It was pitcher Jim Parque who, while waxing poetic recently about the aloofness of White Sox fans, had this to say to the unfaithful many: “Get your sorry behinds out here.” Or something like that.
Parque, whose future in public relations is now in doubt, was bemoaning the fact that, despite the team’s winning ways, the Sox were playing regularly before extremely small crowds.
Parque’s contention, certainly shared by many of his teammates, is that the team on the South Side deserves better than 14,200 fans a game and that if Sox players were any less anonymous in this town they would be long-distance telephone operators.
Certain newspaper, radio and TV commentators have agreed that the team is good and have urged the populace to support the Sox, but as University of Chicago economist Allen Sanderson says: “It’s sort of like getting the AFL-CIO endorsement in the general election. It doesn’t do you any good.”
There is, then, only one answer, though it’s in the form of a question: What if?
What if the Sox and the Cubs traded places? What if, suddenly, south was north and down was up? What if the Sox played in that cathedral of baseball, Wrigley Field, where the sun seems to shine brighter, the beer flows like nectar and the Cubs stink and still draw big crowds on a regular basis? Would every knee bow to the White Sox, clearly the more talented and exciting of the two major-league teams in town? Would they own this city so thoroughly that their ties to Mayor Richard M. Daley would be scrutinized?
All of this is impossible, we know. But the Sox at least deserve some relevance, and there is no better proof of relevance than a decent crowd once in a while. And so we can say this with certainty: If the White Sox moved to Wrigley, there would be a loud, steady buzz about the team instead of the current dog whistle heard by only a few.
Perhaps you’re saying to yourself: No self-respecting Sox fan would set foot in Wrigley Field in this Bizarro World.
“I grew up on the South Side. I’m having trouble with the whole concept,” Bob Ramsey, station manager at WGN-Ch. 9, which televises both teams, said with a laugh.
Maybe this will help the reluctant Sox fan. Many of the people who are filling the House that Harry Built are not necessarily Cubs fans or even, to some extent, baseball fans. They are fans of Wrigley Field and beer and bikini tops. It is a phenomenon of huge proportions–the park, not the bikini tops–and it means all sorts of things to the team that plays there, which in our case means the White Sox.
Consider it the marriage of a real team and a real ballpark.
“Would Magglio Ordonez be a bigger star at Wrigley? Would Jim Parque and Mike Sirotka be Mark Grace-like matinee idols?” Ramsey asked, warming to the concept.
Would Wrigley Field soften some of Frank Thomas’ hard edges? Would James Baldwin, 6-0 and pitching in relative obscurity at Comiskey, become somebody? Would the city take to the Sox the way it did when the Cubs made the playoffs in 1998? Would Ordonez become the next Sammy Sosa?
If you answered yes to any of the above, you are something of a dreamer. But dreams are what Wrigley is all about, that and the faintest of hope. Former White Sox announcer Jimmy Piersall calls himself a realist and says the Cubs fans he knows never would frequent a place where the enemy plays. He might be missing the point. Wrigley is a shrine–a shrine that bleeds rust periodically, yes, but one that also oozes personality.
“I would say absolutely Wrigley Field has something to do with the large attendance,” said WGN-AM 720 announcer Ron Santo, who played 14 years with the Cubs and one with the White Sox. “Would the Sox draw as much as the Cubs there? I don’t know. I really don’t know. I think the difference is the ballpark, and people would come. But Cub fans are Cub fans. You’re brought up in the tradition.”
There would be a few self-evident truths if the Sox were to change addresses:
– Thomas would become more popular and his career as a product endorser, now about as dry as a Nevada riverbed, would improve. Sox fans seemed less upset about Thomas’ power reduction the last few years than they were about his whining. Wrigley fans would respond to that sort of thing with two words: Beer here!
“In Wrigley Field it doesn’t seem people care a whole lot about what somebody says or what they do or what their off-the-field issues are,” said Lou Weisbach, chairman of HA-LO, a marketing company that handles Sosa’s endorsement deals. “If they play and play well, Cub fans don’t care. That’s not necessarily true on the South Side. I think there’s no doubt Frank Thomas would be a much more heroic figure on the North Side than the South Side given the exact same activities and doing everything that he does.”
“If he were playing for the Cubs,” Baseball Digest editor John Kuenster said, “he’d be Mr. Ernie Banks.”
– Sox marketing director Rob Gallas could relax. Gallas is the guy who has to think up all sorts of innovative promotions to attract the Jerry Reinsdorf-weary Sox fan. Bungee-Jump the Upper Deck Night probably is lurking out there somewhere. The Sox are about to launch a promotion in which a few selected children get to play a video game on the Jumbotron against a White Sox player before the game.
That type of thing wouldn’t be necessary in the new environs. At Wrigley, all that’s necessary is cold beer and a guest celebrity, usually someone from the cast of “Eight Is Enough” singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” Afterward members of the marketing department tuck each other in.
“The park to an extent markets itself,” said Matthew Freedman, editor of Team Marketing Report, a sports business publication. “Half the time when WGN comes back from commercial break, they have that wide shot of Wrigley Field, a panoramic view. You get the impression of Wrigley Field as this great place. Comiskey doesn’t seem to give that same feel. But they’re working on it.”
– The Sox would be on superstation WGN-Ch. 9 more often and thus would become more popular. As of early last week, the Cubs had a 6.5 rating and the Sox 3.5 when they play on WGN. In our fantasy world, the Sox are the team that gets the 80 dates on WGN and the Cubs 30, not the other way around. And therefore:
– The Sox would be unconditionally loved instead of tough-loved, met with open arms instead of the back of a hand. The difference could be as many as 15,000 more fans a game.
– Sox hitters theoretically would watch their power numbers go up in smaller, hitter-friendly Wrigley, but this would be offset somewhat by the increased threat of player hangovers after late-night bar crawls through Wrigleyville.
– Santo said the Sox also would benefit from Wrigley’s natural charms–day games, most notably.
“There’s a lot of energy at Wrigley, a lot of electricity,” he said. “If I was on the road for 10 days and I was in a slump, I’d come here, walk on this field and it was different. It was day baseball. I couldn’t wait to get to the plate.
“When I went over there to Comiskey, it was different.”
Would the Sox own this town? They’d have more than the small minority share they hold now, though Sosa believes there’s only one way the Sox would make it big in Wrigley Field.
“If they wore the Chicago Cub uniform,” he said.
Don’t be so sure, Sammy. The Cubs drew 2.8 million people last year, the highest figure in their history, despite finishing in last place in the National League Central Division. Even if Sosa were traded, there’s a good chance Wrigley would continue to be filled game after game.
Let’s not forget that, in our world of make-believe, the Cubs would have to take their act to Comiskey. How would they be received? Probably by more empty seats than Parque could ever imagine.
But Sox fans might be able to warm to the idea of their team establishing residency in Wrigley.
“You know what? Last year the Sox played pretty well at Wrigley Field,” WGN’s Ramsey said. “So maybe it’s not a bad idea.”
