All the Chicago White Sox did last year was finish with the modern era MLB record for the most losses in a single season. The South Siders went 41-121 overall in a season where they scored nearly 100 fewer runs than the next worst offense in baseball. The White Sox responded to their historic ineptitude by doing a whole lot of nothing in the offseason other than replacing the manager. Chicago only spent $15.2 million this winter, which shouldn’t be a surprise for a franchise that has never given out a contract bigger than Andrew Benintendi’s $75 million deal.
The White Sox are very bad again this season, currently sitting with a 7-21 overall record that is once more the worst in the AL by a mile. The Sox have a strong case as the most pathetic franchise in American professional sports, and it can all be traced to their 89-year-old owner Jerry Reinsdorf. The Sox aren’t the only Chicago franchise Reinsdorf has ruined: he’s also driven the Chicago Bulls into stale mediocrity with the same absentee landlord ownership style that has defined his last 20 years in baseball.
Is there any hope for the Bulls and White Sox for the foreseeable future? Honestly, no. Now Chicago sports fans have a reminder of how far both franchises have fallen with the new City Connect uniforms from the White Sox that give an obvious nod to Reinsdorf’s other team.
The Bulls-White Sox crossover that no one asked for is here. As someone who grew up as a fan of both teams, I actually kind of like it, but it also only fuels my disdain for Reinsdorf.
Chicago sports scribes had a field day with this uniform announcement:
The collar with the championship years for both franchises is a nice touch. The Bulls will probably get fat off their ‘90s dynasty forever, but take away 1991-1998 and the organization has a 47 percent winning percentage all-time. The White Sox have done absolutely nothing since their remarkable run to the 2005 World Series championship. The Sox’s last rebuild failed miserably in the wake of the Chris Sale trade, and it’s hard to give them the benefit of the doubt on the new rebuild they’re embarking on.
This isn’t the first Bulls-White Sox crossover on the South Side this season. Derrick Rose also threw out the first pitch in the home opener. Chicago teams are so desperate for a nostalgia attendance spike that the Bulls planned two separate nights to honor Rose, one this past season to celebrate his retirement, and another next season to retire his No. 1. It’s all a shameless cash grab for franchises that haven’t been nationally relevant since Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were president.
Some of the design touches here are pretty cool, but it’s hard to imagine many people want to give Reinsdorf their money. The only good news for the White Sox is that the Ishbia brothers now reportedly own 35 percent of the franchise. Mat Ishbia has driven the Phoenix Suns into the ground in the NBA, but at least he spends money. Reinsdorf is so cheap and so lazy with his staffing that his teams never really have a chance.
Chicago sports will never have peace as long as Jerry Reinsdorf is around. This Bulls-White Sox crossover is just another example of that.
