Does Jerry Reinsdorf really want to sell the White Sox?
Sorry, but I’m having a hard time hearing myself think over the deafening commotion coming from fans of the White Sox.
They’re screaming in delight as they dance in the streets of Bridgeport, Hyde Park and Hegewisch. They’re shouting praises to the heavens in Homewood, South Holland and Calumet City. They’re hooting and hollering and making plans for ceremonial burnings of their “SELL THE TEAM” signs when the baseball gods at last deliver them from the ownership of Jerry Reinsdorf.
Is Reinsdorf really going to sell the Sox? Can it be?
The 88-year-old chairman is in discussions with a group led by former major league pitcher Dave Stewart, according to The Athletic. Word of this spread instantly through Soxdom on Wednesday, the first sign of excitement those parts have seen since the 2021 postseason.
On the other hand …
Oh, boy. There’s always an “on the other hand” when it comes to one of the worst organizations in baseball. Good news and hopeful developments never last long.
Is Reinsdorf serious about selling? If he is, and especially if Stewart is on the other end of a deal, the Sox’ time on the South Side, which dates back to 1901, might be nearing an end. Stewart has been on the hunt for a major league franchise for years, most recently aiming for an expansion team in Nashville, Tennessee. Even more alluring, one must assume, would be to bring the big leagues back to Oakland, California, where Stewart was born and raised and became an ace pitcher and World Series champion. What a hero he would be.
But also, there’s this, because there’s always this: Is this nothing more than a tired old tactic by Reinsdorf to get everything he wants — a new stadium built with public money — to stay in Chicago and spend his dotage watching the value of the Sox continue to grow?
If the day comes when Reinsdorf indeed sells, and if a new owner takes on a Guaranteed Rate Field lease that runs through 2029 and gets down to work at keeping the Sox on the South Side, their ancestral home, fans can truly be happy. Because the Sox and Reinsdorf have put them through so much.
Reinsdorf sabotaged a great 1994 Sox team’s season in an effort to bust the players’ union.
He surrounds himself with loyalists, prioritizing that over winning.
He stubbornly refuses to spend $100 million on a player contract.
He ignores the fans and their myriad concerns by all but never speaking to them through the local media.
Reinsdorf made an exception last summer after he’d promoted Chris Getz to general manager, a move that didn’t exactly wow the baseball world in a good way. “We’ve got a foundation here,” he insisted in an exchange with Sox beat writers.
The 2023 Sox were on their way to triple-digit losses, which Reinsdorf called a “nightmare,” “embarrassing” and “disgusting.” Maybe that’s the foundation he was referring to, but probably not.
Reinsdorf led the group that bought the Sox in 1981 for $20 million. All these years later, he could easily laugh off the shame and humiliation of a record 121-loss season by knowing the Sox now are worth 100 times that much. Someday, it might be enough. Perhaps this is someday, but believing in that blindly would be unwise.