Tag / White Sox

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Ballpark Tour: Blue Jays

With the offseason underway, we continue our tour of all of the different baseball stadiums I’ve been to over the years. This week, we look at the Toronto Blue Jays, the lone team currently existing outside of the United States. So, without further ado, let’s take a deeper look at my one game history with Rogers Centre.

Stadium Name: Skydome/Rogers Centre

Years in Service: 1989 – Present

Visits: 1

Following the Grey Cup game in 1982 at Exhibition Stadium, dubbed the Rain Bowl due to a torrential rainstorm, tens of thousands of people attended a rally at Toronto’s city hall chanting “We want a dome”.  After years of studies, they got their wish on June 3, 1989 when Skydome opened as the new home of the Blue Jays, featuring the first functional retractable roof in North America.

While the stadium quickly became an albatross for the province of Ontario, due to cost overruns and a recession, the Blue Jays became a force to be reckoned with.  The Jays won the AL East crown in 1989 and 1991, losing to the eventual World Series champions both years.  In 1992, they again won their division and became the first Canadian team to capture a World Series title.  They repeated as champions in 1993, becoming the first team to win back-to-back Series since the Yankees in 1977 and 1978.

Since then, things have been relatively quiet for the Blue Jays.  In 2005, the stadium was renamed Rogers Centre, after the new owners of both the stadium and the team.

I attended my first (and, so far, only) game at the Rogers Centre in September of 2015 when I was visiting Toronto with my friend Hayley.  In addition to adding a new stadium to my resume, former White Sox ace Mark Buehrle was scheduled to start, so I was really looking forward to the game.  Sadly, Buehrle was bumped a few days due to a sore shoulder, so I ended up having to see David Price take on the Orioles.  He handled them with ease, picking up his 100th career victory.  I didn’t have the best seats in the house, sitting out in left field, but was in the shade, which was in short supply during a hot afternoon with the roof open.  I certainly hope to return one day.

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Beltin’ Bill Melton Says Goodbye

Bill Melton, the former White Sox third baseman and pre- and post-game host, passed away early this morning in Phoenix after a brief illness. He was 79 years old.

Melton became the first White Sox player to surpass 30 home runs in a season in 1970 when he launched 30 round trippers.  He replicated that effort the following year, becoming the first south sider to lead the league.  After a back injury in 1972, Melton worked to get back, but felt snubbed, first by his omission from the All Star team in 1973 and then by the 1974 acquisition of future-Hall of Famer Ron Santo.  A feud with broadcaster Harry Caray sealed his fate in Chicago and, after the 1975 season, he was traded to the Angels.  His 154 home runs still ranks ninth in franchise history.

Melton returned to the White Sox family in 1992 as a community relations representative.  He joined WGN in 1998 as an analyst for pre- and post-game shows.  In 2005, he moved over to Comcast SportsNet, performing the same role.  He retired in 2020.

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Fifty Years Of Music – 2017

Fifty years ago, I made my first appeared on the Earth.  In celebration, we are going to take a look at the year-end Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for each year of my life and see what songs resonated with me at the time and if they continue to do so to this day.

We continue our look back at the music of my lifetime with 2017, the year I turned 43.  Only four of these songs are familiar to me today, with just half of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.

#39: Taylor Swift – Look What You Made Me Do
iTunes stats: 18 plays

The lead single from her sixth studio album, it spent three weeks atop the Hot 100 in September of 2017.

#9: Imagine Dragons – Believer
iTunes stats: 16 plays

The at bat song for former White Sox third baseman Matt Davidson, it was the band’s third top ten single, peaking at #4.

#2: Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber – Despacito
iTunes stats: N/A

Spending 16 weeks at #1, it was the first primarily Spanish language song to top the charts since 1996.

#1: Ed Sheeran – Shape of You
iTunes stats: N/A

The final song written for Sheeran’s third album, it debuted at #1 on the Hot 100 for a week and then returned for an eleven-week run after a two week break.

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Ballpark Tour: Nationals

With the offseason in full swing, we continue our tour of all of the different baseball stadiums I’ve been to over the years. This week, we head to our nation’s capital for a look at latest home of the Washington Nationals. So, without further ado, let’s take a deeper look at my history, such as it is, with Nationals Park.

Stadium Name: Nationals Park

Years in Service: 2008 – Present

Visits: 1

After playing their first three seasons at RFK Stadium following their move from Montreal, the Washington Nationals moved into their new home for the 2008 season, starting with an 3-2 walk-off victory against the Braves on March 30th.  On January 1, 2015, the park hosted its first hockey game, as the Capitals defeated the Blackhawks in the Winter Classic.  The All-Star Game returned to Washington in 2018 for the first time since 1969, and, this past season, the park hosted the first World Series games in Washington since 1933.

I made my one trip to Nationals Park in June of 2019, part of an overall trip to DC celebrating Michael’s grammar school graduation.  The Nationals defeated the visiting White Sox 6-4 on a beautiful afternoon, despite the result caused by some bad bullpen outcomes.

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The Window Slammed Shut

The White Sox closed the door on the Yoan Moncada era last week, declining the $25 million option for 2025 and making the embattled infielder a free agent.  Moncada, who was part of the haul received from the Red Sox in the Chris Sale deal that kicked off the previous rebuild, was ranked as the #1 prospect in all of baseball, but was never able to convert that promise into long-term success at the big-league level.  He only appeared in twelve games for the White Sox in 2024, spending the majority of the year on the IL with a left abductor strain.

Overall, the 2024 season was not a great one for the core of the team that was supposed to lead to long-term, sustained success.  Jose Abreu and Tim Anderson both found themselves looking for work after being DFA’d by their most recent employers.  Eloy Jimenez, traded to the Orioles at the deadline, saw himself demoted to Triple A before the end of the season and did not have his $18 million option picked up.  It would be surprising if any of the four find themselves with a major league deal heading into 2025.

 

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The Will Venable Era Has Begun

The White Sox have hired Will Venable to be the 44th manager in franchise history, and the sixth since 2020.  Venable, who was the associate manager under Bruce Bochy for the Rangers these past two seasons, had previously been part of the coaching staffs for the Red Sox and Cubs and was a special assistant to Theo Epstein with the Cubs.  Prior to that, Venable spent nine years as an outfielder, mostly with the Padres.  When former manager Pedro Grifol was fired back in August, general manager Chris Getz said, “I think it’s important to bring in a new voice, a fresh voice, perhaps that’s been exposed to areas of this game that we don’t currently have in our organization.”  Venable does seem to check those boxes.

Venable takes over a team that set the modern major league record this season with 121 losses and is not expected to spend much money to improve the on-the-field product in 2025.  Given that the White Sox appear to be in a slow-moving, long term rebuild of the entire organization, Venable looks to be the manager for today and also for the future, when the team should be competitive once more.

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Ballpark Tour: Red Sox

With the offseason underway, we continue our tour of all of the different baseball stadiums I’ve been to over the years. This week, we look at the Boston Red Sox, owners of the oldest stadium in Major League Baseball. So, without further ado, let’s take a deeper look at my one game history with Fenway Park.

Stadium Name: Fenway Park

Years in Service: 1912 – Present

Visits: 1

In 1911, Red Sox owner John I. Taylor purchased the land bordered by Brookline Avenue, Jersey Street, Van Ness Street and Lansdowne Street and developed it into a larger baseball stadium, which he named after the Fenway neighborhood where it was located.  The first game was played April 20, 1912, as the Red Sox defeated the New York Highlanders, who would become the Yankees the following year, 7-6 in 11 innings.

I attended my first (and, so far, only) game at Fenway Park in August of 2017, cashing in my birthday gift from the year before.  The hope was that Angelina would be moving into Boston University around that time, but her gap year put a kibosh on that.  The ballpark was… a little underwhelming.  From the outside, you could barely tell that it was a stadium.  Michael even asked where it was as we were standing outside it.

The game went about as you would expect.  With James Shields on the mound, the White Sox did not put up much of a fight.  We were sitting down the left field line, with a good view of the Green Monster.  The seats, which may or may not date back to the stadium’s opening in 1912, were not really designed for people well over 6 feet tall, so there was a lot of uncomfortable shifting as Danny and my knees were smooshed into the seats in front of us.

I would have added an additional game or two in 2020, as the plan was to take Michael to Boston for his birthday and enjoy the monster seats, but a little global pandemic got in that way of that.  Now that Angelina is done with school and working full time in Boston, there is still an opportunity to increase my number of visits in the years to come.

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Which Way To Sacramento

As the 2024 baseball season draws to a close, so too does the era of Major League Baseball in Oakland.  The A’s, who first moved to Oakland prior to the 1968 season, will be spending the next three (or four) years based out of Sacramento while waiting for a stadium to be built in Las Vegas.  I’ve seen the A’s at least 35 times over the years, first at some unknown date at old Comiskey Park and most recently at Guaranteed Rate Field in mid-September.  In between, I saw them at two other ballparks, including trips to their home ballpark in 1999 and 2008.

 

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Chicago Cubs 3 0 1.000
Detroit Tigers 1 0 1.000
Chicago White Sox 16 14 0.533
Oakland Athletics 15 20 0.429
Baltimore Orioles 0 1 0.000

The A’s, who are going location-less name-wise while they are based in Sacramento, will make their first visit to Chicago in April.  They will open their stay in Sacramento against the Cubs on March 31, while the White Sox make their first visit at the end of April.

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2024 Final Batting Leaders

Another season of baseball season is in the books, with the White Sox disappointing their fans with one of the worst seasons in baseball history while the Cubs failed to live up to expectations.  Let’s take a look back at the offensive leaders for the 27 games that I attended this season.

Home Runs

Name Total
Paul DeJong 4
Andrew Vaughn 4
Andrew Benintendi 3
Gavin Sheets 3
5 tied with 2

Hits

Name Total
Andrew Vaughn 22
Gavin Sheets 22
Andrew Benintendi 17
Paul DeJong 16
Luis Robert 16

Runs

Name Total
Andrew Vaughn 11
Gavin Sheets 11
Continue reading →
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Ballpark Tour: Marlins

As we prepare to enter the long offseason after a hugely disappointing 2024, it is time to take another tour of all of the baseball stadiums I’ve been to over the years.  We start with an odd occurrence: the Miami Marlins.  While I have never been to Miami, I have managed to see one of their home games, thanks to Hurricane Ivan.  So, without further ado, let’s take a deeper look at my history with the Marlins at, of all places, US Cellular Field in Chicago.

Stadium Name: US Cellular Field

Years in Service: 2004

Visits: 1 (with the Marlins as the home team)

In September of 2004, Hurricane Ivan bore down on the east coast of Florida, just weeks after Hurricane Frances had made landfall.  The Marlins, having already cancelled a full series against the Cubs, decided to move 2 games of their series against the Montreal Expos to Chicago.  So, on September 14, 2014, I went to US Cellular Field, home of the White Sox, to see the Marlins battle the Expos.

With general admission ticket prices set at $15, $5 of which went to a fund for victims of the hurricane, I headed down to the second of the two games the teams played in town.  The Marlins, playing the part of the home team, brought their own public address announcer, their own mascot, and their own graphics to be used on the center field scoreboard.  Southpaw, the mascot of the White Sox, palled around with Billy Marlin.

The games marked the first time that a National League game was played in an American League stadium since 1946, when the Braves had to play the Phillies at Fenway Park due to painted seats that hadn’t yet dried.  It was also the first time that the defending World Series champions played a home game in Chicago since 1918.

For the Expos, it was just another strange trip in a season full of them.  This was their last season in existence, when they played a portion of their home schedule in Puerto Rico.  The travel for this series should have been nothing, since the team was already in town to play the Cubs the weekend before.  However, a previously booked convention kicked them out of their hotel downtown, forcing them to move out to Arlington Heights, which is not exactly a convenient locale when trekking to the south side of Chicago.

The Marlins managed to win both games of the series before they were able to head back to Florida and continue the season as planned.  The Expos played out the last 20 or so games of their existence before moving to Washington and becoming the Nationals in 2005.