Author: staff

“You could really see guys who were struggling with whatever it was,” he said. “The grind of the season, not playing in front of fans, the daily testing. College kids don’t always love to get up and get a test at 7:30 a.m. every day. When you do that six days a week, it can take a toll. It made you aware, in some cases, your kids go through a lot of things maybe you can be oblivious to.”

The 82-year-old former pitcher added to Showalter’s story by saying, “Get a 40-acre field full of ‘em.” What he was trying to say was that any manager would want their team’s farm system to be stocked with guys like Moncada. What he did say was racist. The slavery implications of Kaat’s comments were shockingly obvious, and like Bob Brenly and Jack Morris before him, Kaat delivered his racist rhetoric with an alarming amount of comfort.

Chicago White Sox center fielder Luis Robert is congratulated in the dugout after scoring in the first inning of Game 2 of the American League Division Series with the White Sox and the Astros, Friday, Oct. 8, 2021, in Houston. (Terrence Antonio James)

I met fans from Old Irving Park. Austin. River North. I saw two men in matching steelworkers polos, and a row of women in matching José Abreu jerseys. I saw porkpie hats, neck tattoos, dresses, cargo shorts, overalls. I often saw the day-off recline — arms outstretched, body tilted backward. I saw two people — two! — reading physical newspapers. Whenever a play was close, the section turned in unison, like eager geese, to see a replay on the scoreboard. What I saw was not overly rowdy or ugly but buoyant. At worst, charming pirate behavior. A man complained about his lemonade to a concession worker, and the whole row began taunting: “MY LEMONADE! MY LEMONADE!” Go back to the fancy sections, with its cup holders and bucket seats. Pretensions just will not do back here, in these green metal benches stretching from Section 160 to Section 164, between bronze statues of Carlton Fisk and Paul Konerko, the finest seats in Chicago.