More Chicago White Sox Nostalgia

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, the Chicago White Sox were scheduled to play the Colorado Rockies in a two game series here in Denver yesterday and today, but due to the coronavirus, that series, along with all other baseball games, has been canceled.  I decided to go through my collection of photographs to find a few White Sox memories, including one of Chicago White Sox television broadcaster Harry Caray singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame at Comiskey Park back in 1980. White Sox owner Bill Veeck convinced Caray to sing the song during the 7th inning stretch, and it turned out to be a big success.  When Cary became the Chicago Cubs broadcaster after Veeck sold the White Sox, he continued this tradition, and became a national figure thanks to Cubs games being broadcast all over the country on cable television.

Harry's broadcast partner was Jimmy Piersall (seen greeting fans in the photo on the right), a former baseball player who had a nervous breakdown and later wrote the book Fear Strikes Out, which was also made into a movie. Caray and Piersall made a great team, and kept television fans highly entertained, despite the White Sox's abysmal record most of those years. Whenever they got into an argument about something, Piersall would end it by saying "I have papers in my pocket that say I'm sane, Harry.  What about you?" One time Piersall was suspended for strangling Mike Veeck, team owner Bill Veeck's son.  However, Mike was not injured, and Piersall was not fired. He soon returned to the broadcast booth.  Mike Veeck, by the way, was the one who came up with the idea of Disco Demolition Night.  A local radio station and D.J. Steve Dahl blew up a pile of disco records in the middle of center field after the first game of a doubleheader.  After the explosion, many of the fans jumped onto the field to celebrate, wouldn't leave, and the White Sox wound up forfeiting the second game.  While Bill Veeck certainly couldn't condone Piersall's behavior, he did keep him on the payroll, no doubt still brooding about Disco Demolition Night.