Hockey and things

charles bought a baseball franchise and moved it from st. paul to chicago, invading the territory of the franchise that eventually became the cubs and muscling his way into the market over the opposition of the president of the now-cubs. (that link has some great info about charles's irish-catholic superstitions and belief that he cursed comiskey park by allowing it to be opened on a friday.) he was reportedly a money-conscious owner who did not treat players well. also i'm not gonna get into the black sox scandal, but that happened on his watch.

when charles died, he left the white sox to his son j. louis comiskey, "a terribly fat man plagued by heart disease." j. louis died eight years later and left the team in a bank trust. his wife, grace comiskey, fought the trustees, got the trust broken, and ran the white sox for the next 14 years, the only woman to ever be president of an american league team. badass!

grace made damn sure that when she died, her daughter dorothy got the majority share of the white sox stock (53% to dorothy, 47% to her younger brother charles "chuck" comiskey II. everyone assumed that chuck was going to inherit the white sox but grace said HA HA NO i did not fight for this team to leave it to a MAN.

especially a man who says shit like THIS: "Being the president of a major league club is no job for a woman, even my mother." at the time of this quote, chuck was in college and dorothy was already an active part of running the team's front office. i bet chuck was the most insufferable college lad in the entire 1940s. no wonder dorothy didn't have a relationship with her annoying little brother!

chuck pitched a few fits and made some questionable decisions but remained an active part of running the team. he had a propensity to make a mess of things after a few drinks. meanwhile, dorothy married white sox star pitcher john rigney. rigney, described as a genial easygoing dude, also got a role in the front office and got along with chuck just fine.

to set the stage for our next chapter, let's consider this intriguing quote about the comiskeys, considered to be the "oldest family in baseball":

The Comiskeys obviously have a long and historic tradition. They also have great pride, great ambition, an independent and convivial attitude, a blunt, outspoken manner of speaking, and a tendency to resort to fighting back, loudly and strongly, when rights are—actually or supposedly-infringed upon.

there was a lot of succession-style corporate maneuvering that i will not get into. ultimately chuck made dorothy a lowball offer to buy her out because he assumed she wouldn't sell to anyone outside the family. dorothy said haha fuck off and took a better offer from someone else. chuck sued to block the sale, and dorothy won. she didn't even come to court on the day the judge ruled. badass!

(chuck, while still a minority owner, turned into an irrelevant clown show who sold his shares to another group expecting to be able to buy them back. he was not able to. thus ended the comiskey family's ownership interest in the white sox. plz note that will smith is descended from grace and dorothy, not chuck.)

meanwhile, dorothy comiskey rigney and her pitcher husband had two daughters. one of them, patti rigney bellock, became an illinois state representative (republican of course) and was the first woman to serve as deputy minority leader. patti is will's grandmother, and presumably the person who has the card that can get her into any ballpark.