From the small corner bars and bungalow stoops of the South Side to the steps of City Hall, fans cut loose with an exuberant but restrained cheer Thursday as the White Sox won their first American League Central title since 2000.
“Whatever balance there is to upset, whatever cosmic winds there are to be disturbed, I’m not going to be the one to do it,” said Margo Stairs, who slipped into the Catcher’s Inn bar near U.S. Cellular Field to catch the last innings of the White Sox’s victory over Detroit. “Shush, don’t say a word.”
For many White Sox fans, the celebration was akin to the joy of surviving a bad car wreck without a scratch.
Over the last two months, fans have watched the White Sox lead dip from 15 games to a 1 1/2-game margin last week over the charging Cleveland Indians.
In the middle of the afternoon in the neighborhoods around U.S. Cellular, white knuckles reached for greenbacks as White Sox championship T-shirts, identical to the ones being doused with champagne at Comerica Park, started flying off the shelves at Grandstand Sports store.
Owner Pete Powers, for the first time this late in the season in nearly two decades, shoved all of his Blackhawks and Bears merchandise to the back of the store to make way for Sox merchandise.
“I had 1,000 [championship] pieces, and that’s going to be gone before we close,” he said. “The championship
T-shirts the players were wearing are already gone.”
At Schaller’s Pump, Lorie “Blondie” Kolerich, 51, born and raised in the surrounding Bridgeport neighborhood, let out a whoop whenever the local news showed the last play of the Sox game.
Her doctor said she could have a few of her cherished Southern Comfort and diet Pepsi’s given the occasion, despite her low blood pressure.
“My fingers are crossed, my toes are crossed, and everything in between is crossed,” she said, wearing a pink Sox visor and shirt that matched her nails. “It’s no wonder my blood pressure is so bad.”
Just to the north, a White Sox cap perched atop his head, a beaming Mayor Daley strode to a podium outside his office at City Hall after the team clinched.
“This is a happy, happy day,” said Daley, a lifelong Sox fan who attends many games and grew up in the shadow of the old Comiskey Park in Bridgeport.
