#chisox

Nobody:

Literally no one:

WGN: 

Ah, yes, the sports theme song of my youth. When I was a lad in my late teens my favourite TV broadcast by far was White Sox baseball on, then, Superstation WGN (channel 60 on Buckeye Cable). I saw this was uploaded a while back and it was an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia. Spending weekends during school and weeknights in the summer drinking CocaCoca: C2 (remember that?) in my room, listen to Ken “Hawk” Harrelson calling games before he went senile, the basic but useful black, orange, and white score bug.

Today’s game between the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox from Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago will be the last White Sox game on WGN America. No more. It's over. In 1948 CE the White Sox and WGN agreed on a TV broadcast deal, just two days after WGN signed a TV deal with the Cubs. In 1948 WGN would broadcast all 21-night games at then Comiskey Park. a 72-year-old relationship is officially over.

If you’ve read my past post  Why Am I A White Sox Fan? You’ll know that I’m not a native Chicagoan, I don’t live in Chicago, or even in the Chicago sports market. I grew up, and still live, in the Toledo suburbs. The Sox being on WGN was one of my few chances to watch the games back then. I live in the heart of Tigers; and Indians’ territory, so luckily I got to see the Sox when they played those teams on the local FSN affiliates. And during the World Series year of 2005, and a few years after when they were still a relevant team, on national broadcasts on ESPN or FOX.

But the nice thing about WGN was that those games were the White Sox feed. Hawk Harrelson doing play-by-play with colour commentator (no pun intended “DJ” Darren Jackson, and then in 2009 Steve Stone. It was actually kind of something I was smarmy about back then too. Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, Giants, Mets, etc fans never got THEIR home broadcast nationally (*ESPN bias joke*). The only real downside was when WGN games were against the Indians and Tigers because well, I got to see those games anyway and to me, it felt like a waste. But alas.

WGN mostly aired Cubs games, which makes sense since WGN was owned by the Tribune Company. The Tribune also owned the Cubs. So naturally, their cash cow subsidiary they owned would get 75% of the broadcasts on their channel. It honestly didn’t bother me. Even back then when the Sox were pretty much my whole life I didn’t need to watch every Sox game. A few years down the road I would order MLB.TV and watching every Sox game, even when they usually had winning records was kind of a chore. People who watch most of the 162 game schedule are champs. I simply cannot do it.

Buy anywho as the Sox got shittier and shittier they appeared less, and less on FOX, ESPN, and TBS national broadcasts. And as I started going to University and working 5 nights a week at a local pizza chain I got to watch baseball less and less. Catching the Sox once a week or every 10 days or so dwindled down to catching the last few innings of a game in Oakland, Seattle, or Anaheim after I got off work or going to my dads and watching the Sunday baseball game on WGN, sometimes being the Cubs. 

After the 2014 season, WGN America (the rebranded name of Superstation WGN starting in 2008) pulled all sports broadcasts (Cubs and Bulls too) off of the national broadcast and only aired them in Chicago. The past few years my viewership of Sox baseball is down to the Indians and Tigers games when they’re on TV when I’m not working (which is comically rare), against the Reds now every 3 years, or rando ESPN, FOX, TBS national broadcasts, which are also comically rare considering the Sox haven’t had a winning record since 2012 (LOL!).

Talk about raking to start the season. Dominican born Yermín Mercedes of the Chicago White Sox had started the season 8-for-8 before being retired in his last at-bat with a fly ball to center fielder Mike Trout.

In doing so, Mercedes has surpassed the past record of most consecutive hits to start the season during the Expansion Era that was set by Chris Stynes with the Cincinnati Reds in 1997 (7-for-7.)

Mercedes also set the record of being the first player to go 5-for-5 in his first ever stari, which he did the day before on Opening Day.

#YermínMercedes #ChicagoWhiteSox #Chisox #DominicanBaseball #BeisbolDominincano #BaseballHistory #HistoriaDelBeisbol #Baseball #Beisbol #BaseballSisco

https://t.co/IwFKwiq8Uw

Hagen Smith has a promising future on the South Side. Drafted fifth overall in 2024 out of the University of Arkansas, the 22-year-old left-hander in the Chicago White Sox system is No. 81 on The Board with a 50 FV. Currently making up lost innings in the Arizona Fall League — he missed six weeks this summer due to elbow soreness — Smith has been described by Eric Longenhagen as possessing “a…