the tracks.  In 1949, the station was renamed to denote its location next to the Illinois Institute of Technology.  In October 1962, the station was gutted by a massive fire.  Later on, the station was completely rebuilt, and the new station opened up in mid-1965.

     Ever since 1901, the station had seen a considerable amount of business whenever the White Sox played in town, since that stop was the closest El station to the ballpark.  A lot of the crowding was eliminated in 1969, when the new 35th St. stop opened on the Red Line, right across the street from Comiskey Park.  Now mind you, this wasn't a bad thing, it was actually good for all parties involved.  The CTA got another station out of the deal, the fans were able to use a station located a stones throw from their ballpark, and the 35th-Tech station stopped getting so overcrowded on game days.

     In 1993, the South Side service was realigned with the Lake Street Service up north and became known as the Green Line.  At that time, the station was also renamed to 35th-Bronzeville-IIT to pay homage to the Bronzeville neighborhood(and former stomping grounds of Two-Gun Pete) that it was located in.  However, that was not the last time that the 35th-Tech station would see a train headed to Howard.  In 2013, the CTA embarked on a bold plan to shut down the southern portion of the Red Line for 5 months to completely rehab the tracks.  As part of this shutdown, northbound Red Line trains were shifted over to the 35th-Tech stop, thus bringing Howard-bound service back to the station(albeit temporarily) for the first time in 20 years. 

Day 97: The South Side Ballclub

     At the dawn of the 20th Century, Charlie Comiskey found himself with an ownership interest in a minor league ball club out of Saint Paul, Minnesota. Wanting to push things a bit, Comiskey decided to move into the Chicago Market. For the 1900 season, the team operated out of the South Side of Chicago as a minor league, which meant that it was secondary to the National League outfit in the city(which at this point was known as the Chicago Orphans, entering their 24th year of existence.) After one year of this arrangement, the Western League reorganized into the American League, declared themselves to be in competition with the NL, and started raiding player contracts for their own use.

     The AL's first season in 1901 saw the White Stockings(having taken the original name of the Orphans/Cubs) cruise to the league pennant. The first true superstar to emerge in the team's early years was pitcher Ed Walsh, who would routinely pitch over 400 innings in any given season(the official baseball term used for that feat today is "Holy Sh*t!").  It was behind Walsh that the Sox won their first World Series in 1906, despite being loaded with young players, despite being known as the "Hitless Wonders", AND despite being up against a Chicago Cubs team that had just reeled off a 116-win regular season(a feat that has only been repeated once in the 106 seasons since).

     In 1915, the franchise took another step forward with the addition of "Shoeless Joe" Jackson. This in turn helped them to win the Series yet again in 1917.  Jackson would prove integral to the next chapter of Sox history as well.  In 1919, the White Sox yet again made it to the World Series, this time earning the right to play a best of 9 series against the Cincinnati Reds.  The White Sox had stormed through the regular season, so it must have seemed quite peculiar when they were defeated by the Reds in 8 games.  Over the course of the 1920 season, rumors started swirling about a possible rigging of the 1919 Series.  The scandal finally blew up in September of 1920, completely killing any chances the 1920 squad had of contending, and also leading to the suspension and banning(for life) of 8 players, including Jackson.  This heavily deflated the Sox, and they would not contend again until 1935.

     Even then, the team was not regularly competitive again until the 1950s, at which point they became involved in annual pennant races.  The dominance of the New York Yankees usually stymied the Sox, with the lone exception coming in 1959.  That year, the Sox cruised through the AL and won the Pennant.  Ever the White Sox fan(and minor boor[plus potential race rioter to boot]), Mayor Richard J. Daley ordered the city's air raid sirens to be set off in celebration.  Given that this went down in the midst of the Cold War, I'm sure that not a soul mistook this for an actual Soviet attack.  Falsely inciting panic aside, the White Sox fell to the Dodgers in the World Series.  The next decade saw the team continually frustrated by the Yankees and other AL powers, and they failed to make the postseason.

     The Sixties marked the acquisition of the team by the bombastic Bill Veeck, whose mind was as wide open as the great outdoors.  Additionally, the Sixties saw the construction of the Dan Ryan Branch of the CTA, which included a station right by the ballpark. The Sox were under the relocation gun twice, first in 1968 when they were almost moved to Milwaukee, and then in 1975 when they were almost in on a three team deal that would have seen them move to Seattle, with the Athletics coming to town to replace them in Chicago. In 1983, the team had their best season since 1959, winning 99 games.  Ultimately though, they lost in the first round of the playoffs to the eventual World Champion Baltimore Orioles.  1990 was a significant year for the team, as they bid farewell to the original Comiskey Park, which had been their home field since 1910.

     The next year, they opened up a brand-new ballpark that soon became dated thanks to the retro ballpark craze that hit the very next year.  On the field, the 2000 team won 95 games and easily had the best season since 1983.  Alas, the team met a familiar fate and lost in the first round of the playoffs yet again.  5 years later, things would turn out differently.  The 2005 White Sox ran roughshod over the competition to win 99 games and qualify for the playoffs.  After dispatching the reigning champion Red Sox in the ALDS, they faced the Angels, who they beat 4-1.  The Sox were in the World Series for the first time since 1959.  (and no sirens this time) They defeated the Houston Astros 4 games to none, and celebrated their first Series win since 1917(with a little help from Journey).

     Since 2005, the White Sox have made the playoffs one time(another first-round exit in 2008), and have had two pitchers throw a perfect game(Mark Buehrle in 2009 and Phillip Humber in 2012.)  The White Sox have been the South Side's ball club for well over 100 years, and they promise to be around for many more years to come.

Day 93: Red Line, White Sox

     In 1969, the Chicago White Sox thudded to a 5th-place finish in the American League West, only managing to a achieve a 68-94 record.  However, outside of the park, big things were happening.  1969 was also the year that the Dan Ryan Branch of what would come to be known as the Red Line was being constructed, connecting Comiskey Park to the rest of the city and the transit system, giving fans a new and improved way of getting to games.

     In 1967, the city started work on a new extension of the transit system going south of the city along the median of the Dan Ryan Expressway(named for the former President of the Cook County Board, who had been a staunch advocate of the expressway system).  One of the stops was to be placed just steps away form Comiskey Park, so that stop became known as Sox-35th.  The station itself(along with the other 8 stations on the line) was built by Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill(the folks behind the Sears Tower, the Trump Tower, and several other Chicago buildings.)  The station was designed to harmonize with the other ones on the line, with windbreaks, dividers, and ticket booths all crafted from stainless steel.  Overall, the station was built to be functional and formal, with white-painted steel frames, glass enclosures, and open, uncluttered interiors.(the head house of the 35th St. Station looks somewhat reminiscent of the one in the Midway Station, except Midway's house is even bigger.)  The overarching concept in the design of the 35th Station(and all the other Dan Ryan stops) was that of "less is more". Many of the stations did not have concession stands, the washrooms were for employee use only, there were large amounts of sleek, stainless steel used in construction, and every inch of the station was designed to enhance maximum efficiency in queuing and movement of passengers.

     As with many CTA Stations, the 35th stop underwent some renovations in the early 2000s.  In 2000, an elevator was installed in the station in order to spur compliance with ADA regulations. The next year, there were new signs installed in the station, to go along with the new CTA standard(which was in part inspired by the original 1969 signage on the Dan Ryan Branch).  In 2003, the city reconstructed the 35th St. Bridge, so the station's main entrance was closed off during the work, and the 33rd St. entrance became the main entrance. When construction finished, commuters were welcomed with a new Chicago White Sox mosaic on the floor of the main entrance.  Over the next decade, not much changed at the station, with the exception of another refurbishment that took place in 2006.

     However, the biggest change is going on right now.  On May 19, 2013, Sox-35th (as well as the other eight Dan Ryan stops) closed down for 5 months to allow for a complete refurbishment of the line.  During this time, the stations will be spruced up, and the entire track structure(track, gravel, track bed, EVERYTHING) will be torn out and replaced.  While the next 5 months will prove a challenge for all South Side commuters(and baseball fans), when the station reopens in October it should have a bright future for many, many years to come.