Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Rest In Peace, Shoeless Joe



The Go-Go Sox of '59 are off the hook. The Black Sox of 1919...I suppose that jury will never shift.

But the Southsiders are champs, and maybe the Nats can give me another one next year...

2 Comments:

Blogger Ron Franscell said...

From Ron Franscell's http://underthenews.blogspot.com ...

It's been 88 years since the Chicago White Sox last won a World Series, and now they've finally done it again, sweeping the Houston Astros in four games. 88 years. Every story you see today will remind you that it was 1917 when the Sox last won the Series, which is 88 years ago. Sportswriters will compare the Sox drought to the Boston Red Sox "Curse of the Bambino" or the Chicago Cubs' billy goat, as if metaphysics have somehow become part of baseball's statistical abstract.

But when the Chicago White Sox had their chance to win the World Series 86 years ago -- and the likelihood of their winning was a safe bet -- eight players purposely blew it, scandalizing their team and the game of baseball. Worse, they shattered the public's confidence in its institutions in a way we didn't see again until Watergate, 55 years later.

As tragic as I find the story of Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Black Sox, and as marvelous as I find the the 2005 White Sox, the fact remains: It might be 88 years since they last won a World Series, but they purposely blew a chance 86 years ago that changed everything. Not just baseball, but also our chance to believe in one good thing.

13:22  
Blogger Tommie Closson said...

Excellent point, but that being said, I feel Jackson has been unduly targetted by history and belongs in Cooperstown. And I doubt we'll ever manage to see him in there...

14:54  

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