With his seventh inning home run last night against the Twins, Munetaka Murakami became the first rookie in MLB history to reach the 20-home run plateau before the start of June. The previous rookie mark of 19 was held by Pete Alonso and Mark McGwire. He joins Frank Thomas and Jim Thome as the only White Sox players overall to reach the mark.
The White Sox have four more games scheduled through the remainder of May.
Another great week as I pushed my 30,000-step week streak to fourteen and my streak of 4000+ step days reached 83. The week got off to a great start on Sunday thanks to a trip to Rate Field, finishing with 6100 steps. Monday saw a small decrease, dropping down to 5300 steps. Things kept rolling on Tuesday thanks to a lunch time walk as I charged, ending 6 steps shy of 6300. Wednesday was the worst day of the week, going down to 4400 steps. Thursday wrapped up with 5600 steps. The start of Crosstown festivities on the south side between the Cubs and White Sox on Friday put me over goal, falling a single step shy of 7700. Game two on Saturday wrapped up the week with 6800 steps.
Total steps: 42,280
Daily average: 6040
After yesterday’s 6-5 victory over the Royals, the White Sox find themselves without a losing record past March for the first time since the conclusion of the 2022 season, when they finished 81-81. After three consecutive 100-loss seasons, this seems like celebrating. Now, this doesn’t mean that they are suddenly a “good” team or that they will finish the year above .500, but they do seem to be moving in the right direction and are finally entertaining to watch.
Music. It is a powerful thing that brings people together, creates memories, and evokes emotions. It is the universal language that speaks to the soul. It forms the soundtrack of our lives.
It has now been five years since we last counted down the Top 200 artists in my iTunes library, featuring the songs I have listened to the most since 2007. It is time to do so again, seeing which performers still resonate and if any newer ones have joined the fray. So, without further ado, here are my most listened to artists, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2026.
We hit the top 40 today with the next batch of ten artists, much of which is tied in some way, shape, or form to one of the local baseball clubs.
#40: Tori Amos
iTunes stats: 263 plays
Previous ranking: #43
66 new listens for the same eleven songs over the past five years push the singer/songwriter, who I was supposed to see live at the Rosemont Horizon back in 1998 but missed due to a friend’s wedding, up three spots.
#39: The Rolling Stones
iTunes stats: 289 plays
Previous ranking: #37
The 1989 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame added 76 additional listens, which dropped them two spots in the rankings.
#38: Steam
iTunes stats: 296 plays
Previous ranking: #36
A casualty of my White Sox victory playlist getting fewer plays over the last couple of years, Steam drops two spots in the rankings despite 76 additional plays.
#37: Harry Caray
iTunes stats: 300 plays
Previous ranking: #40
Two versions of Take Me Out to the Ballgame, one from his tenure in the White Sox booth and one from the Cubs, scored a 44% increase for the legendary broadcaster.
#36: Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers
iTunes stats: 308 plays
Previous ranking: #34
The novelty band, responsible for the White Sox rally song from 1959, added 79 listens in the past five years, causing them to drop two spots in the rankings.
#35: Dr. Dre
Continue reading →
Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami has been on a tear, tying league and team records with home runs in each of his last five games heading into yesterday’s tilt against the Diamondbacks. That streak ties the White Sox franchise record, following A.J. Pierzynski, Paul Konerko, Carlos Lee, Frank Thomas (twice!), Ron Kittle, and Greg Luzinski. He also pulled even with Shohei Ohtani for the longest streak by a Japanese-born player and became just the thirteenth rookie in MLB history to score a five-game homer streak.
Wednesday’s game was also the fourth straight game that both Murakami and Colson Montgomery have homered, making them the first set of teammates in MLB history to pull off that achievement.
Last summer, the White Sox fell victim to Clayton Kershaw’s 3000th career strikeout and I decided to take a look back at the historic games I’ve attended over the years. Here is part three, featuring another six games where an individual hit a career plateau or a team clinched a pennant.
April 11, 2011 – A’s 2, White Sox 1
In the bottom of the fifth inning of a scoreless tie at US Cellular Field, the slugging Brent Lillibridge, he with the 19 career home runs, launched the first pitch he saw from Dallas Braden into the bleachers for the 10,000th home run in White Sox franchise history.
May 9, 2015 – Reds 10, White Sox 4
With the White Sox trailing the Reds 3-0 in the bottom of the 7th in the first game of a double header, Alexei Ramirez took the first pitch from Johnny Cueto and deposited it into the left field stands for his 100th career home run.
September 5, 2015 – Blue Jays 5, Orioles 1
Filling in for the injured Mark Buehrle, David Price scattered three hits and struck out eight in seven innings to beat the Orioles at Rogers Centre for his 100th career victory. The win increased Toronto’s lead to 1 1/2 games in the AL East.
October 21, 2015 – Mets 8, Cubs 3
With an 8-3 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field, the Mets, in their first post-season appearance in nearly a decade, completed the sweep and won the NL pennant for the first time since 2000. They would go on to lose the World Series in five games to the Royals.
October 22, 2016 – Cubs 5, Dodgers 0
For the first time since 1945, the Cubs won the National League pennant after defeating the Dodgers 5-0 in game 6 of the NLCS. Behind a two hitter from Kyle Hendricks, the Cubs put to rest the painful memories of the collapse of 1969, the failure to win one of three in San Diego in 1984, and the Steve Bartman-fueled fiasco of 2003. They would go on to face the Indians in the World Series, winning their first championship since 1908.
September 9, 2017 – White Sox 13, Giants 1
Jose Abreu hit for the cycle in the White Sox victory over the Giants, going 4-5 with 3 RBIs. Abreu started with a home run in the first inning and a double in the third against starter Jeff Samardzija. In the seventh, he singled against Josh Osich and, in the eighth, he finished things off with a triple to the right field corner against Roberto Gómez. He became the first White Sox player to get the cycle since José Valentín in 2000.
Music. It is a powerful thing that brings people together, creates memories, and evokes emotions. It is the universal language that speaks to the soul. It forms the soundtrack of our lives.
It has now been five years since we last counted down the Top 200 artists in my iTunes library, featuring the songs I have listened to the most since 2007. It is time to do so again, seeing which performers still resonate and if any newer ones have joined the fray. So, without further ado, here are my most listened to artists, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2026.
We continue today with our next batch of ten artists, at least three of which had a key member die prematurely and another three helped greatly by inclusion in my baseball victory playlists.
#60: Warrant
iTunes stats: 178 plays
Previous ranking: #65
Formed in 1984 in Hollywood, the band, whose lead singer died of alcohol poisoning in 2011, picked up 47 new listens, which moved them up five slots.
#59: Run-D.M.C.
iTunes stats: 125 plays
Previous ranking: #61
The rap pioneers from New York added 39 new listens to their six songs in my collection, including their collaboration with Aerosmith.
#58: Cracker
iTunes stats: 183 plays
Previous ranking: #56
A small 20% increase for the Georgia rockers thanks to 30 new plays over these past five years.
#57: Klaus Badelt
iTunes stats: 184 plays
Previous ranking: #48
The composer dropped nine spots in the rankings due to the White Sox no longer using his theme from Pirates of the Caribbean as part of their pre-game routine and its subsequent removal from my victory playlists.
#56: Hole
Continue reading →
Previously, we’ve looked at the most recent time I’ve seen each of the 30 major league baseball teams play. Three weeks into the 2026 season, I thought it would be worth going into the wayback machine and see when the first time was that I saw each team live and in person, to the best of my knowledge. My records only go back to 1984, so anything before that is as yet unidentified.
Breaking it down by decade, we have twelve teams I saw originally during the 80s, eleven in the 90s, and the remaining seven came in the 2000s. For franchises that have moved, I have lumped them all together.
Earliest Game
| Team Name | Year |
|---|---|
| Texas Rangers | 8/14/1984 |
| Chicago White Sox | 8/14/1984 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 8/30/1984 |
| Boston Red Sox | 4/19/1985 |
| San Diego Padres | 7/8/1985 |
| Chicago Cubs | 7/8/1985 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 7/26/1985 |
| New York Mets | 8/4/1985 |
| Kansas City Royals | 8/20/1985 |
| Cleveland Indians/Guardians | 7/16/1987 |
| Seattle Mariners | 9/18/1987 |
| California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels | 7/28/1988 |
| Detroit Tigers | 4/20/1991 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 7/18/1993 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 8/2/1993 |
| Continue reading → |
Yet another good week as I kept my 30,000-step week streak alive for the ninth straight week while also running my streak of 4000+ days to 40. A trip to Rate Field on Sunday to see the White Sox sweep the Blue Jays got the week off to a great start, finishing with 6600 steps. Monday needed just 23 additional steps to reach 5000. Things slowed just a bit on Tuesday, falling to 4700 steps. Another small drop on Wednesday left me with 4500 steps. Things picked up again on Thursday, ending 37 steps shy of 5300. Another nice day on Friday ended 22 steps short of 5100. A morning walk on Saturday ended the week a single step shy of 5800.
Total steps: 37,019
Daily average: 5288.4
Chili Dog MVP: Dick Allen, The ’72 White Sox and a Transforming Chicago – John Owens and David J. Fletcher
The early 70s were a time of change on the south side of Chicago. As the ballclub that called Comiskey Park home recovered from the then-worst season in franchise history in 1970 and threats to move the club out of the city they’d called home for seven decades, the demographics of the surrounding neighborhoods started to shift and noted White Sox fan Richard J. Daley, longtime mayor of the city, started to lose his vice-like grip on the Democratic party. Those changes crystalized in 1972, with the arrival of Dick Allen, a baseball superstar whose reputation was perhaps less than stellar. But, taking a young ballclub under his wing, he led the upstart White Sox to their best season in five years, challenging the budding dynasty in Oakland for the AL West title.
Chili Dog MVP: Dick Allen, The ’72 White Sox and a Transforming Chicago, by authors John Owens and David J. Fletcher and editor George Castle, tells the tale of that 1972 White Sox team, while also touching on the things going on around it, both physically and temporally. They cover the ownership transfers from Arthur Allyn to his brother John in 1970 and then again to Bill Veeck in 1975. The interconnected revival of Harry Caray’s career announcing for the White Sox with the rise of young organist Nancy Faust, who would spend 40 years with the franchise. The arrival of Roland Hemond and Chuck Tanner in late 1970, who helped turn the franchise around and were instrumental in the acquisition of Allen and convincing him to come play in Chicago. And, of course, the career of Dick Allen, especially his three years in Chicago, from the promising beginning to the bitter end, when he quit on the team and temporarily retired towards the end of the 1974 season.
The 1972 White Sox were just a little before my time, so this was a nice glimpse into the franchise just a few years before I was born. If I have one complaint about its composition, it is that it is treated, and edited, more a collection of one-off essays rather than as a comprehensive story, so details and characters are re-introduced and re-described numerous times. That small change could have streamlined the tale and probably cut a good ten pages or so from the tome.